All articles by Douglas Blakey
Douglas Blakey
RBC still smashing m-banking targets
RBC has become the first bank in Canada to offer fully integrated mobile banking apps across all three majorsmartphone platforms. Sharad Ojha, head of mobile channel strategy, RBC, tells Douglas Blakey that, unlikeother mobile banking apps, these are fully configured to conveniently fit the screen of all smartphones
Co-op agrees deal with Teradata, Microgen
The UK-based Co-operative Bank, the banking and insurance arm of the worlds largest consumer co-operative, has installed a centralised Teradata data warehouse platform and Microgen software as part of its core Financial Transformation Programme. Douglas Blakey reports.
Zopa set to post its first profit
UK-based Zopa, the worlds first online person-to-person (P2P) lending marketplace,launched in the UK back in 2005. In a bullish interview with RBI, Zopa co-founder Giles Andrews, says that theinnovative P2P lender winner of the most threatening bank competitor at RBIs Retail Banking Awards in 2008 is set to post itsfirst ever profit.
US bucks employment trend
The US has bucked the trend of banks in mature markets cutting employment numbers. In the 12 months to 30 June, total full-time equivalent employees (FTE) at the largest 20 retail banks, increased by almost 7% to 1.14m. There has been much comment about major banks around the world slashing jobs, with the blame generally attributed to the state of the global economy and an increasingly harsh regulatory environment.
Digital at heart of Sabadell strategy
Miguel Montes leads the operations and corporate development division at Banco Sabadell, Spains sixth largest bank by assets. He tells Douglas Blakey that Sabadell is investing heavily in self-service channels andhas thrown itself enthusiastically into promoting the use of social media, all backed by a major ad campaign.
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SAS, Teradata, EMC ramp up Big Data offering
Business analytics software provider SAS has released a high-performance computing platform to cope with the enormous data growth in velocity, variety and volume, or Big Data. SAS analytics software, in partnership with hardware from partners Teradata and EMC Greenplum, combines in-memory analytics with in-database technology.
US Bank posts record Q3 net profit, keeps free checking
US Bank has reported record net income of $1.27bn for the third quarter of 2011, up 40.2% year-on-year and stressed its commitment to maintaining its free checking account.
Infosys releases Finacle e-Banking Version 11
According to Infosys, Finacle e-Banking Version 11 delivers a rich, intuitive and persona driven online banking experience, catering to the individual needs of retail customers
Access bank completes acquisition of Intercontinental
Nigeria-based Access Bank has announced the completion of the recapitalisation of Intercontinental Bank and the acquisition of a 75% majority interest in Intercontinental. Retail banking focused Intercontinental will complete its integration within the wholesale and commercial banking focused Access Bank during the second quarter of 2012. In the six months to 30 June, Access Bank posted a profit before tax of NGN10.4bn ($64.5m), up 6% year-on-year, total assets increased by 23% to NGN1.28trn.
MetLife raises retail banking, mortgages white flag
US-based insurer, MetLife, is exploring the possible sale of its residential mortgage arm, to avoid the ever-increasing regulatory costs of operating a bank holding company On 21 July, MetLife said that it was looking to dispose of its banking unit, which offers savings accounts, certificates of deposit and money market accounts