All articles by Douglas Blakey
Douglas Blakey
ING posts strong FY10 earnings
ING has reported a strong set of results for fiscal 2010, earning over 3.2bn ($4.34bn)following a loss of almost 1bn in 2009 INGs fight back is being underpinned by a powerful performance from its retail banking unit, with the exception of its struggling ING Direct unit in the UK
Barclays posts flat retail profits of £1.83bn
Barclays Global Retail Banking (GRB) unit has posted profit before tax of £1.83bn ($2.95bn) for the 12 months to 31 December, marginally ahead of the £1.82bn reported the previous year.
Banco Best extends m-banking service
Banco Best, the direct banking subsidiary of Portugals BancoEspirito Santo, has extended its mobile banking service to offer the countrys first mobile website that allows clients to perform share trading activities. Within 48 hours of its release in the second week of January, Banco Bests eBudget mobile banking application ranked number one on the Apple app store for Portugal a position it has maintained for the past four weeks.
SocGen’s BRD posts 31% fall in profit, misses forecasts
Socit Gnrale subsidiary, BRD, Romanias second-largest bank by assets, has posted a net profit of RON501m ($158.8m) for the 12 months to 31 December, a fall of 31% compared with the prior year. BRD underperformed the market with total lending contracting by 1% during fiscal 2010 to RON34.5bn while total deposits inched up by 2% to RON298.8bn.
Emirates NBD posts net income of AED2.3bn, down 30%
Emirates NBD has posted net income for the 12 months to 31 December of AED2.3bn ($626.2m), down 30% from the year ago period. Net interest income fell by 8% year-on-year to AED6.8bn while non-interest income of AED2.9bn was down by 13%; total revenue declined by 10% in fiscal 2010 to AED9.72bn.
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Mashreq posts FY10 net profit of AED803m
Mashreq has reported a net profit for the 12 months to 31 December of AED803m ($218.6m), a fall of 19.7% year-on-year and the third successive year profit has declined at the UAE-based lender. Net interest income and income from Islamic products net of distribution rose by 9% over last year to AED 2.3bn. But net fees and commissions declined by 27.5% to AED2.1bn, contributing to an 11% fall in gross revenue to AED4.4bn (FY09: AED4.96bn).
FIS, Fiserv post FY10 rise in revenue, profit
Fidelity National Insurance Services (FIS) has reported net earnings from continuing operations for fiscal 2010 of $447.6m, compared to $106.4m in the prior year.
Handelsbanken beats forecasts with 8% rise in net income
Handelsbanken has joined Swedish peers Nordea, SEB and Swedbank by posting full year results ahead of analyst forecasts. Handelsbanken net profit for the 12 months to 31 December rose by 8% to SEK11.02bn ($1.72bn). Net fee and commission income increased by 9% to SEK8.02bn but net interest income declined by 3% to SEK21.34bn.
SBI targets over 12,000 unbanked villages by March 2012
State Bank of India (SBI) is targeting representation in 12,421 unbanked villages by March 2012, as it ramps up implementation of its Financial Inclusion Plan. SBI said that it had provided basic banking services to 2,012 villages with populations of at least 2,000 by the end of January and aims to cover over 5,000 villages by the end of March.
Qatar scores protectionist own goal
If the circular issued by the QCB is implemented, big losers among the 16 conventional banks offering Islamic banking services in Qatar will include: Qatar National Bank (QNB), Doha Bank, International Bank of Qatar, the Commercial Bank of Qatar and Al Ahli Commercial Bank.