All articles by Douglas Blakey
Douglas Blakey
RBC, TD set out contrasting US retail ambitions
One month after agreeing a $6.3bn deal to acquire US-based auto lender Chrysler Financial, TD remains on the lookout for further deals. President and CEO of TD, Ed Clark, told the RBC Capital Markets Canadian Bank CEO Conference on 11 January that it remains keen to expand its US retail network.
Celebrity-hyped prepaid card flops, Kardashian sisters sued
The flop of the MasterCard branded Kardashian Kard, promoted by the Kardashian sisters – Kim, Khloe and Kourtney has resulted in the celebrity sisters reportedly being sued for $75m damages. The sisters pulled out of promoting the prepaid debit card within weeks of the card launch in November. Release of the card met with a hostile reception from sections of the US media; Consumer Reports, the not-for-profit publication of the US Consumers Union, was particularly scathing.
Ulster Bank pens 3 year Irish rugby deal
Ulster Bank, the Ireland-based subsidiary of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), has agreed a three year sponsorship deal with the Irish Rugby Football Union. In terms of the deal, Ulster Bank will become the Official Community Partner to the IRFU; the lender will also be the title sponsor of the All Ireland League.
Scotiabank to target Mexican underbanked
Canadas third-largest bank, Scotiabank, is to offer personal loans and credit cards to the underbanked segment of the Mexican market, from a network of retail stores.
Beyond touch’: RBC’s innovative use of surface technology
Royal Bank of Canadas (RBC) use of surface technology has been celebrated at the 44th annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas Michael Angiulo, corporate vice president, Windows Planning at Microsoft, demonstrated RBCs use of surface level computing in its new Retail Stores and demonstrated some of its innovation capabilities In his presentation, Angiulo said that RBC had been one of the first firms to use the technology
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DBS to double Chinese unit, RBS bows out
South-East Asias largest lender, DBS, is to expand its China-based retail branch network to 50 outlets by 2013. Its growth plans will be aided by the acquisition of Royal Bank of Scotlands (RBS) retail branches and customer base in three Chinese cities, Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen. In terms of an agreement announced on 15 December, around 25,000 RBS customers in the three cities will be given the choice of transferring their accounts to DBS.
RBC’s McKay: We can beat 2010 record
David McKay, group head of Canadian Banking at Royal Bank of Canada, discusses with Douglas Blakey the reasons behind record revenue growth at the unit in 2010 and sets out his priorities for the New Year.
US Bank launches m-banking platform
US Bank is to launch a mobile platform for its AccelaPay Visa prepaid card programme in a bid to form a tighter-bond with its cardholders. Using technology provider FIS mobile banking platform, AccelaPay cardholders will be able to use their handset to check their account balance, pay bills, receive account alerts and view mini-statements. US Bank chief innovation officer for retail payment solutions Dominic Venturo said: “We are pleased to introduce AccelaPay for mobile banking, the first full-suite mobile banking solution with bill pay capabilities in the prepaid marketplace.”
Fiserv urges banks to get social
Carol Cowan, vice-president product management and marketing at Fiserv, tells Douglas Blakey that social media websites have become such an integral part of consumers everyday lives that banks can no longer ignore them Fiserv, a leading provider of information management and electronic commerce systems for more than 16,000 banks, credit unions and thrifts around the world, is ideally placed to comment on current IT trends within the banking sector.
Loyalty falls among UK customers
The headline-grabbing conclusion of the 2010 JD Power UK Retail Banking Satisfaction Study was that 12% of bank customers in the UK say that they “definitely will” or “probably will” switch to another bank an increase of two percentage points from 2008.