All articles by Douglas Blakey
Douglas Blakey
CARTES set to celebrate 25th anniversary
CARTES & IDentification 2010, the largest European trade show and conference for digital security, smart technologies, payment and mobility, will be held in Paris from 7 to 9 December 2010. Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, “business, innovation, foresight and celebration” are the main themes of this year’s CARTES, with around 20,000 visitors and 1,300 delegates expected to attend.
OTP Q3 profits fall 32% but beat forecasts
Hungary’s OTP has posted a third quarter net profit of HUF30.9bn ($154.8m), down 32.6% from the same period last year but ahead of analyst forecasts. In an upbeat presentation, OTP deputy chief executive Laszlo Bencsik said the bank is forecasting a modest increase in lending and added that he expected no major rise in provisions in the fourth quarter.
Raiffeisen extends credit decisioning deal with FICO
Austria-headquartered Raiffeisen, the third-largest bank by assets in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) after UniCredit and Erste, is to extend its use of FICOs Economic Impact Service (EIS)
Citi to target online, m-banking with $4bn investment
Citigroup is to invest between $3bn and $4bn in its US retail banking arm in a bid to grow mass-affluent customer numbers. Manuel Medina-Mora, Citis north America head of retail banking, said the bank will cut costs and target an improvement in credit quality, to fund increased investment in infrastructure, hiring and marketing. Medina-Mora told an investor conference on 17 November, that Citi would aim to build a new technology platform for online and mobile banking by the end of 2011.
Visa, MasterCard unfazed by launch of Isis
US-based mobile operators AT&T, T-Mobile USA and Verizon have formed a long-rumoured joint venture, Isis, with the aim of allowing consumers to use their mobile handsets as contactless payment devices. Neither MasterCard or Visa will participate in the Isis initiative and will stick to promoting their own m-payment networks. Isis has already signed up its first card issuer the US unit of Barclaycard – and will initially target the 200m customers of the three wireless operators.
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Intessa, BNPP and Raiffeisen in running for Polbank
Intesa Sanpaolo, BNP Paribas and Raiffeisen have reportedly offered between between 600m ($818m) and 800m for Polabnk, the Polish-based subsidiary of Greces Eurobank EFG Eurobank said in early November it was prepared to sell up to a majority stake in Polbank HSBC and France’s Credit Mutuel had also been linked with Polbank, with sources at Erste and UniCredit quick to rule themselves out from making a possible bid.
MUFG’s interim retail earnings slip
Japan-based Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) has posted a net profit of 356.8bn ($4.3bn) for the six months to 30 September, up 153% compared to the same period last year.
Isbank 9M profits rise 21%
bank has reported a net profit of TRY2.44bn ($1.69bn) for the nine months to 30 September, a 21% increase compared to the same period last year
SBI to grow international retail lending
State Bank of India (SBI), the countrys largest lender, is planning to raise up to $2bn to grow its international retail lending book. To date, SBIs overseas operations have been focused on wholesale banking, but the bank is now eyeing retail mortgage and auto loan products in countries such as the UK and the US. In the past year, SBI has built up a retail lending book of $50m in Singapore in a pilot project.
ASB launches new ad campaign, tagline
New Zealand-based ASB will launch a TV ad campaign on 14 November, its first ad creative since switching advertising agency from long-standing media partner TBWA Whybinto US-headquartered Droga 5 The new ad promotes the tagline ‘Creating futures with ASB’ and will be supported by an integrated marketing campaign including print, outdoor and social media, as well as a refreshed ASB website. For the past decade, ASB has run one of the country’s longest-running campaigns with its advertising creative centred on a high profile brand ambassador, bumbling but affable US banker Ira Goldstein sent to New Zealand to “find out what makes that bank different.