All articles by Douglas Blakey
Douglas Blakey
CitiFinancial to close 300 US branches ahead of sale
The US-based arm of CitiFinancial is to close more than 300 of its 1,833 branches and stop offering loans at another 182 outlets, as it ramps up its efforts to sell the consumer finance division. As part of Citis plan, CitiFinancial is separating its US business into two segments: CitiFinancial’s full service branches and CitiFinancial servicing. The full service branches will continue to focus on originations and servicing of personal, refinance, and home equity loans through a streamlined branch network that provides the breadth of service CitiFinancial customers have come to expect, said Citi in a statement.
Raiffeisen Q1 profits double to ?166m
Raiffeisen International has beaten analysts’ forecasts and posted a near doubling of its first-quarter pre-tax profits from 84m ($103.3m) a year ago to 166m. Less encouraging was a fall of 10.1% year-on-year in net interest income to 690 million while net fees and commission slipped 3.9% to 282 million; the banks cost-income ratio rose by more than 6 percentage points to 57.1%.
European spending up by 9 percent in Q1
Consumer spending across Europe rose 9 percent in the first quarter of 2010 compared to the first quarter of 2009, according to the Visa European Spending Trends report, further evidence that the economic recovery is gaining momentum. According to the survey, total spend on Visa cards in Europe amounted to 230 billion in the first quarter of 2010, pushing the annual rate of increase up from 11.7 percent in the final quarter of 2009 to 16.4 percent.
VTB sets out 3 year strategy plan
Russias second-largest lender, VTB, has rolled out a three-year strategy plan and said it is aiming to more than double annual profits between now and 2013 VTB would aim to grow its branch network by 40 percent in the next three years, from around 476 branches to more than 700 units;
M-payments provider Luup partners with Temenos
Core banking software supplier, Temenos, has announced that mobile payments solution provider Luup is to integrate Temenos’ T24 banking components as part of Luup’s growth strategy. Luup’s retail banking offerings include person-to-person money transfetr and ATM cash-out, person-to merchant bill payments,salary payments and global mobile remittance services.
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Helm – the world’s first multi-sensory bank
Douglas Blakey talks to Michael Allen, chairman and managing director of the UK-based branch design consultancy allen international, about one of the firms most exciting projects: the creation of a revolutionary branch experience using multi-sensory design and the rebranding of Banco de Crdito to become Helm Bank. UK-based branch design consultancy allen international has worked with almost 200 banking groups around the world since its foundation in 1992, with recent major contract wins including Standard Chartered, Mexicos largest bank, Banamex, Lebanons Bank of Beirut and Omans biggest lender Bank Muscat.
Servus Credit Union banks on Temenos
Core banking solutions providerTemenos has announced that Servus, a leading Canadian credit union with more than $10 billion in assets, has selected Temenos T24 platform Servus will implement T24 Canadian Model Bank, which includes all membership functionality and interfaces for ease of integration with third party systems to support the Canadian credit union market
US customer loyalty dips marginally
Now in its fifth year, this years JD Power Satisfaction Index finds that overall satisfaction of retail banking customers in the US averaged 748 on 1,000-point scale a slight decrease from 749 in 2009.
BforBank on course to break even in 2011
BforBank, the new direct banking subsidiary launched last September by Crdit Agricole offering savings, pensions and investment products, is on target to break even in 2011. Guillaume Gervais, BforBank’s business analytics manager, told RBI that the bank attracted 800 million of savings and signed up more than 15,000 clients within three months of the bank going online, an average client savings balance of around 53,000. Aimed specifically at the wealthiest 20% of the French market, BforBank is going head-to-head with BNP Paribas Cortal Consors, Boursorama Banque (Socit Gnrale), Fortuneo (Credit Mutuel) and ING Direct France, all chasing a slice of the countrys annual net savings pie of 100 billion (see RBI 620).
Metro set to open, Santander tipped to win RBS branch auction
Metro Bank, the UK-based retail bank founded by celebrated US entrepreneur Vernon Hill, will open the doors of its first two branches in the second half of June, with plans to open another two branches later this year and a further eight in 2011, all located in the Greater London area. Despite the economic gloom enveloping the UK economy, Hill told RBI: “This is actually the best time to enter UK market.