All articles by Douglas Blakey
Douglas Blakey
ING trials customised card design application
Serverside Group, the UK-based card customisation outfit which has signed up banks including Wells Fargo, Banco Sabadell and ANZ, has launched a financial card designer for mobile phones following a trial on a Nokia handset with Dutch group ING in Amsterdams Schiphol airport.
UK surge drives Santander forward
A 41 percent rise in UK-sourced profits at a time when other UK lenders are struggling has helped Spains Santander to relatively very strong first-half post-tax profits of 4.52 billion ($6.4 billion), down only 4 percent year-on-year The bank says it remains on track for fiscal 2009 full-year profit of 8.88 billion, flat year-on-year but still forecast to be one of the more successful banks worldwide for 2009 overall. While a number of banks continue to suffer the effects of the financial turmoil, Santander said its second-quarter profit, which amounted to 2.42 billion, was the second highest in its history.
Citi celebrates 5 years of ThankYou loyalty programme
Loyalty programmes have been standard marketing fare for banks for many years but few initiatives have proved as big a hit as Citis ThankYou programme To mark the pioneering schemes fifth anniversary, Citi is rewarding ThankYous 13 million members with bonus points and extra benefits, reports Douglas Blakey.Introduced in July 2004, initially for the banks credit card clientele, Citis Thank-You rewards programme highlighted the banks belief in loyalty as a central plank of its marketing and branding strategy But the decision in April the following year to extend ThankYou to the banks entire retail banking client base, with the aim of rewarding customers for everyday banking, upped the ante in terms of rewards-based loyalty programmes and remains one of the most significant bank marketing initiatives of the decade.
Barclays’ emerging markets unit scales up
In just two years, Barclays emerging markets banking unit has expanded its operation across 14 markets, grown its distribution network by an additional 250 sales points and more than doubled customer numbers to nearly 4 million Douglas Blakey talks to Vinit Chandra, chief executive of the division.The contrast with erstwhile rival Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) could not be starker: while Barclays steps on the gas to grow its international footprint, RBS has spent the first half of the year executing one of the biggest U-turns in recent banking history by scaling back its overseas ambitions, the legacy of the ill-fated acquisition of part of ABN AMRO For Barclays, the lucky loser in the battle to snap up ABN AMRO, the stated goal is to derive profits from its international activities on a par with those seen at its UK businesses.
Retail banking weakens in shifting US
In contrast to a year ago, half-year results from the big US banking groups are dominated by strong performances in investment as opposed to retail banking units The big players are being dragged down by weak performances from consumer finance and, in particular, card units Douglas Blakey reports.This years US banking interim results present a mixed picture but there was one clear conclusion: for the big US players, investment banking earnings have trounced weak retail ones as consumer loans and credit card debts continue to mount up
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Transforming Bancolombia
A central plank of its strategy is an IT modernisation project, which has received a major boost with the planned implementation of a replacement core banking system from Infosys Finacle unit, reports Douglas Blakey.Colombias largest bank, Bancolombia, has agreed one of the biggest IT deals in its history the replacement of its existing core banking system as it pursues its goal of becoming a regional heavyweight in Central and South America The core banking deal, which extends across the banks domestic and international operations, was awarded to Finacle, a subsidiary of Indian-headquartered tech giant Infosys, and is the latest in a series of major IT agreements signed by the bank as part of an ongoing technology transformation project.
StanChart prioritises mass affluent
Standard Chartered has relaunched its mass-affluent service, Priority Banking, complemented by a refreshed brand identity and advertising campaign in its eight key markets of Hong Kong, Singapore, India, China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Korea and the United Arab Emirates.
Advantage Banesto
A resilient set of first-half results from Santanders Spanish retail subsidiary Banesto confirmed it is better placed than its peers in terms of asset quality and efficiency Juan Delibes, the banks CFO, argues it remains well placed to continue performing better than its competitors, reports Douglas Blakey.Santanders prudent and conservative business strategy, focusing on cost-conscious retail banking while avoiding derivatives and subprime lending, is paying off not just in its international operations but also in its domestic market Banesto, a major Spanish retail bank in which Santander has a near 90 percent stake, posted an analyst-beating set of results for the first half of the year
StanChart ups mass affluent ante
And according to the bank, it is well placed to tap into a segment posting double-digit growth in Asia, reports Douglas Blakey.In one of its most important consumer banking initiatives of recent years, Asia-focused but UK-headquartered Standard Chartered (StanChart) has relaunched its mass-affluent banking service, Priority Banking, complete with a new customer loyalty programme, refreshed product range and improved customer service.
UK telco O2 partners with RBS in new retail banking push
NatWest, the main UK retail banking subsidiary of Royal Bank of Scotland, has teamed up with leading mobile telecoms operator O2 with the roll out of two pre-paid cards under the O2 Money brand Dubbed Load & Go for the youth market and Cash Manager for adults, both cards are Visa branded and can be used almost anywhere that accepts Visa within the UK and abroad, as well as online, and will only be available to O2 customers