All articles by Douglas Blakey
Douglas Blakey
Banking arm of GMAC reborn as Ally Bank
The banking arm of GMAC has rebranded itself Ally Bank in an effort to distance itself from its General MotorsCerberus Capital owned parent. GMAC chief executive Alvaro de Molina said in a statement: We are launching a new brand with a new approach of treating customers with total transparency. To highlight the name change, Ally kicked off an integrated marketing campaign including television, print and online ads promoting the banks savings products.
BDO to snap up local GE Money Bank unit
The largest bank in the Philippines by assets, (BDO), has agreed to acquire the local unit of GE Money Bank (GEMB) in a deal expected to close during the third quarter
Brazil’s Q1 figures show profits down, loans up
State-owned Banco do Brasil, Brazils largest banking group, has posted a net income of BRL1.66 billion ($822 million) in the first quarter, a drop of 29.1 percent in relation to the same period of 2008 Banco do Brasils loan portfolio grew to BRL254.5 billion, up 7.3 percent in the quarter and 41.3 percent year-on-year Total assets ended the quarter at BRL591.9 billion, growth of 42.9 percent over the 12 month period
Santander confirms rebranding across all UK branches
Santander, the UKs fifth-largest retail bank by branches, has confirmed it is to brand all of its 1,300 UK branches under the Santander banner by the end of 2010 Almost 700 Abbey and 338 (B&B) outlets are first in the queue and will rebrand from the first quarter of next year, while 254 (A&L) units will follow later in the year.
Profits collapse by 62% at ABN’s Dutch arm
The Dutch-based nationalised unit of ABN AMRO has posted first quarter profits down by 62 percent to 87 million ($121.1 million) as loan losses and provisions almost tripled to 252 million compared with the same quarter last year. ABN, acquired for 72 billion in the ill-fated 2007 acquisition by the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS)-led consortium, is still in the process of separating the various business divisions to be retained by the Dutch government from the residual RBS acquired businesses into two separate banks
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Problem US bank figure soars to 15-year high
The number of problem banks in the US has hit its highest level since 1994, with 305 banks on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporations (FDIC) danger list at the end of the first quarter, up from 252 in the previous quarter, while total assets of problem institutions increased from $159 billion to $220 billion. And in a gloomy prognosis, the FDIC said the first quarter net income of the 8,200 banks which it insures collapsed by more than 60 percent to $7.6 billion compared with $19.3 billion in the same quarter last year, with around 20 percent of the banks reporting no profit at all.
Virgin plans roll out of full banking services
Virgin Money, the consumer finance unit of serial entrepreneur Richard Bransons Virgin Group, is pressing ahead with long-rumoured plans to extend the business into a full bank, offering mortgages and taking deposits Virgin had been touted for a return to the mainstream banking fold ever since its bid for collapsed UK lender Northern Rock failed in early 2008. Last October, Virgin Money CEO, Jayne-Anne Gadhia, who led the bid to snap up Northern Rock, told RBI Virgin had a deal in place with a very large financial services business to start issuing mortgages. (See RBI 601).
State Bank of India steams ahead
Indias largest banking group, State Bank of India (SBI), has reported an analyst-beating total net profit of INR91.2 billion ($1.84 billion) for the fiscal year to 31 March, up 35.5 percent year-on-year, boosted by loan growth of 30 percent, almost double the industry average of 17.3 percent for the year. But despite huge market share gains and a massive increase in its branch network, SBIs retail earnings growth of 28.6 percent for the year failed to match peers HDFC Bank, Axis Bank and Bank of Baroda (see results round-up, RBI 611) HDFCs retail banking profits rose 134 percent across the period, for instance.
Yes Bank commits to its hi-tech model
Despite a relatively small branch network, Indian private sector lender Yes Bank has created quite a splash since its launch five years ago due to its technology-focused service proposition Despite a fall in retail banking profits, the bank is continuing to invest in a tech-driven business model, reports Douglas Blakey.Buoyed by a more than 50 percent increase in net earnings in the year to 31 March 2009, a period in which its branch network doubled from 60 to 117 units, Yes Bank is now aiming to repeat the trick with plans to increase branch numbers to 250 outlets by the end of next year. While the bulk of its early success has come from corporate banking, the bank is now looking to grow its loss-making retail unit, which in the fiscal year just ended accounted for only 4.6 percent of the banks revenue (see results below)
Retail units drag down UK first quarter results
Trading updates from the UKs Big Four retail banks Lloyds, Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and HSBC have followed the global trend of improved investment banking earnings but souring retail ones Barclays reported strong income growth at its global retail and commercial banking emerging markets unit, with the exception of India, where it swung into the red Overall, Barclays retail unit posted a retail profit of £586 million ($888.3 million) for the quarter, compared with £1.07 billion a year ago.