All articles by Douglas Blakey
Douglas Blakey
Massive m-banking, online growth at ICBC
The worlds largest bank by market cap, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), has reported phenomenal growth in the use of its direct banking channels in the first quarter By the end of the quarter, corporate and personal customer numbers for its online service reached 61.96 million and 1.59 million respectively, increases of 5.24 million and 151,000 compared with the previous quarter The total value of its e-banking transactions rose to CNY32 trillion ($4.67 trillion) during the quarter, accounting for 44.5 percent of all of its business, an increase of 1.4 percent since the end of the last quarter.
Thailand’s Bangkok Bank goes mobile
Bangkok Bank has extended its successful online Bualuang iBanking operation to the mobile channel, offering customers account balance, funds transfer and bill payment facilities via their handsets The new service, offered in Thai and English, is available from all mobile service providers and is being offered by the bank with no additional fees. Thailands largest bank by assets has invested heavily in its direct channels in the past year, resulting in the number of internet banking users growing by 36 percent in 2008 while the volume of transactions grew by 77 percent.
La Caixa commits 25% of earnings to community projects
Barcelona-based savings bank la Caixa, Spains third-largest bank, has earmarked 500 million ($679.7 million) for social and community projects this year, around one-quarter of its fiscal 2008 net earnings of 2.05 billion Savings banks in Spain are legally obliged to support such projects (see RBI 602) The donation is in line with la Caixas 2007-2010 strategic plan for community projects, designed to consolidate and increase the savings banks commitment to social causes
Britannia members back UK super-mutual
Members of the UKs second-largest building society, Britannia, have endorsed the associations merger with Co-operative Financial Services (see RBI 610, 606) The deal will see the formation of the countrys eighth-largest banking entity by branch numbers (354) More than 450,000 Britannia members voted at the societys annual general meeting, at the end of April, with 88.6 percent voting in favour
CIMB explains rationale behind Yingkou stake purchase
While a significant number of western financial groups, including American Express and Bank of America, have now sold stakes in Chinese banks over the past month, Malaysias CIMB Group has completed a deal to buy 19.99 percent stake in CNY18 billion-asset regional lender Bank of Yingkou Douglas Blakey reports.Malaysias second-largest bank by assets, CIMB Group, has confirmed plans to expand its China business remain on track, following completion last month of its deal to acquire a 19.99 percent stake in Bank of Yingkou (BofY) for CNY348.8 million ($51 million). As at 31 December 2008, BofY had CNY18.3 billion in total assets and its profit before tax for the financial year was CNY305.5 million.
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Alipay to overtake PayPal as global leader
US-based PayPal, part of eBay, will be hard pressed to retain its position as the worlds largest provider of online alternate payments for much longer, at least in terms of account holders Hard on PayPals heels is Chinas largest e-commerce service, Alipay, which by the end of February 2009 had notched up its 150 millionth registered user. The vast majority of Alipays registered users are individuals, while around 460,000 are businesses or online merchants.
Metroman vows to wow UK
Celebrated American retail banker Vernon Hill, founder of US-based regional banking powerhouse Commerce Bancorp, has confirmed his ambitious plans to launch a wholly new retail banking franchise in the UK are on track
Western Union ups banking exposure
The worlds largest remittance player, Western Union, has teamed up with Fidelity National Information Services (FNIS) to offer a global money transfer service to FNIS 8,500 banking clients throughout the US.
Intesa Sanpaolo banks on film
The economic crisis has had a marked effect on bank advertising strategies, with many major institutions cutting back on spending, in particular on credit card, loan and investment products One of the more innovative marketing campaigns to appear in the past six months has been from Italys second-largest banking group, Intesa Sanpaolo Its latest marketing initiative which is consuming the majority of its ad budget for the first half is based around three sponsored short films. Douglas Blakey reports
Simply no comparison
Moneysupermarket.com has established itself as the leading financial price comparison website in the UK, with visitor numbers increasing by one-third last year to 120 million