All articles by Douglas Blakey
Douglas Blakey
Boom times for Russia’s Sberbank
In the face of growing foreign banking interest in Russia (see The gold rush into Russia, RBI 588), Sberbank, the countrys largest banking group, has posted very strong 2007 results, with profit before tax at its retail banking arm up 73 percent to RUB47.57 billion ($2 billion) Income from its fledgling plastic cards operation rose 48 percent to RUB10.3 billion; deposits from individuals rose 31 percent to RUB2.68 trillion Overall, Sberbanks group profit after tax rose 28.6 percent to RUB106.5 billion, with total assets increasing 42 percent to RUR4.93 trillion
Re-energised Barclays goes global
Having collected itself well after the failed merger with ABN AMRO, Barclays has re-energised and is going global In a little over two years, the bank, the UKs third-largest and the 11th-largest globally in terms of retail and commercial banking revenue (see chart), has almost doubled its branch and sales points network outside the UK from 1,598 units at the end of 2005 to 2,749 in March this year In the first quarter of 2008 alone it opened 400 branches, and says it will accelerate its growth in the emerging markets after moving into India, the UAE, Russia and Pakistan
A green pioneer
Daan Dijk, associate director of corporate social responsibility at Dutch co-operative Rabobank, winner of RBIs 2008 Award for Best Integration of CSR into Retail Banking, tells Douglas Blakey about his groups successful push into socially responsible consumer banking Putting an ethical or social spin on retail banking products was one of the key market trends of 2007, with the largest players such as HSBC and Bank of America some of the keenest to embrace this ongoing market shift towards responsible banking
It’s all about savings
ING has given an upbeat assessment of its prospects for growth, in particular in the emerging markets of Asia and Latin America It plans to make strategic acquisitions and believes it is well placed to tap into the growing global demand for savings, insurance, pensions and other investments, writes Douglas Blakey Dutch financial services giant ING says it remains in a strong operating position, having avoided the worst of the current global credit crisis, and is well positioned to look for opportunities to invest its excess capital in the high-growth developing markets of Asia and Latin America in particular in Brazil and Mexico.
HSBC launches its first green card
Called the Green Credit Card, the product is being initially rolled out in Hong Kong and the bank has signed up US actor Leonardo DiCaprio in a headline grabbing initiative to promote the launch. In an interview with RBI, Louisa Cheang, head of personal financial services, HSBC Hong Kong, said: This is the first green credit card in Hong Kong and the first within the HSBC Group, but we hope other countries in the group will adopt this if there is a market for it.HSBC will accept applications for the card from 7 April and is promoting the launch with print, radio, outdoor and online advertising
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In the right market at the right time
In his view, there is an excellent opportunity to serve every segment of the market, from the wealthy to the small village trader.The bullish announcement last May by Barclays, the UKs third-largest bank, of a major retail banking push into the fast-growing Indian market was rather overshadowed by its high-profile and ultimately unsuccessful battle to acquire ABN AMRO.At the time, it said it would redefine retail banking in the Indian market and across the region and planned a new range of credit cards, personal loans, business instalment loans and investment products (see RBI 573) It appointed Samir Bhatia, a retail banking veteran, as managing director of Barclays India and Indian Ocean to spearhead the banks entry into the market.Talking to RBI at the end of March, Bhatia said: Despite being new to the Indian market we already have a few firsts to our credit that take banking beyond convention.The most recent product roll-out is a mobile phone-based banking service for the Indian mass market called Hello Money (see RBI 588)
A re-emerging market
Retail banking activity in Japan is high, with major changes taking place internally such as the development of Japan Post Bank and new consumer finance regulations coupled with growing external interest from foreign groups such as Citi and ING, according to a new report from VRL KnowledgeBank.There is a sense that, at the moment, Japan is at the start of a period of profound change in terms of its consumer banking market
The gold rush into Russia
In the stampede for emerging markets growth, a string of European banking heavyweights have upped their exposure to Russias fast-developing consumer banking market.Barclays has made one of its boldest emerging markets acquisitions for a while, snapping up 100 percent of Expobank for $745 million, while HSBC has announced it is pumping $200 million into its Russian franchise and starting retail banking in the country.Other deals include the finalisation of Socit Gnrales 50 percent stake plus one share investment in Rosbank, which boasts Russias largest privately owned retail banking network, with 600 branches, and Nordea looking to take its stake in Orgresbank, a top 30 player, to 84 percent (see A big deal).Expobank had 32 branches and $186 million in assets as of the end of 2007
Banking on happiness
In a radical attempt to differentiate itself in the competitive Australian market by creating a stir, as well as highlighting a range of new products, BankWest has launched Happy Banking, an integrated campaign including animated ads, marketing stunts and a website dedicated to understanding happiness Australias sixth-largest retail bank, BankWest, a wholly owned subsidiary of the UKs HBOS, has fired its latest salvo at Australias traditional Big Four banks with the launch of Happy Banking, a marketing campaign designed to bring a smile to customers and change their perception of banking. It has also rolled out a new tracker mortgage the first of a planned series of products linked to the Happy Banking initiative which is the banks most important new product launch since its 2007 release of a direct savings account paying a headline-grabbing 8 percent, the BankWest Regular Saver Account.
Citi’s bold aims for Japan’s retail market
Citi has announced it is bringing together its banking and brokerage operations in Japan in a bold bid to become the countrys most competitive banking and securities group Its Japanese subsidiary, Citigroup Japan Holdings, will be merged with Nikko Cordial Securities, the brokerage it bought early this year for $4.8 billion (see A big deal), to form a new holding group called Nikko Citi Holdings It is a significant move for the US-based bank, particularly because it has been scaling back operations in other areas of its business after a difficult 2007 (see News Digest).