All articles by Douglas Blakey
Douglas Blakey
Santander’s goal in South America
Santander has agreed a five-year deal to become the title sponsor of the Libertadores Cup, South Americas main football club tournament, part of the Spanish groups ongoing marketing efforts to boost international recognition of the Santander brand.The competition, to be known as the Copa Santander Libertadores, involves 38 club sides from 11 countries (Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela) competing for the annual title, with 138 matches taking place over 20 weeks
A new forum for Commerzbank
Assets in the countrys banking market have grown at an average rate of more than 50 percent over the past five years, driven by a fast-growing economy, said the German group. Germanys Commerzbank has acquired a majority interest of 60 percent plus one share in Bank Forum, Ukraines tenth-largest bank by assets, for 435 million ($600 million), around 3.9 times book value
A continental shift
The latest World Payments Report says, among other points of interest, that 58 percent of banks already outsource or plan to outsource part or all of their payments activities within five years
Westpac ads trumpet its new responsibility agenda
To cement its more responsible agenda, Westpac has also established a business unit called Westpac Assist, the centrepiece of its new responsible lending principles.The ad campaign will aim to promote Westpacs message about sustainability and its related banking products, such as environment-focused green home loans and savings accounts that are tied to sustainable farming initiatives.The ads, developed by media agency The Campaign Palace, have been created to demonstrate that the banks future success is tied to the future prosperity of its customers, employees, the wider community and the environment
Wachovia wants its customers to say thank you
Wachovia, the USs fourth-largest retail bank, has rolled out a competition designed to highlight its customer service, called Who Would You Thank The promotion aims to help its customers thank other people, as part of the banks celebration of National Customer Service Week.
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Unifying UniCredit
In keeping with the trend for major European financial services groups to simplify their branding, UniCredit Italys largest banking group and, after a string of acquisitions over the past two years, now Europes second-largest by market cap has begun a year-long process of brand simplification across its growing international portfolio of subsidiaries.The group began aligning its brands in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) earlier this year, and is now aligning its remaining subsidiaries with the master brand in its core markets of Italy, Germany and Austria.The UniCredit Group master brand and its distinctive font and logo will now be used as an umbrella signature across all business divisions and countries
Aiming for second place
ANZ has unveiled a seven-point, four-year action plan and aims to achieve at least 10 percent annual profit growth in its Australian retail banking division
Northern Rock extinguishes itself
Northern Rock, the UKs eighth-largest listed bank and third-largest mortgage player, is set to be bought or wound down after the bank became one of the biggest European casualties of the US subprime fallout The lender suffered a rapid collapse in consumer confidence on 14 September after becoming the first UK financial institution in 30 years to seek emergency funding from the Bank of England.
Mass marketing for the mass affluent
HSBC has unveiled its biggest worldwide marketing campaign since its highly successful the worlds local bank initiative five years ago The bank is promoting its comprehensive mass affluent banking and wealth-management service, HSBC Premier, which it now offers in 35 countries
ANZ ranked best of the best
Australias ANZ has been assessed as the most sustainable bank globally, at least according to the 2007 Dow Jones Sustainability Index, an annual survey that provides an assessment of the sustainability performance of companies ANZ, Australias third-largest bank, has been ranked the most sustainable bank globally in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI) for 2007, pipping local rival Westpac which had topped the survey for each of the past five years.Published each year since 1999, DJSI aims to provide a benchmark of sustainability leadership and employs a best-in-class approach, analysing corporate, economic, environmental and social performance