All articles by Duygu Tavan

Duygu Tavan

Scotiabank targets cards sector growth

Scotiabank, Canada’s third-largest bank by assets, is rolling out three new retail banking products in the cards sector Mike Henry, senior vice-president and head of retail payments, deposits and lending, tells Duygu Tavan that the product initiatives will drive sales and boost digital channel growth.

Kazkom opportunistic in Russia

As some of Europes largest lenders retreat from trying to gain a foothold in Russia, opportunities are opening up for banks based in the former Soviet states to expand their Russian operations

Gold rush

Gold is an integral part of Turkish culture and it is estimated that there is $220m worth of goldkept at home Duygu Tavan speaks to Irfan Yilmaz, assistant general manager in charge of retail banking, about Kuveyt Turks initiative to integrate gold into the banking system via gold-dispensing ATMs.

EMV in the US: no case of if, but when

There has been a change of heart in the US card market in the past three years The implementation of EMV technology is no longer a case of if, but when An Aite Group report shows that EMV is now considered the safest technology to reduce card fraud but there are obstacles.

Current account fraud in UK surges

Current account fraud in the UK has risen by 58% between the end of the year and end of March 2011, according to latest the Fraud Index from Experian. Attempted current account application fraud has thus overtaken fraud in mortgage (up by 7% quarter-on-quarter to 34 per 10,000 applications) and automotive finance fraud rates (down by 21% quarter-on-quarter to 27 per 10,000 applications).

BNP Paribas to offer m-payments with Orange

And it has not taken long for another French bank to introduce mobile banking services after Crdit Agricole’s kwixo launched in June Now BNP Paribas has teamed up with telcos Orange and, like Crdit Agricole, is going to offer a mobile payments service as well as mobile banking solutions from November on.

Citi’s revamped version of Simplicity Card not so simple

But the cards’ 16.99 percent interest rate is way above the market average of 14.4 percent and although Citi is known for offering the best rewards programme in the US, the card does not feature any loyalty incentives.

Citi sells Egg to Yorkshire Building Society

The Egg network has been sold to Yorkshire Building Society and comes three months after the Egg credit card portfolio was offloaded to Barclays Bank. In October, RBI reported that the Egg network was expected to be sold for up to £400m ($631.4m) – £175m less than Citi paid for the division it acquired from Prudential in 2007

Nigeria: Access and Intercontinental Bank to merge

Nigerian lenders Access Bank and Intercontinental Bank have submitted a bid to merge to the countrys Securities and Exchange Commission. The Central Bank of Nigeria has given the countrys banks time until the end of September to meet higher capital requirements to prevent a lack of liquidation in the case of another financial crisis.

Scotia launches no fee cards & cash-back account

Scotiabank has rolled out three new products, the Scotia Moneyback Account and Scotia Momentum Visa Infinite and the Scotia Momentum No-Fee Visa Cards Mike Henry, Senior Vice-President and Head of Retail Payments, Deposits and Lending, told RBI that the bank expects to generate a third of all new account sales from the new cards.