All articles by Will Cain
Will Cain
Branch strategies pre- and post-crisis
Will Cain examines the decision by Jyske Bank to shutter some of its branches five years after launching a major refurbishment programme across its entire network. Large branch networks are becoming increasingly costly at a time when customers focus on digital channels. What is the future of the branch?
China’s great deposits grab
Competition has become fierce for deposits among foreign banks in China as they scramble to pick up enough deposits to comply with an end-2011 deadline set by the China Banking Regulatory Commission Foreign banks in China have been scrambling for deposits in 2010 and early 2011 to comply with a regulatory demand that their loan-to-deposit ratios should not exceed 75%.
Shinsei’s search for a business model
After a torrid period during the financial crisis, Shinsei is in the process of stabilising its earnings through a return to its roots as a corporate lender and the continuation of the build out of its 11-year old retail banking business.The tactical repositioning of Shinsei in Japan continues apace, with plans to integrate the Lake consumer finance business it acquired from GE in 2008 well advanced.
Fierce competition for Asia’s affluent
With potential revenue of up to $1,000 per customer per year, banking the affluent is big business and, as Will Cain reports, success will be measured in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Banks in Asia are scrambling to provide services to the regions affluent customers and for many, segmentation is the key.
An online-only brand
National Australia Banks (NAB) online-only subsidiary UBank represents what some believe to be the future of retail banking: branchless, low cost and decked out with the industrys most up-to-date kit UBank was set up by National Australia Bank (NAB) in 2008 to snap up market share from the countrys big four banks, including NAB itself a strategy still questioned within the industry.
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ING defending its turf in Australia
Since setting up shop in Australia only 12 years ago, ING Direct has become the countrys fifth-largest bank for retail deposits and retail home loans, with market shares of just over 3.5%
Australian banking challenges
All of the countrys senior bankers have been called before the countrys Senate Economics Committee in relation to three amendments of the countrys 1959 Banking Act. The proposals include preventing banks from changing variable interest rate charges on mortgages above or below changes to the Reserve Bank of Australias discount rate and the banning of some ATM fees and mortgage exit fees.
Biometric hit for Azteca
Banco Azteca enjoys a rare distinction in retail banking: it is the worlds only fully biometric bank All of its account holders use fingerprint IDs to access their accounts across its 1,634 branch network in Mexico and even, in some cases, to make payments