All articles by Charles Davis
Charles Davis
Sallie Mae ramps up retail service
US-based education loan management company Sallie Mae has ramped up its retail banking operations. The holder of a banking charter since 2005, Sallie Mae has started a mobile banking service to complement its no-fee student current account, certificates of deposit and savings products. Charles Davis reports.
New rules raise more questions
The US Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council has issued a fresh set of guidelines covering online banking and measures banks should take to protect their customers Online bankers in the US are critical of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Councils (FFIEC) new rules detailing the measures financial institutions are expected to take in order to protect internet banking customers from fraud and misuse of their data.
CFPB: keeping bankers awake at night
The massive new regulatory agency charged with serving as a watchdog over broad swaths of the US financial services industry has not yet opened its doors, has no permanent head in place and has still to articulate any vision beyond evangelising about the need for change The make-up of the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) portfolio is shaping up to be the nations next titanic political battle
Huntington goes it alone
As bank after bank in the US announces the end of free current accounts, Huntington Bancshares is moving aggressively in the opposite direction
Credit Unions’ novel marketing methods
Young & Free is a North American credit union movement, set up to give young people a voice and a head start in financial literacy
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Quantifying the ROI on bank marketing
According to two leading US-based financial academics, spending on advertising and promotion really does provide a quantifiable return and so does expanding the branch network
Discover ramps up expansion plans
Discover Financial Services is executing a major transformation plan: from a card supplier to a major financial powerhouse Its buying spree has included snapping up a bank from an insurance firm and a student loan portfolio all, part of its drive to enlarge its direct banking business
Pricing, rewards carousel to accelerate
Achieving that critical balance between a viable revenue level and a satisfied customer base is about to get much more difficult for US banks, who are introducing new fees, ending rewards programmes and substituting new perks in one of the most frenetic periods of product change in recent history. The aftershocks of the US government’s crackdown last year on debit card overdraft fees, coupled with new current account regulations instituted by the Fed and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, has resulted in fewer large US banks sticking with free checking. According to the latest data from economic research firm, Moebs $ervices, only about half of Wall Street banks are now offering free checking to new customers, a decline of 13.6% in just six months.
Bank of West turns heat on rivals
Bank of the West, the US-based retail subsidiary of BNP Paribas, topped the 2010 JD Power survey for customer satisfaction in California CMO Andrew Rosen tells Charles Davis an account-switching drive and a review of the banks marketing and advertising strategy can keep it ahead of its US-headquartered rivals. When Andrew Rosen, chief marketing officer of San Francisco-based Bank of the West, looks out of his corporate office window, he can see a JP Morgan Chase branch and a Union Bank sign towering over the road.
US banks battle for deposits
Now the US banking sector appears to be emerging from the credit and liquidity crisis, focus shifts to the future Most observers agree that the greatest problems post-crisis are the significant revenue and asset-growth headwinds that dominate the era