All articles by Duygu Tavan
Duygu Tavan
Ziraat Bank rolls out new generation of branches
Ziraat Bank, Turkey’s largest lender by assets, is to roll out 1000 units of unstaffed micro-branches where customers will be served by an advisor via video-link. The state-run bank has already rolled out 50 so-called Goruntulu Islem Merkez (GIM) units across Turkey and is planning to open another 50 units by the end of the year. But by 2015, the bank will have opened 1000 such units, Soner Canko, Assistant General Manager of Ziraat Bank told RBI.
Chinese central bank raises banks’ reserve requirements
Like the Turkish central bank, the Chinese central bank is continuing to raise the reserve capital requirements for banks. The Chinese central bank has raised the reserve capital ratios for the fourth time in 2011. The rise in reserve capital ratios means that Chinese banks will have less money to lend to consumers.
Positive outlook for GCC banks, but subdued growth
Banks in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) continue to recover from the global financial crisis despite ongoing social turmoil in the Middle East, a report by management consulting firm A T Kearney found. The report, titled The Middle East Banking Market: Outlook 2011 found that banks in the GCC have to identify new strategies to grow and improve productivity.
Akbank launches 9.5% interest rate deposit campaign
Akbank, Turkish third largest private lender by assets, has kicked off a promotional deposit campaign to attract more deposits amidst ongoing shortage of long term investments in Turkey. Tunc Akyurt, senior vice president for strategy, CRM, products and channel development told RBI that the bank was targetting the mass market. The interview with Akyurt is part of RBIs ongoing series on Turkish banks and will be published in the upcoming issue of RBI.
UniCredit may open women-oriented branches in CEE
Unicredit has launched its first branch specifically serving female clients from all financial segments in Bulgaria through its subsidiary Bulbank in March. But the deputy head of retail banking, Tsvetanka Mincheva, told RBI in an interview that the branch will serve as a pilot project for a potential group-wide roll out.
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JPMorgan Chase first US bank to issue EMV cards
Having returned to profit in the first quarter Chases card unit posted net income of $1.3bn compared with a net loss of $303m in the prior year the US second-largest bank by assets and deposits will roll out the first EMV-technology based chip-and-PIN JPMorgan Palladium credit card in June.
Sberbank negotiates 51% stake in Volksbanken
Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank by assets, may buy 51% of Austrian bank Volksbank’s international busineness after all. The statement comes after Sberbank said in February that it was not in talks with Volksbank’s international business unit. An acquisition of 51% of Volksbank would be in line with Sberbank’s expansion ambitions across central and Eastern Europe, including the commonwealth of independent states, through inorganic growth.
Zachodni, MasterCard kick off NFC trial in Poland
Bank Zachodni, the Polish bank that was snapped up by Santander in September, has launched a near field communications payments trial with mobile network operator Orange. Polands fifth largest bank by assets has kicked off the six month trial in corporation with MasterCard, using the card issuers PayPass contactless technology.
Erste Group to introduce new logo in 2012
Erste Group has begun discussions on the replacement for its current logo, the typical red S for savings banks (see picture). Michael Mauritz, press person for Erste, told RBI that the bee logo, which was formerly used by many savings banks in Austria and central and Eastern Europe, was a “hot candidate” to replace the red S.
Deutsche Bank kicks off new brand strategy
Deutsche Bank is targeting greater brand awareness with a new forum open to the public at its modernised headquarters in Frankfurt, Germany. The launch of the BrandSpace forum is part of the banks strategy to grow its retail banking business since its acquisition of Germanys largest retail bank, Postbank.