All articles by Duygu Tavan
Duygu Tavan
UAE Central Bank seeks to ban telesales
The Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has issued a directive to ban the countrys national banks from cold-calling potential and existing customers for marketing and sales purposes. Unless the rules are amended following a consultation period with the local banking association, UAE-based banks will be banned from conducting phone-based marketing efforts to sell financial products, such as credit cards and loans by cold calling.
UniCredit Italian retail pre-tax profit slumps 50%
Italy’s largest lender by assets, UniCredit, has reported a near-50% fall in domestic retail banking pre-tax profits in the year to 31 December to 619m ($878.5m).
ICICI launches PFM tool with Inuit
Indias largest private sector bank, ICICI, has launched a personal financial management tool (PFM) titled Money Manager. The PFM tool was launched in partnership with business and personal finance management solutions vendor Inuit. ICICI said that the online PFM tool will enable its customers to analyse their spending habits and organise their finances by categorising them.
BMO to continue growth in Canada and USA
Bank of Montreal (BMO) is targeting market share growth in Canada and is eying to continue the growth in North America, the chief executive of the bank, Bill Downe, said Downe said: With 2010 revenues up 10 per cent and record net income for the year, P&C Canada is a market leader and a pacesetter for our entire enterprise
FirstRand upgrades ATMs to offer real-time cash deposit
Speaking to RBI, Gift Manyanga, chief executive of the banks Easy Plan business a network of branches targeted to serve the unbanked sector said that the group was replacing its ATMs with new, more modern ones.
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Qatar International Islamic Bank to buy Islamic Bank of Britain
The announcement comes after the Qatar Central Bank ordered commercial banks to close their Islamic banking units by the end of the year a move that would benefit banks such as Qatar International Islamic Bank as well as Qatar Islamic Bank and Masraf Al Rayan.
Monitse partners with RIM for Blackberry banking app
Mobil money solutions provider Monitise has partnered with Blackberry developer RIM to roll out a mobile banking app for the smartphones in the UK by mid-year. Monitises said that the Blackberry banking app, developed by its technology platform Globe, will provide banking customers who use Blackberries with a high quality experience. Monitise CEO Alatair Lukies said: Banks who deploy the app will be able to deepen relationships with their customers who use BlackBerry smartphones by offering better, faster, smoother control of their money through their handset.
ANZ targets 30% profit from Asia
ANZ, aims to generate between 25 to 30% of group profits from its operations in Asia by 2017.
Intesa Sanpaolo’s domestic retail net income down 35%
Net income at Italys second largest banking group, Intesa Sanpaolo’s retail banking-focused Banca dei Territori fell by 35% in the twelve months to year-end 2010 to 783m.
Credit Agricole strategic plan
French lender Crdit Agricole has published its strategic plan outlining its ambitions to become the market leader in retail banking across Europe. Under the Basel III-compliant strategy plan, titled Commitment 2014, Crdit Agricole is targeting a universal banking model with synergies across all business segments as well as organic growth. Crdit Agricoles financial targets under the Commitment 2014 plan include growing its group banking income by about 17% to just under 40bn within the next three years (2010: 34.2bn).