All articles by Farah Halime
Farah Halime
UK’s Competition Commission to ban PPI
The UKs Competition Commission has provisionally banned point-of-sale payment protection insurance, or PPI, after finding that banks and building societies offering the insurance often make big profits and offer little choice to consumers The latest report in a long-running battle to ban PPI alongside personal loans, mortgages and credit cards, comes despite a legal challenge by Barclays, supported by Lloyds Banking Group. The watchdog, which worked closely with the UKs regulator the Financial Services Authority and the Financial Services Ombudsman, found that businesses that offer PPI alongside other forms of credit face little or no competition when selling PPI to their credit customers
OTP first quarter profit down, but beats forecasts
OTP, Hungarys largest banking group has beat analayst forecasts with with a fall of only 2 percent in net profit to HUF42.38 billion ($187.7 million) for the first quarter of 2010, from HUF43.34 billion in the year-ago quarter. Net interest income slumped 10 percent to HUF142.63 billion, while risk provisioning remained high at HUF54.48 billion, up 20 percent from the corresponding quarter in 2009
Chase customers can now top up funds via phone
Chase, the retail banking arm of JPMorgan Chase, has rolled out two free mobile banking features to help customers manage their accounts more effectively Customers can now receive a text message within seconds of their current account balance falling below a pre-selected amount – and then instantly transfer funds by sending a text-message reply The Instant Action Text Alerts builds on the popularity of the banks low-balance account alerts, which were sent to customers daily at close of business
HDFC begins move to EMV credit cards
HDFC is the latest bank to foray into the EMV compliant sector with the launch of 500,000 credit cards to its premium-segment customers Indias second largest private sector bank will launch 500,000 EMV-compliant cards to its premium segment in the initial phase of the roll-out as the bank migrates from standard magnetic stripe formats to chip-based smart cards
M-Pesa, Equity Bank agree joint venture
M-Pesa is extending its reach into the banking market after teaming up with Kenyas Equity Bank to allow customers to transfer money to and from their account via their mobile phone The new account, called M-Kesho, has been hailed as the ultimate bank account by the bank and offers the countrys 9.5 million M-Pesa users access to mobile microsavings, loans, insurance and recent transaction activity
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Crédit Agricole rethinks Emporiki restructuring
Crdit Agricole’s international retail banking unit posted a net loss of 97m as its loss-making Greek subsidiary, Emporiki, weighed on the results Frances largest retail bank more than doubled net profit for the first quarter of 2010 to 470m ($596m), from 202m in the comparable period of 2009 The bank said it was reviewing Emporikis restructuring plan after the European Union and the International Monetary Fund launched a bailout plan for Greece
StanChart’s iPhone app is a Breeze!
Standard Chartered (StanChart), the UK-based but emerging markets focused lender, has launched Breeze, an iPhone application that allows customers to send the worlds first e-cheque Customers can write and issue cheques using their mobile phone alongside regular features such as paying bills, transferring funds and managing finances Aman Narain, StanCharts head of remote banking told RBI: Breeze is definitely very interesting for us
Garanti credit card to offer points in gold
Garanti, Turkeys largest bank by market capitalisation has joined forces with Atasay Jewelry to launch the worlds first credit card that allows customers to redeem bonus points in gold The Golden Bonus credit card is an addition to the banks existing Bonus Card that allows consumers to exchange accumulated Bonus points for goods and services Customers can track the accumulated gold value on statements and redeem their gold in Atasay stores or the companys distributors in Turkey or add the value to their Bonus Card points
ANZ to sponsor Rugby World Cup 2011
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) has become a worldwide partner and official sponsor of the Rugby World Cup 2011, the bank said in a statement The Rugby World Cup fits well with ANZ given the passion for the game and its presence in our key markets in Asia Pacific, said Mike Smith, the chief executive of the bank ANZ is the fourth partner to be signed up alongside credit card group MasterCard, Emirates airlines and Heineken, but financial deals of the sponsorship were not disclosed
Virgin Money knocked out of RBS auction
The UKs Virgin Money is out of the race to buy the 318 Royal Bank of Scotlands (RBS) branches being sold by the majority-state owned lender, after being told informally it was excluded from the auction on 7 May But RBI understands that the financial arm of entrepreneur Richard Bransons Virgin will now pursue organic growth, with the aim of building a 70-strong branch network over the next 3 or 4 years