All articles by Farah Halime
Farah Halime
Accenture and SAS strike analytics deal
Edwin Van der Ouderaa, global managing director of financial services analytics at Accenture, and Duncan Ash, financial services marketing manager at SAS, tell Farah Halime about the venture.
Wells Fargo shuts 638 stores & subprime lending unit
The bank said that after its 2008 merger, its customers have access to 6,600 Wells Fargo and Wachovia community bank stores and 2,200 Wells Fargo home mortgage locations, abolishing the need for a separate network of financial offices David Kvamme, president of Wells Fargo Financial said: The economics of a separate Wells Fargo Financial channel are no longer viable, especially now that our customers have access to the largest banking and mortgage store network in the United States.
Rumours Barclays to buy SunTrust resurface
Barclays, the UKs second largest bank by assets, has refused to comment on speculation that it is looking at acquiring the US-based retail bank SunTrust. Reports that the bank wants to spend £12bn on SunTrust have re-emerged after being linked to buying a large US retail bank in March
US billionaire invests $100m in Sun Bancorp
Wilbur Ross, the billionaire investor, is to take a 25% stake in New Jersey-based Sun Bancorp strengthening the banks primary subsidiary, Sun National Bank Ross, who invested in Richard Bransons Virgin Money to boost its chances of becoming a full-service retail bank in April, is reported to have said that he expects thousands of US banks to fail as a result of the economic downturn His private equity company, WL Ross & Co, and the banks largest shareholder, the Brown Family have agreed to invest $100m to strengthen the banks capital base
QNB interim net profit rises 31%
Qatar National Bank (QNB), the Gulf states biggest lender by market capitalisation, posted a 30.8% jump in net profits to QAR2.7bn ($741.5m) for the six months ending June 2010, from QAR2.1bn in the year-ago period, after a boost in loans and customer deposits Total loans were up by QAR34.7bn, or 41.9%, to QAR117.6bn from QAR82.9bn for the six months to the end of June 2009, while total customer deposits also jumped 35.4% higher to QAR139.2bn (2009: 102.8bn) The banks chief executive, Ali Shareef Al Emadi, said the results reflect the success of QNBs strategic objectives and international expansion plans, with a priority on enhancing customer products and services
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EPC publishes m-payments White Paper
The European Payments Council (EPC), the coordination and decision-making making body of the European payments industry, sees the mobile channel as the ideal launch pad in the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) according to its latest White Paper
BBVA customers spend 20m minutes online with managers
BBVA, Spains second biggest bank by market capitalisation, is revelling in the success of its latest online campaign after its customers spent 20m minutes online with branch managers Take advantage of your bank, an online campaign designed to act as a meeting point for customers and managers across the banks 3,000-branch network, attracted more than 8.7m views since its launch on 8 May
FA to lose Nationwide sponsorship of England
Nationwide Building Society will not renew its sponsorship of the England team at the end of July after a four-year contract with the Football Association (FA) Nationwide told RBI its £20m ($30.3m) sponsorship of the England team had been extremely successful over the past 11 seasons and has significantly raised the profile of the organisation
Piraeus Bank launches Greece’s first stand-alone direct bank
Piraeus Bank is to target the Greek consumer banking market with the launch of the countrys first stand-alone online bank, Winbankdirect Winbankdirect is an extension of the banks existing electronic banking channel Winbank, which has signed up more than 150,000 customers
Chase turns focus to affluent retail customers
Chase, the retail unit of JPMorgan Chase, has unveiled plans to dramatically expand the banks relationship with affluent customers to boost assets and double pre-tax profits