All articles by Hugh Fasken
Hugh Fasken
UK bank charges debate heats up
Already under pressure from a weakening domestic market and volatile global credit conditions, leading UK banking groups such as HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays now face the prospect of paying back billions of pounds in fees if a consumer-fuelled ruling that they have been overcharging customers for years goes against them The UKs Office of Fair Trading (OFT), a government department, has been given the go-ahead to assess the fairness of overdraft and other charges levied by UK financial institutions following a High Court judges ruling that the fees are subject to Unfair Terms in Consumer Contract Regulations (UTCCR). However, the 119-page judgement, which made no pronouncement itself on the fairness of the charges, did contain some good news for an industry which remains unswerving in its belief that the charges are reasonable.
Banking@Work
In international terms, one of the most underutilised distribution channels remains the workplace In the US, much further advanced than other markets, workplace banking is a mainstream distribution channel and not just in core product lines such as pensions and life insurance With its Bank@Work service, US giant Citi has one of the more developed workplace banking programmes
Dial M for money
Financial services and payments via mobile phones continues to be a key global trend, particularly in emerging economies such as India The development of the market, however, is proving to be an opportunity not just for banks but also, increasingly, mobile phone operators and network providers News that State Bank of India (SBI), the countrys largest retail bank with 10,000 branches, is to roll out a transactional m-banking product in the next few months will cement Indias status as a modern mobile banking hub
Capital punishment
Wachovias $7 billion capital injection on 14 April was seen as the biggest shock in a nervous first quarter reporting season but not any more News has begun circulating that both JPMorgan Chase and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) are also looking to raise capital, $6 billion for JPMorgan Chase and anything up to $24 billion for RBS
Who needs banks?
Less than two years old and the global person-to-person lending market is already big news, despite the fact that lending volumes remain a fraction of mainstream retail bank loans A new report published by VRL KnowledgeBank suggests P2P lenders will face many challenges in the fight for business The beauty of P2P lies in its relative simplicity: using the internet to connect people who want to borrow with people who want to lend
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Santander, GE Money swap focus with £1bn consumer finance deal
Santander and GE Money have agreed a 1 billion ($1.58 billion) asset swap that will see the Spanish group acquire significant parts of GE Moneys European consumer finance operation
Massive fee gains for China’s banks
Fee and commission income gains of 137 percent, 110 percent and 92 percent in 2007 from Bank of Communications (BoCom), Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC) and Bank of China (BOC), respectively, have again highlighted the striking banking opportunities in China.The countrys largest, third-largest and fifth-largest banking groups by assets reported very robust annual figures overall: ICBCs profit after tax was CNY82.3 billion ($11.74 billion), up 64.9 percent; BOCs was CNY56.29 billion, up 31.33 percent; and BoComs was CNY20.3 billion, up 65 percent
The era of the decoupled debit card?
A recent study by researcher Aite Group in the US pointed towards a healthy consumer market for decoupled debit cards Attractive rewards schemes will attract customers, concluded the group; however, there remain several challenges to overcome before these products make it into the financial mainstream.Decoupled debit schemes are card products that can be linked to any bank account with transactions being routed through automated clearing house (ACH) networks
Best of the best
Santander has scooped the top honour at RBIs industry awards Retail Bank of the Year It also got the award for Best M&A Deal for its swift sale of Banca Antonveneta in the aftermath of the ABN AMRO takeover JPMorgan Chase, UniCredit and Standard Chartered each won regional awards for excellence
Full steam ahead
In its 150th year, it made a record profit of $14.2 billion, was instrumental in the $103 billion takeover of ABN AMRO and, according to its own figures, now runs the largest international branch network Hugh Fasken talks to its CEO, Alfredo Senz.When asked about the sale of Banca Antonveneta for a 3 billion ($4.74 billion) profit just days after buying it, Alfredo Senz, CEO of Santander, says: No, we have no regrets at all