All articles by Hugh Fasken
Hugh Fasken
A big deal
Last year was a period rich in banking mergers and acquisitions, including the biggest to date the $103 billion ABN AMRO purchase by the Royal Bank of Scotland-Santander-Fortis consortium
$2.6bn HDFC strike suggests more Indian bank mergers to come
HDFC Bank, Indias second-largest private sector bank by market value after ICICI, has made a $2.6 billion takeover bid for Indian rival Centurion Bank of Punjab The deal, if completed, will be the largest bank takeover to date in India and could pave the way for a wave of consolidation ahead of the countrys anticipated 2009 relaxation of rules regarding the takeover of local banks by foreigners.The Centurion deal, which is subject to shareholder and regulatory approval, would result in HDFC becoming the first Indian private sector bank to surpass 1,000 branches (currently HDFC Bank has 754 branches)
Strong growth in CEE cards use
New research on debit and credit card use in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) between 2004 and 2006 from London-based group Retail Banking Research (RBR) reports that, while debit cards still dominate in the region, the number of credit cards more than tripled in the two-year period to reach 27 million Three countries Russia, Ukraine and Poland account for 70 percent of all cards in the region, and Russia and Ukraine have extended their lead as the largest CEE card markets (74.7 million and 31.4 million cards, respectively, compared with 23.8 million in Poland, 9.5 million in Romania and 9.1 million in the Czech Republic)
The retail banking hotlist
RBI has now released the nominations shortlist for its 2008 international retail banking awards The winners will be announced on the evening of 2 April at the Retail Banking Forum awards ceremony.It has been one of the busier years for the worlds retail banking groups The period has been dominated by the US subprime crisis but the rapid rise and growth of emerging markets such as China, India and Central and Eastern Europe have been wholly significant to the international retail banking industry as well as has the widespread take-up of new technologies such as m-banking.Santander, UniCredit, Standard Chartered, Chase, Toronto-Dominion and BBVA are some of the multiple nominees this year
Western Union pilots consumer loans in bid to diversify earnings
Western Union (WU), the worlds dominant money transfer and remittance player, has made its first foray into mainstream retail banking The company is running a pilot consumer loan scheme for Filipinos working in Hong Kong in conjunction with PrimeCredit, a subsidiary of Standard Chartered, offering them the option to take out a 12- to 18-month instalment loan and then remit the borrowed money via Western Union Money Transfer
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Thinking cardless
At a time when banks are piling more resources into mobile phone-based financial services, Standard Chartered says its new Cardless Cash Withdrawal product for the Indian market is still a world first
A web of opportunities?
The latest World Insurance Report from consultancy Capgemini and the European Financial Management and Marketing Association, published at the end of January, paints a wholly positive picture of retail insurance demand around the world and the opportunities for banks in the retail insurance market.Use of the bancassurance channel is growing globally, for instance, as are joint ventures, particularly in emerging markets such as India and China.But there are warnings, for both insurance companies and banks: in many markets, while consumer take-up of insurance is rising, customer loyalty is sliding, fuelled largely by ever-greater online competition as well as stiffer consumer regulation
SocGen tries to remain independent
Could the country undergo the same sort of consolidation that has transformed Italy over the past two years? Given the threat to consumer choice and competition in France if other French banks swallow SocGen, the political wall the French establishment has quickly erected to deter any foreign interest and, now, the discounted rights issue SocGen announced on 11 February, a sale of SocGen seems unlikely unless more subprime-related losses or even deeper embarrassments are revealed Executive chairman Daniel Bouton, under fire over the lack of effective risk management at SocGens trading division, has insisted the bank can remain independent.Amine Tarazi, head of banking research centre LAPE at Limoges University, said BNP Paribas or Italys UniCredit were credible contenders to take on SocGens retail division
Bank of America rescues Countrywide
Bank of Americas $4 billion all-share purchase of Countrywide Financial could be the first of a number of heavyweight mergers or acquisitions in a US market bracing itself for sweeping changes in the wake of the subprime collapse
ING sings the praises of F1 branding deal
ING has reported that its year-old global branding deal with the Renault Formula One (F1) team, coupled with on-track advertising at F1 races, has resulted in a 7 percent boost in consumer perception of it being a leading global financial services firm and a 25 percent overall increase in a positive perception of the bank.