Europe Intelligence Wire articles from April 2006

Europe Intelligence Wire archives from April 2006

Credit Suisse rolls out second Win a House promotion.
April 30, 2006... (From Bank Marketing International) Citing high customer interest and raised brand awareness, Credit Suisse has rolled out its second Win a House competition. The first campaign was launched in May 2005 (see BMI 177, 183) and, according...

ARAB EQUITIES: Living with the Gulf stock market meltdown.
April 30, 2006... (From Private Banker International) A crash of Gulf stock markets may turn Arab investors back to the global financial markets and Western investments, reversing the trend towards investing locally. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab...

Fidelity starts sponsored blog on Amazon.com.
April 30, 2006... (From Bank Marketing International) Fidelity Investments, the US investment giant and diversified financial services group, has begun sponsoring a personal finance channel on Amazon.com, bringing together the world's largest retail fund...

Sweden's ForeningsSparbanken looks to rebrand as Swedbank.
April 30, 2006... (From Bank Marketing International) ForeningsSparbanken, Sweden's fourth-largest financial services group by assets, says it is looking to unify its brand portfolio into a single name as it expands internationally. At the group's annual...

NEWS DIGEST: Norwich Union commits 50 million to UK athletics.
April 30, 2006... (From Bank Marketing International) Aviva, the UK-based bancassurer which operates under the Norwich Union brand in the UK, has signed the biggest sports sponsorship deal in UK history outside football. Norwich Union and UK Athletics have...

BofA's Keep The Change a success.
April 30, 2006... (From Bank Marketing International) Six months after it was launched, Bank of America's (BofA) Keep The Change savings product has attracted 2 million US consumers and over $60 million in deposits, the bank has reported (see BMI 182). ...

NEWS DIGEST: ABN AMRO starts to target rural areas.
April 30, 2006... (From Bank Marketing International) ABN AMRO has signed a deal with a Dutch social charity called Dorpspunt to offer banking service in what the bank describes as "thinly populated areas". Dorpspunt is a social initiative focusing on...

NEWS DIGEST: UK's Barclays signs up Teradata CRM.
April 30, 2006... (From Bank Marketing International) A month after it signed a deal with Dutch group ABN AMRO in Asia (see BMI 187), Teradata, a division of NCR, has announced that the UK's third-largest retail bank, Barclays, has implemented the...

NEWS DIGEST: MBNA launches co-branded card for US lesbian community.
April 30, 2006... (From Bank Marketing International) Olivia, the world's largest lesbian lifestyle company, and Bank of America's MBNA division have announced the signing of a joint marketing agreement under which Olivia will immediately begin offering...

New logo, tag line at Standard Bank.
April 30, 2006... (From Bank Marketing International) Standard Bank, South Africa's largest retail bank, has announced it is rejigging its brand and tag line to better communicate its new group vision of "making a real difference" with its customers,...

NEWS DIGEST: Credit Agricole rolls out environment-focused products.
April 30, 2006... (From Bank Marketing International) Credit Agricole, France's largest retail bank, has announced plans to launch a range of 12 environment-related products and services to underpin its new market positioning as 'the lifetime bank for its...

NEWS DIGEST: SocGen rolls out innovative corporate ad campaign.
April 30, 2006... (From Bank Marketing International) Societe Generale (SocGen), France's third-largest bank, has started an international marketing campaign, running a new series of ads focusing on group performance and its recent brand consolidation...

A five-star service from US Bank.
April 30, 2006... (From Bank Marketing International) US Bank, the US's sixth-largest retail bank, has begun a major new branding and advertising campaign in the US based around its well-known Five Star Service Guarantee. The bank says it wants to attract...

REWARDS PROGRAMMES - NATIONAL CITY: Getting the point.
April 30, 2006... (From Bank Marketing International) National City, headquartered in Ohio, is the 12th-largest financial services group in the US and provides a full range of banking and financial services. Looking to grow its retail banking market share...

BBVA looks to create global remittance network.
April 30, 2006... (From Bank Marketing International) BBVA has signed remittance deals with both India's ICICI Bank and Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) as it continues towards its goal of creating a global remittance network catering for the growing...

CAMPAIGN OF THE MONTH: 'Free and easy' marketing blitz by WaMu.
April 30, 2006... (From Bank Marketing International) Seattle-based Washington Mutual, the US's largest thrift and eighth- largest financial services group overall, has rolled out a highly competitive new current account and a comprehensive marketing and...

STANDARD CHARTERED: Retail is detail: a branded experience.
April 30, 2006... (From Bank Marketing International) Standard Chartered has made a concerted effort in key Asia-Pacific markets to turn its branches into places it says people actually want to visit, and has borrowed tricks from the retailing profession...

Citigroup launches Citibank Direct.
April 30, 2006... (From Bank Marketing International) The direct banking market in the US, relatively underdeveloped compared with countries such as the UK, Ireland and Australia (see cover story, BMI 182), has been given a huge boost following the launch...

KeyCorp reports increasing use of investment podcasts.
April 30, 2006... (From Bank Marketing International) McDonald Investments, a unit of the US's KeyCorp that provides banking, trust and investment solutions for the US affluent market, has reported that use of its market insight and investment advice...

NEWS BRIEF: Absa signs PIC as TRIAD consultant.
April 30, 2006... (From Bank Marketing International) Absa, South Africa's second-largest retail bank, has signed a strategy consulting agreement with Cape Town-based PIC Solutions to support its Customer Management TRIAD system. The TRIAD system, from...

NEWS BRIEF: Barclays relaunches business awards.
April 30, 2006... (From Bank Marketing International) Barclays, the UK's third-largest bank, has started promoting its second Barclays Trading Places Awards, a UK awards programme aimed at rewarding small business entrepreneurs. The hope, said the bank, is...

CAPITALIA: The new DNA for Capitalia.
April 30, 2006... (From Bank Marketing International) In July 2005, Capitalia, Italy's fourth-largest financial services group, announced sweeping reforms to its business. One of these was a branch-focused project called Delta2, which involved redesigning...

LOYALTY PROGRAMMES - GERMANY: WestLB joins German loyalty scheme.
April 30, 2006... (From Bank Marketing International) WestLB has become a key player in Germany's leading loyalty card programme, Payback. The initial stage has turned the highly popular Payback card into a simple payment instrument - the longer-term focus...

NEWS DIGEST: Countrywide pledges $1 million to US military personnel.
April 30, 2006... (From Bank Marketing International) Countrywide Financial, the US's largest mortgage lender with $500 billion in originations, has announced it is extending its support of Rebuilding Together's Serving Those Who Serve initiative for at...

NEWS DIGEST: Wells Fargo first to accept Colombian ID.
April 30, 2006... (From Bank Marketing International) Wells Fargo, the US's fifth-largest financial services group, has become the first financial institution to accept Colombia's Consular Registry Card as one of the valid forms of primary identification...

NEWS DIGEST: RBS drops support of Edinburgh Festival.
April 30, 2006... (From Bank Marketing International) Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) has announced it is dropping its support of Edinburgh's famous International Festival (EIF), switching its sponsorship to the Edinburgh International Book Festival instead....

NEWS DIGEST: Japanese consumer finance companies limit TV ads.
April 30, 2006... (From Bank Marketing International) According to local newswire JCNN, seven Japanese consumer finance companies - ACOM, AIFUL, CFJ, GE Consumer Finance, Promise, Sanyo Shinpan Finance and Takefuji - have agreed to self-imposed...

NEWS DIGEST: Absa and Virgin Money form new joint venture.
April 30, 2006... (From Bank Marketing International) Absa, South Africa's second-largest retail bank and majority-owned by Barclays, has formed a joint venture with the UK's Virgin Group which will offer Virgin Money-branded products and services to...

NEWS DIGEST: Iceland's Islandsbanki becomes Glitnir.
April 30, 2006... (From Bank Marketing International) Islandsbanki, Iceland's third-largest bank, has changed its name to Glitnir, adopting a new logo and appearance. The bank's subsidiaries and offices in five countries will also operate under the...

ADVERTISING STRATEGIES - US: Spreading the word.
April 30, 2006... (From Bank Marketing International) Banks competing in the US market maintained similar levels of ad spend in 2005 compared with 2004 - though the top ten still spent some $1.22 billion alone between them. One growth area was spending on...

SPONSORSHIP - FOOTBALL: Visa kicks MasterCard off the pitch.
April 30, 2006... (From Bank Marketing International) In a surprising move, Visa International and the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) have announced a milestone agreement in which Visa will become a FIFA Partner with global...

NEWS DIGEST: HSBC sponsors China's Tsinghua University.
April 30, 2006... (From Bank Marketing International) HSBC is sponsoring a CNY10 million ($1.25 million) research project by Tsinghua University's School of Economics and Management. The research project, analysing the development of the financial market...

SPONSORSHIP - FOOTBALL: HBOS changes the focus of football sponsorship.
April 30, 2006... (From Bank Marketing International) Just as interest in the FIFA World Cup in Germany in June and July grows ever more feverish and banks around the world roll out marketing and product campaigns around the sport of football (see...

Citigroup sets a major strategic shift to onshore private banking.
April 30, 2006... (From Private Banker International) Citigroup Private Bank, whose current business is an overwhelming 85 percent based on offshore banking, is embarking on a strategy of refocusing on client relationships in a range of domestic wealth...

HONG KONG: Sarasin criticised for control failings.
April 30, 2006... (From Private Banker International) Hong Kong regulator, the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has criticised Bank Sarasin, which has been trying to expand aggressively in Asia, for local internal control failings that resulted in...

US: Wealthy plan to step up charitable giving.
April 30, 2006... (From Private Banker International) Donating to charity is now "woven into both the budgets and financial plans" of most affluent households in the US and nearly one-half plan to increase their charitable giving in 2006, according a new...

SWITZERLAND: UBS merges Islamic banking arm.
April 30, 2006... (From Private Banker International) UBS is to absorb its Islamic banking unit, based in the Gulf, into its main wealth operations in order to offer Sharia-compliant financial products worldwide. Services by UBS's Noriba subsidiary in...

GULF: NBAD opening in Geneva.
April 30, 2006... (From Private Banker International) National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD), one of the UAE's biggest banks, is setting up a private banking subsidiary based in Geneva capitalised at CHF100 million. It is also launching an Islamic banking arm...

UBS makes wealth buy in US.
April 30, 2006... (From Private Banker International) To beef up its US franchise and close in on rivals like Merrill Lynch, UBS is to acquire the private client network of Piper Jaffray for at least $500 million in cash. Minneapolis-based Piper Jaffray...

PROFILE - TRUSTS: UK shocks the trust industry.
April 30, 2006... (From Private Banker International) Trusts, the vehicle of choice for the high net worth, are designed to provide stability and reassurance to both settlors and beneficiaries. It should not be a surprise, therefore, that the biggest...

JERSEY AND GUERNSEY: Channel vision.
April 30, 2006... (From Private Banker International) Jersey and Guernsey are in the process of amending their trust laws. Jersey was the first to publish draft legislation in March. Areas covered include reserved powers, exclusion of foreign law...

SWITZERLAND: Swiss collects CHF138 million of EU money.
April 30, 2006... (From Private Banker International) Switzerland has collected CHF138 million ($109 million) in tax from banks in the six months since it began levying tax on foreigners' interest income under agreement with the European Union (EU),...

TRUST REGIMES: Trust wars.
April 30, 2006... (From Private Banker International) The offshore trust market has become increasingly competitive, through jurisdictions passing new legislation and law and trust companies expanding their presence to new centres. The British Virgin...

PROFILE - RBC: RBC's private bank covets global assets.
April 30, 2006... (From Private Banker International) RBC Royal Bank is set on an aggressive expansion programme to bulk up assets muscle in its global private banking operation. Its first acquisition since 2002 is a sign of new ambitions, including...

The asset gathering leverage kings.
April 30, 2006... (From Private Banker International) While UBS and Credit Suisse get the plaudits for generating huge amounts of net new money, a range of other European players are equally effective at gathering assets at a time when the strength of...

SPECIAL SURVEY - ASSET ALLOCATION: New ideas in asset management.
April 30, 2006... (From Private Banker International) The domination of hedge funds in the performance-orientated portfolios of high net worth investors looks to have been broken as conventional equities roar ahead worldwide. So, what's hot, and what's...

ALTERNATIVE ASSETS: Hedge funds hit $1.5 trillion.
April 30, 2006... (From Private Banker International) The hedge fund industry worldwide now manages more than $1.5 trillion of assets worldwide, $300 million of which originates in Europe, according to HedgeFund Intelligence. Its estimate compares with a...

MIDDLE EAST - WEALTH: The great gold rush for Arab clients.
April 30, 2006... (From Private Banker International) Changing client behaviour and the surge in oil wealth is leading private banks to expand their operations in the Middle East. The region, up to now dominated by transient 'briefcase bankers', is giving...

GULF BANKING: Citigroup plans big DIFC presence.
April 30, 2006... (From Private Banker International) Citigroup plans to establish fully licensed offices in the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC), shifting significant businesses, including equity and investment banking teams covering the Middle...

US: Deutsche builds in California.
April 30, 2006... (From Private Banker International) Deutsche Bank has hired two private bankers from UBS to help expand its private banking business in California. Stefan Lendi and Heinz Jaegg have spent 20 years with UBS. The arrival follows hard on the...

WEALTH IN NEW EUROPE: Comparison of mature markets and emerging markets.
April 30, 2006... (From Private Banker International) Comparison of mature EU markets versus emerging EU markets Structure criteria EU15 Emerging EU aggregated ...

WEALTH IN 'NEW' EUROPE: Overall data for emerging EU markets.
April 30, 2006... (From Private Banker International) Overall data for emerging EU markets Structure criteria/region Emerging EU Aggregated HNWI/UHNWI total ...

INVESTING OPPORTUNITIES: Lloyd's - a new alternative asset class?
April 30, 2006... (From Private Banker International) To be a wealthy 'name' at Lloyd's of London was at one time de rigueur for UK high net worth investors until the market's great meltdown. Nigel Hanbury, CEO at Hampden Agencies, contends that Lloyd's...

PROFILE - NEW EUROPE: Tapping a new clientele.
April 30, 2006... (From Private Banker International) Following the accession of ten new countries to the European Union (EU) in May 2004, the continent's population ballooned to 460 million. These emerging EU markets will have significantly higher growth...

PBI DIARY: I'm the only gay in the village.
April 30, 2006... (From Private Banker International) Of all the various classes of banking, it has long been said that private banking has been the easiest one for gay people to be accepted into. Other areas, particularly the high-testosterone world...

PBI DIARY: More millionaires.
April 30, 2006... (From Private Banker International) The number of US millionaires reached a record high in 2005. The number of households which have $1 million in assets, excluding value of, or debt owed, on their main residence, jumped 8 percent in 2005...

PBI DIARY: Pictet lets in the auslander.
April 30, 2006... (From Private Banker International) Pictet & Cie, that youthful 201-year-old Geneva house, is to allow non- Swiss managing directors to invest in the bank for the first time. Aimed partly at preventing staff from defecting to hedge...

Regulation could lead to more account fees.
April 30, 2006... (From Electronic Payments International) The regulatory burden on banks and other payment companies in the UK may be starting to take its toll as a number of inquiries tackle issues such as access and governance and target key revenue...

NEWS DIGEST: Bradesco buys Brazilian Amex operations.
April 30, 2006... (From Electronic Payments International) Brazilian bank Bradesco acquired most of the local operations of American Express (Amex) in March for about BRL1.04 billion ($490 million). Under the terms of the purchase agreement, Bradesco will...

NEWS DIGEST: Atos to operate iDEAL platform.
April 30, 2006... (From Electronic Payments International) Atos Worldline, the payment processing unit of the Paris-based information technology services company Atos Origin, has been selected to operate the acquiring platform for the new online payment...

European Commission cards inquiry targets interchange.
April 30, 2006... (From Electronic Payments International) The European Commission has threatened to bring antitrust actions against banks and card companies in the European Union and to amend the regulatory framework for payment cards to address its...

Working group urges Link to expand owner base.
April 30, 2006... (From Electronic Payments International) The Payment Systems Task Force, which is chaired by the Office of Fair Trading, continued its review of access to, and governance of, the UK's payment systems recommending that the processing...

NEWS DIGEST: LML settles patent disputes.
April 30, 2006... (From Electronic Payments International) LML Payments Systems, a National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations (NASDAQ)-listed provider of cheque processing solutions and services, reached agreements with payment...

NEWS DIGEST: Joint venture to create leading French payments company.
April 30, 2006... (From Electronic Payments International) Two regional banking groups Groupe Banque Populaire and Groupe Caisse d'Epargne, agreed to enter into exclusive negotiations in March aimed at creating a joint venture called Natixis, which will...

NEWS DIGEST: Citibank and 7-Eleven in ATM/deposit services deal.
April 30, 2006... (From Electronic Payments International) Citibank banking customers will have surcharge-free access to ATMs in more than 5,500 7-Eleven convenience stores in 31 states in the US, the two companies announced in April. Citibank will brand...

NEWS DIGEST: Processing joint venture formed in Brazil.
April 30, 2006... (From Electronic Payments International) Fidelity National Information Services (FIS), a US company providing financial processing and outsourcing services, Brazil's Bradesco and Banco ABN AMRO Real, the Brazilian unit of Dutch bank ABN...

NEWS DIGEST: REDtone to sell Mobile Money.
April 30, 2006... (From Electronic Payments International) REDtone International, a Malaysian telecommunications company, has agreed to sell a 93 percent stake in its mobile phone payments subsidiary Mobile Money International (Mobile Money) for MYR14.88...

NEWS DIGEST: Visa USA launches low-value payments campaign.
April 30, 2006... (From Electronic Payments International) Visa USA launched its No Signature Required programme for transactions under $25 in April. The No Signature Required programme is available to merchants in categories where fraud has been...

VeriFone to buy Lipman.
April 30, 2006... (From Electronic Payments International) VeriFone consolidated its leading position in the global electronic point of sale (POS) terminals market by agreeing in April to acquire Lipman Electronic Engineering, an Israel-based rival, for...

NEWS DIGEST: New report outlines principles for remittances.
April 30, 2006... (From Electronic Payments International) The Committee on Payment and Settlement Systems of the Bank for International Settlements (CPSS) and the World Bank released a consultative report on general principles for international remittance...

NEWS DIGEST: BofA and CCB to share ATMs.
April 30, 2006... (From Electronic Payments International) Customers of Bank of America (BofA) and China Construction Bank (CCB) have had free access to each others' ATMs since 1 April. BofA customers using debit or ATM cards can withdraw cash free of...

NEWS DIGEST: Yahoo Japan and Japan Net Bank plan payment service.
April 30, 2006... (From Electronic Payments International) Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) and Yahoo Japan, an internet search and portal company, agreed an alliance in March through which Yahoo Japan will co-operate with Japan Net Bank, an...

NEWS DIGEST: Banamex and McDonald's reduce need for signatures.
April 30, 2006... (From Electronic Payments International) Banco Nacional de Mexico (Banamex), one of Mexico's largest banks and a member of Citigroup, expanded its payment cards acceptance agreement with the McDonald's fast-food chain in Mexico in March...

NEWS DIGEST: Wal-Mart Bank eschews branches.
April 30, 2006... (From Electronic Payments International) Jan Thompson, president of financial services at Wal-Mart, the US retail giant, insisted in April that the retailer's planned bank, to be called Wal-Mart Bank, will not engage in branch banking but...

UK debit card retail spending exceeds cash.
April 30, 2006... (From Electronic Payments International) UK debit card spending in retail outlets exceeded cash spending for the first time in 2005, according to new figures from APACS, the main UK payments association. Debit cards accounted for 37...

NEWS DIGEST: UK businesses prioritise data security.
April 30, 2006... (From Electronic Payments International) Some 90 percent of firms surveyed considered data security important or very important and a strong justification for security expenditure, according to the 2006 Information Security Breaches...

PAYMENT SECURITY - CARD FRAUD: PIN fraud puts chips on the table.
April 30, 2006... (From Electronic Payments International) The largest breach of PIN debit data security to date could usher in profound changes to the US market, which has largely resisted the migration to chip cards and has kept congressional regulation...

Post Office Card Account under threat.
April 30, 2006... (From Electronic Payments International) Royal Mail, the UK's postal administration, as well as the subpostmasters who operate most of the country's 14,500 post office branches under contracts with Royal Mail's Post Office Limited (POL)...

Electronic channels dominate in Korea.
April 30, 2006... (From Electronic Payments International) Electronic money transfer (EMT) transactions via online, mobile or telephone banking channels or via ATMs accounted for 76.6 percent of the 1.25 billion money transfers in South Korea in the fourth...

SMART CARDS - CASH DISPLACEMENT: E-purses lose out as options abound.
April 30, 2006... (From Electronic Payments International) Electronic purse cards were developed to replace cash for low-value payments. However, as new technology and business options emerge to displace cash, electronic purses must adapt to a more...

REGULATION - PAYMENT CARDS: Wanted: cards competition in Europe.
April 30, 2006... (From Electronic Payments International) The European Commission has identified what it says is evidence of barriers to competition in the payment cards market. It has threatened to bring antitrust actions against banks and card companies...

NEWS DIGEST: ABN AMRO and First Data agree merchant processing deal.
April 30, 2006... (From Electronic Payments International) Dutch bank ABN AMRO and US-based payment processor First Data have agreed a five-year merchant acquiring and processing partnership deal. Under the terms of the agreement, First Data will provide...

Industry seeks support for existing SEPA plans.
April 30, 2006... (From Electronic Payments International) The European Payments Council (EPC) responded in April to the European Commission's paper on incentives for the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) by urging the public authorities, such as the...

Link and Eufiserv boost Berlin Group.
April 30, 2006... (From Electronic Payments International) Link, the UK's largest ATM network, and Eufiserv, the pan-European ATM switch operated by Europe's savings banks, joined the Berlin Group in March, taking the number of participating European...