Banks must rethink digital banking says Accenture
Surprising changes in customer behaviour suggests that banks need to revisit their approach to branch banking and digital services, according to a new study by Accenture.
Retail Banking
Back-office legacy still holding back banks
Setting up a bank in the UK is costly, time-consuming, heavily regulated and not easy. As a result, the dynamic, start-up culture that drives innovation in many other sectors is less prevalent within banking and financial services.
Mobile banking to overtake online within five years
Analyst firm Juniper Research reckons more people will be using mobile apps for banking than web-based options by 2019, as the 800 million people who used their phones for banking more than doubles to 1.75 billion in five years.
Branches could blossom as transactions move to digital channels
Banks are continuing to spend money on branches, but they are dramatically changing their role to become centres for sale-oriented advice rather than service-oriented transactions, driven by the rapid growth of digital banking.
Banca Popolare di Bari in branch refresh with NCR
Italy’s Banca Popolare di Bari has chosen ATM manufacturer NCR to help it revitalise its branch network with a new set of systems that it says will help to cut queues and better connect with customers.
Fairbanking Foundation launches fair banking challenge
The Fairbanking Foundation, a non-profit charity focused on improving the financial health of consumers, has launched a drive to encourage banking providers to improve their products and achieve an additional 15 Fairbanking Mark certifications from the Foundation by October 2015.
BBA calls on Bank of England to protect challenger banks
The BBA has called for regulators to do more to improve competition in UK retail banking by making changes to the way payments, capital, access to funding and proportionality of regulation are handled and opening up more opportunities for challenger banks.
Banks must educate consumers about fraud says Aite
Banks need to do more to educate consumers about the ways in which they may be exposing themselves to fraud risks, according to a new report by Aite Group using data from ACI Worldwide, which notes that one in four consumers has been victimised by card fraud in the past five years.
Bank of England tackles “critical” cybercrime attacks
A major new effort spearheaded by the Bank of England and the UK Treasury has been launched to shore up the cyber defences of the UK financial services industry, amid rising concerns that testing has exposed serious unaddressed weaknesses.
Yapi Kredi targets ‘branchless banking’ revolution in Turkey
Turkish bank Yapi Kredi has partnered with mobile money specialist Monitise to develop branchless banking’ services in which the consumer can open an account and carry out all their transactions without the need for physical locations.
Card costs still too high say retailers
Despite falling costs, banks are continuing to charge “unjustifiable” fees that rip off retailers and consumers as they move away from cash towards debit cards and other forms of payment, according to the British Retail Consortium’s Payments Survey for 2013.
Kazakh Eurasian Bank unveils mobile banking
Kazakhstan’s Eurasian Bank has launched a mobile banking service which offers basic mobile banking features to Kazakh, Russian and English=speaking customers.
Forget ‘mobile first’: are we heading for mobile-only banking?
The speed at which the mobile market evolves is staggering. Just as we started to look at mobile first, where banks need to align their services and strategies to cater for mobile before desktop or other traditional channels, the notion of mobile-only is now creeping to the fore.
What next for the ATM?
Given that bank customers are unlikely to increase significantly their usage of ATMs and now that opportunities to deploy large numbers of additional dispensers are limited, what does the future hold for the ATM and where does its next phase of growth lie?
Emirates NBD launches tablet banking for priority customers
Emirates NBD has launched a tablet banking service, which it says makes it the first bank in the Middle East to offer tablet-based financial planning. Launched for the bank’s priority banking relationship managers and wealth management advisors, the new apps allow them to access customer information using their tablets.
Swedbank begins Baltic ATM revamp
Swedish regional bank Swedbank is planning to roll out new ATM applications for 206 branches across the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. The company will also upgrade more than 150 of its ATMs as part of a new multi-channel banking strategy.
HSBC installs free wi-fi in UK branches
HSBC has installed free Wi-Fi in 650 of its UK branches, bringing the bank into line with Barclays, which introduced free Wi-Fi in February 2013. Both banks signed deals with BT to provide the connectivity, which is managed by BT as a white label service.
Fair treatment of customers lies at heart of future says FCA director
New UK regulator the Financial Conduct Authority has made a good start in its first year of life and has helped to contributed to a “sea change” in the way conduct is viewed and treated by financial institutions, according to Clive Adamson, director of supervision at the FCA.
Santander well ahead in UK account switching race
Santander is emerging as the main beneficiary of the battle to attract UK current account holders while NatWest and HSBC are losing ground, according to the monthly TNS Current Account Switching Index data for April.
Regulation is holding back innovation says building society chief
There is a danger that regulation will push financial services so far down the path of homogeneity that it hinders innovation and hurts customers, warns Robin Fieth, chief executive at the Building Societies Association.
Commercial Bank of Qatar adopts Experian credit risk tools
Commercial Bank of Qatar has implemented a new tool from Experian into its credit risk team, which it says will help it to automate customer scoring and decision making on loans and credit cards.
Santander ‘superwallet’ targets m-commerce
Banking Group Santander has added m-commerce to its mobile banking and payment app, in a development it is claiming as the world’s first ‘superwallet’.
UK account switching service gathers momentum
More than half a million UK consumers have switched their current accounts since September, according to new figures released by the UK Payments Council. The figures have been described as positive, but market observers remain cautious over whether or not they can be sustained and whether the UK authorities are doing enough to promote innovation.
Redesigning the retail bank, the Fidor way
Banks must take note of the way that technology is changing how customers interact with the world around them and develop products and services that address their needs rather than the banks’.
Banks – “Don’t Panic”, says Wells Fargo’s Ellis
The banking industry is complex by its nature but banks and bankers should look up from their budgets, listen to their customers, stop whining about regulations and collaborate on industry issues.
UK mobile banking doubles in a year
UK consumers have doubled the amount of transactions they make on their mobile phones over the last year, according to new figures released by the BBA.
Banking in the Digital World
While established banks struggle with their legacy systems, smaller players and new entrants are quickly adopting new technologies – but there are some trends in digital banking that are being slowly adopted by the banking industry as a whole.
Why banks need a chief mobility officer
Mobility has risen to such a level of importance that many people believe it deserves its own C-level position to advance and align mobility strategy throughout the enterprise. In no other industry is this more pressing than in banking where financial institutions are increasingly using mobile apps to set themselves apart from their rivals.
Accenture launches Indonesian innovation centre in Jakarta
A new financial services innovation centre in Indonesia is aiming to capitalise on rising levels of mobile penetration and interest from banks and other financial services providers in new technologies and business opportunities in the country.
Bank of England live on Swift’s MIRS contingency platform
The Bank of England has become the first central bank to go live with an implementation of the Market Infrastructure Resiliency Service contingency system it has been piloting with Swift over the past few years.
The name’s Paym – UK Payments Council names mobile service
The mobile payments system planned by the UK Payments Council will be branded Paym. The Council says that it will announce the go-live date next month and final testing is on track.
TSB to boost ATM network by 10%
TSB is increasing the size of its ATM estate by more than 10% as it works to transform its retail banking network in the wake of its de-merger from Lloyds Banking Group last year.
Why Yahoo’s malware attack is hitting banks hard
At the end of last year, Yahoo was hit by a malware attack. It affected over two million clients, mainly in Romania, Great Britain, France, Italy and Spain, putting their personal data at risk. Upon visiting the website between 27 December and 3 January, users received advertisements, some of which were malicious and infected users’ devices without even a click.
Znap puts merchants at heart of mobile commerce revolution
Mobile payment isn’t about reinventing the wheel – it’s about making merchants and customers’ lives better by establishing a relationship built on knowledge and trust, according to mobile payments platform Znap.
“Technology tail wagging the strategy dog” in retail banking says Celent
Bitcoin, gamification and Personal Financial Management are “generating more heat than light” in debates about the future of retail banking and banks should not be distracted from other major challenges including digital channels and legacy transformation.
Getin goes for biometric signature verification in virtual branch roll-out
Poland’s Getin Bank has implemented biometric signature verification in a roll-out of unstaffed remote branches using Virtual Teller Machines under its Getin Point brand. The technology allows customers to carry out banking tasks that require a signature without having to go to a traditional branch.
Financial services looking up, down Mexico way
After many years of struggle, Mexicans may be about to snatch the crown of Latin America’s most promising financial services market from their Portuguese-speaking cousins in Brazil.
Banning foreign banks from the UK? What about the technology?
The Prudential Regulatory Authority has set out a series of requirements for non-EU banks who want to do business in the UK.
In addition to the regulatory system changes, what would the technological and infrastructure challenges of such a ruling be?
MasterCard and Syniverse launch “not just another” mobile payment service
MasterCard has partnered with mobile technology specialist Syniverse under an audacious plan that aims at nothing less than “bringing mobile financial services to every single mobile user on the planet”.
Raincoats, taxis and the future of banking
What do taxis, the weather, mobile wallets and raincoats have in common? They are all potential variables in determining a person’s daily spend – and they provide a great opportunity for banks to use data to save customers money, according to Aman Narain, global head of digital banking Singapore at Standard Chartered.
