retail banking

According to the reports by the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag the chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland said that the ban aims to put the conditions in place for the British government to start selling its 83 percent stake in the bank next year. While the sale "won't be conducted in one go," it still should be started, believes Chief Executive Stephen Hester.

"But I would be disappointed if there would not be the first steps toward privatization next year," he added.

£1 billion investment is planned to be made by Barclays in the global retail banking operations over the following years in a move to complete its branch network overhaul and implement new technologies.

The UK bank created a Global Retail Banking division late last year as part of a major organisational shake-up, putting former Barclaycard boss Antony Jenkins in charge.

Jenkins said that the company plans to add up to four million retail customers by 2013, expanding in all 21 markets in which Barclays operates.

A new study conducted by Retail Banking Research (RBR) China has recorded 208,000 ATMs by the end of 2009. Above the previous year the number increased by a record 42,000 units, beating by some margin the 36,000 increase in 2008. The growth occurred in spite of the slowdown in the global and national economy.

UK largest retail bank and mortgage lender Lloyds reported this week that its losses reduced in 2009 even though it was hit by $37 billion in soared loans, mostly assets inherited from rival HBOS.

The bank says it sees improvements this year with impairments continuing to reduce at the rate it saw between the first and second half of 2009. It means that bad debts will drop to about 15 billion pounds this year.

The Australian bank Westpac announced the appointment of retail and business banking chief Peter Hanlon as group executive for people and transformation with responsibility for modernising the Australian bank's technology and streamlining processes for customers. 

Meantime, Hanlons position of group executive for retail and business banking will be occupied by Rob Coombe, former BT Financial Group chief executive.

The National Customer Satisfaction Index drops slightly for a second straight quarter, now 72.8 on a 100-point scale. The decline is a result of an overall loss of customer satisfaction in the financial services sector.

Retail banking, mortgage lending and credit card services all show declining customer satisfaction in Q3; only home and motor insurance remains steady. Among individual companies, decliners outnumber gainers: 32% have improved NCSI scores this year, 50% decline and another 18% are unchanged.

 An Internet payments services provider PayPal announced the appointment of three new executives to its staff. John McCabe will occupy the seat of senior vice president of worldwide operations for PayPal. Ed Eger was appointed as a senior vice president of transaction management. Renier Lemmens will lead PayPal’s business in Europe. All three executives will report to PayPal President Scott Thompson.