Of Special Interest
Filters
- Newslink Trends-The Global Strategic Perspective
- Juniper Research says digital wallet users to exceed 4.4 billion by 2025, as mobile drives digital payments’ revolution
- Criminals exploit COVID-19 pandemic with rise in scams targeting victims online
- Equifax says Open Banking proving pivotal to pandemic lending
- Consumer confidence in banks, credit card providers and investments remain stable as demand supercharges digital finance says Toluna research
- Mintos says Europeans are starting to embrace investing
- US banks see IT modernisation as a way to improve customer experience
- Risk mitigation in global trade depends on digitisation-Andrew Raymond, CEO, Bolero International comments
- Juniper Research new study says the volume of B2B payments facilitated by non-banks will exceed 53 billion in 2022, from a COVID-related low of 38 billion in 2020
- CMA issues fifth publication over 3 years of the service quality league table of personal and business current account providers
- Barclays says scammers take advantage of COVID-19, cashing in on nations’ uncertainty
- S&P Global report says financial market infrastructure sector's earnings likely to cool off In second half
- Global banking market capitalisation slumps by over 30% amid pandemic says Buyshares research
- Digital wallet spend in Europe & North America to increase by 40% in 2019, finds study
- Juniper forecasts mobile money transactions will exceed 200 billion by 2024
- Banks can save the world from climate change, says former UN climate chief
- Research by NatWest reveals gender divide over attitudes to saving
- Europe’s big bank problem: too much capital is trapped in the US, says Scope
- Later-Life lending market set to almost double in the next 10 years, finds report
- Barclays/Cebr report challenges nation to think differently about wealth
- Fifth of UK investors looking to debt investment, new research reveals
- Regtech will play a more important role in PSD2, says Mitek
- Banks turn to Fintech partnerships to improve customer experience, finds Fraedom
- New industry code to tackle fraud must deliver, says Which?
- New TTF report highlights loss of trust in financial services
- Arxan highlights financial app vulnerability epidemic
- SAS asks whether banks really need to choose between operations and innovation
- Which? raises alarm as almost 1,700 free ATMs become fee-charging
- Financial wellness affects half of peoples’ mental or physical health, finds report
- Study finds traditional financial institutions embrace Fintech disruption
- Grass is greener for environmentally friendly businesses, finds Barclays
- Prospective homeowners would consider a 40-year mortgage to escape renting, finds Santander
- Millennials’ needs are changing the face of banking industry, says new report
- FS is putting consumer data at risk by failing to protect mobile apps, says Arxan
- A lack of belief in their ability holds 28% women back in work, says Cambridge & Counties
- ‘Which?’ reveals Scotland has lost over a third of its bank branches in eight years
- Next downturn unlikely to be as bad as 2008, according to S&P
- FCA reveals findings from first cryptoassets consumer research
- US consumers favour single mobile app for banking and payments
- Banks suffering major IT shutdowns every day, ‘Which?’ reveals
- The US will be a key offshore centre in 2019, says GlobalData
- Debit industry changes markedly in 10 years of the Debit Issuer Study
- UK's ‘Big Five’ face ‘too big to compete’ as small challengers secure stellar returns
- Banks as vulnerable now as before crash, says new study
- Leverage ratio a constant conundrum for European and US banks, says SNL
11th September 2012
UK retail banks promise reform and more SME lending
Opinion
UK retail banks are seeking to improve their reputation. There have been a number of recent speeches and announcements.
Last week António Horta-Osório, CEO of Lloyds Banking, suggested in a speech that retail banks in the UK had lost their way and needed to return to old values. He said"..."Issue-by-issue and scandal-by-scandal the faith and trust in our industry has been eroded. Why? Because I believe that many banks lost sight of their core values and became complacent, non-customer-focused and inefficient,".
He added that a fundamentally different approach was required. This included changing to how banks serve their customers and pay employees at all levels. He was speaking shortly after Lloyds was severely criticised for the bonuses it awarded for sale of Payment Protection Insurance and the announcement of a wider enquiry into retail bank bonuses particularly those related to boosting sales. Speaking in New York on Monday Antony Jenkins, new Barclays CEO, stated, “Our ability to build a franchise over time depends on our reputation,” [See separate article 'No sudden changes to Barclays Capital'].
Royal Bank of Scotland announced more availability of loans to mid-sized corporates at a lower price using government money. RBS is to offer fixed or variable rate loans to UK manufacturers with turnover between £25m and £500m of between £250,000 and £25m million pounds over 3 to 5 years with the possibility of deferring capital repayments for two years. The fixed rates are 2.75% and 3.2%. The scheme uses the latest government initiative which funds the banks at just 0.25% via the Bank of England. Banks can borrow up to 5% of their current lending at this rate and then more on a pound for pound basis dependent on their growth of qualifying business lending.
In another scheme Britain's six largest retail banks are to refer businesses they have turned down for small loans to Community Development Financial Associations(CDFAs). The banks are not seeking commissions and just trying to be 'good citizens'. It is pointed out that many businesses are not aware of alternative sources of finance including the CDFAs which mainly operate in the more deprived areas of cities. The pilot is due to start before year end in five areas of the country. In addition to the banks the British Bankers Association is helping with the initiative.