BANKING NEWS FLASH April 16, 2014
Table of Contents Sales & Marketing ...........................................................................................................................3 Finance.............................................................................................................................................7 Technology.....................................................................................................................................11 Strategy ..........................................................................................................................................15
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Sales & Marketing Bank Zachodni WBK transforms mobile banking into m-commerce marketplace April 15, 2014 | BBR http://payments.banking-business-review.com/news/bank-zachodni-wbk-transforms-mobilebanking-into-m-commerce-marketplace-150414-4214735 Bank Zachodni WBK, the biggest bank of the Santander Group in CEE region, embedded an extensive m commerce marketplace into its mobile banking & payment application, creating the World's first superwallet. The new BZWBK24 mobile banking app enables its users in Poland to shop at a variety of merchants embedded in the application. Users can make daily shopping with home delivery, send flowers or buy bus tickets in nearly 30 major cities. Soon to be released: booking flights, hotels, tickets to cinemas, ordering taxis and takeaway food from 1 500+ restaurants. Naturally, the application possesses all the mobile banking functionalities as well, including checking bank account balance or transferring money. Superwallet, together with ecosystem of integrated merchants, was developed by mobile technology company eLeader, and is offered as a white label solution for banks in PaaS model. Our aim is to transform mobile banking into the first choice financial app for smartphone users by helping them in getting daily routines done - says Tomasz Krajewski, Head of M-commerce at eLeader - The newest studies* point out that, above all, users perceive mobile wallets as a way to: buy goods online, pay bills, check bank accounts. All of these and much more can be achieved by one superwallet app. By intermediating in sales process on the m-commerce platform and creating new sales channels, a bank participates in merchant's revenues. In the future, the bank's customers will also be able to take a loan through the app in order to cover their purchases. For customers superwallet is the fastest and the safest way to buy and pay. The purchase is made with one click only and all user's financial data is protected by the bank. Customer does not have to trouble with attaching multiple credit cards, remembering shops' logins or learning their functionalities (all shops and financial services share one unified UI); a delivery address is already stored. Banks have a big advantage over other mobile wallet providers, because in the most cases their app is already installed on a client's phone. Therefore a bank can profit from m ÂŹcommerce and m payments market without having to compete with non-banks' wallets - says Tomasz Krajewski
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Emirates Islamic launches new set of Shari'a compliant MasterCard debit cards April 14, 2014 | BBR http://cards.banking-business-review.com/news/emirates-islamic-launches-new-set-of-shariacompliant-mastercard-debit-cards-140414-4213772 UAE-based Emirates Islamic Bank has rolled out its latest suite of Shari'a compliant MasterCard Debit Cards, designed to meet the needs of various customer segments in the country. The care range, which comprises Titanium, Platinum and World Debit MasterCard products, offers various types of benefits such as exclusive privileges, rewards and hassle free global acceptance at over 35.9 million locations. In order to offer maximum security and make the transaction safe and secure, the bank has added in-built Chip and PIN technology as well as a 3D secure functionality to the cards. The bank also offers cardholders protection against lost or stolen cards, purchase protection and extended warranty. Emirates Islamic consumer wealth management deputy CEO Faisal Aqil said, "In designing these three products, we have taken the time to understand what our customers really want from their cards to ensure we deliver tailored features and benefits." The three new cards are said to offer customers global access to cash as well as the convenience of shopping
BofA Merrill Lynch rolls out CashPro BillPay April 08, 2014 | BBR http://payments.banking-business-review.com/news/bofa-merrill-lynch-rolls-out-cashpro-billpay080414-4210700 Bank of America Merrill Lynch has launched its latest offering CashPro BillPay, to enable small- to medium-sized companies to move to a paper-free payments process that allows more automation, control and precision in payments timing and cash flow. The new payment technology is fully combined with CashPro Online, BofA Merrill's client access channel designed to offer the firm's power through convenient access, with strong security features, to a range of comprehensive capabilities. CashPro BillPay is being offered by BofA Merrill through a relationship with Bill.com. BofA Merrill global treasury product platforms and echannels head Cindy Murray said, "With CashPro BillPay, small- to medium-sized companies now have an easy-to-use payments application that integrates seamlessly with most widely used accounting packages." CashPro BillPay eliminates manual invoice processing and in-house paper check production and can make it simple for companies to move toward a more efficient, paperless operation.
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Leveraging the new payment tool, companies can conveniently upload invoices into the application, route them for approvals and schedule both electronic and paper payments. BofA Merrill global commercial banking transaction services head Galen Robbins said, "When our clients utilize CashPro BillPay, they are able to spend less time managing their manual accounts payable and payments processes and more time focusing on growing their business. "We can help our clients spend less time managing internal processes and more time growing their business and serving their clients." Currently under piloting process, CashPro BillPay will be phased in on a state-by-state basis, with completion throughout the US planned by year-end 2015
SIX Payment Services, MasterCard collaborate on MasterPass in Switzerland April 07, 2014 | BBR http://payments.banking-business-review.com/news/six-payment-services-mastercardcollaborate-on-masterpass-in-switzerland-070414-4209927 SIX Payment Services and MasterCard will jointly provide the wallet payment platform MasterPass for card issuing banks. The digital wallet simplifies payments on the internet and offers financial institutions in Europe an advanced payment solution for digital e-commerce and m-commerce. By the end of 2014 all holders of payment cards issued by Swiss banks will be able to use MasterPass to pay for online purchases on their PCs or mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Back in early 2013 MasterCard presented its most innovative payment technology to date, the MasterPass digital payment platform, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. On top of this SIX developed a wallet payment platform with open interfaces for card issuing financial institutions. With MasterPass, users no longer need to enter their address details or credit card number for each online purchase; they store them in their wallet. It doesn't matter if the card comes from MasterCard or another provider, from then on consumers can pay more easily and quickly online without having to register with each new retailer or enter card and delivery details for each transaction. MasterPass cuts online payments to just a few clicks. Individually customisable payment platform for the European market MasterPass functionality will be available to retailers from summer 2014. The MasterPass payment platform provided by SIX makes it easy for financial institutions to provide access to the MasterPass wallet and offer it to cardholders as their own service. Switzerland is acting as a pioneer. Commercial roll out is planned for early 2015. SIX will then offer the wallet platform in other European countries. "The cooperation with SIX is bringing the first MasterPass wallet platform to Switzerland, an advanced payment technology that makes it easy and simple to pay online, mobile and even, eventually, in physical shops. Financial institutions, customers and retailers will all benefit," says Guido M端ller, Managing Director of MasterCard Switzerland.
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"Everyone benefits from a virtual wallet: consumers have a simpler safer way to pay and retailers have new opportunities for customer retention with additional loyalty programmes. The open wallet payment platform from MasterCard and SIX offers financial institutions a simple way to get into the exciting world of wallets," commented Niklaus Santschi, CEO of SIX Payment Services. He went on to say: "From mid-2015 onwards SIX is planning to launch this innovative solution in other markets in Europe as well."
Reserve Bank of India recommends removal of minimum balance penalty April 02, 2014 | BBR http://retailbanking.banking-business-review.com/news/rbi-recommends-avoid-minimumbalance-penalty-020414-4207308 Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has recommended banks to stop charging penalties from savings bank account holders for non-maintenance of minimum balance, as part of its consumer protection strategy. In its bi-monthly monetary policy review, the central bank of India said banks should reduce the services available on such accounts, to those available to basic accounts. It is believed that decision on penalty removal, which is yet to be finalized, will result in increase in the charges for use of other services, including an account statement or ATM withdrawals or cheque book issuance. HDFC Bank managing director Aditya Puri was quoted by the Business Standard as saying, "The consumer will end up paying more in the alternative. "It is implied that if you don't charge on non-maintenance of minimum balance, you are authorised to charge on the transaction," Puri told the publication. State Bank of India economic research department chief economic advisor Soumya Kanti Ghosh told the news agency, "Since the policy suggests that the banks should limit the services to such accounts, so, if that is the case, there is a possibility that there is a re -look at the charges for things such as charges for number of ATM transactions etc
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Finance Wells Fargo Q1 2014 net income rose by 14% to $5.9bn April 14, 2014 | BBR http://retailbanking.banking-business-review.com/news/wells-fargo-q1-2014-net-income-roseby-14-to-59bn-140414-4213725 Wells Fargo has reported a net income of $5.9bn, or $1.05 per diluted common share, for first quarter of 2014, with an increase of 14% compared to $5.2bn, or $0.92 per share, during the comparable period last year. Commenting on the financial result, Wells Fargo chairman and CEO John Stumpf said, "Our solid first quarter results again demonstrated the ability of our diversified business model to perform for shareholders." For the current quarter period ended on 31 March 2013, the bank's revenue stood at $20.6bn, against $21.3bn during the corresponding period earlier year. Community Banking reported net income of $3.8bn, with an increase of 19% compared to $3.22bn during the fourth quarter 2013. The segment's revenue was $12.6bn, up by 3%, mainly due to higher equity investments gains and other noninterest income. Wholesale Banking net income stood at $1.7bn, with a decrease of 17%, from fourth quarter 2013, while revenue stood at $5.6bn, down by 7% from prior quarter. Wealth, Brokerage and Retirement (WBR) division reported net income of $475m, down by 3%, from fourth quarter 2013, while its revenue stood at $3.5bn, with an increase of just 1% from the prior quarter.
Farm Banks Well Positioned for 2014 April 12, 2014 | ABA Press Releases http://www.aba.com/Press/PressRSS/Pages/031214FarmBankPerformance.aspx Farm banks significantly increased agricultural lending by 9 percent in 2013 and held $87.8 billion in farm loans at the end of the year, according to the American Bankers Association’s annual Farm Bank Performance Report. Asset quality continued to improve at farm banks as non-performing loans declined to 1.22 percent of total loans, close to pre-recession levels. ABA defines farm banks as banks whose ratio of domestic farm loans to total domestic loans is greater than or equal to the industry average. “There are some headwinds forecasted for the agricultural economy in 2014, but farmers and their bankers are in good shape to weather any storm that may be brewing,” said John Blanchfield, senior vice president and director of ABA’s Center for Agricultural and Rural Banking. “Banks remain the most important source of ag credit, holding nearly half of all farm loans.”
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Blanchfield noted that banks of all sizes – not just farm banks – provide farmers and ranchers with the credit they need. Total bank farm and ranch lending was $149 billion at the end of 2013. Farm banks continued to build high quality capital over the year In addition, more than 96 percent of farm banks were profitable in 2013, with over half reporting an increase in earnings. “As vital, tax-paying members of their communities, farm banks provide critical funding to support rural Americans while adding jobs and boosting the agricultural economy,” said Blanchfield. Small and micro-small loans made up almost half of bank agricultural lending in 2013. The nation’s 2,152 farm banks farm banks also added nearly 2,000 jobs, a 2.1percent increase, and employed 91,900 rural Americans. Since 2007, employment at farm banks has risen 15.1 percent. The Farm Bank Performance Report also provides regional summaries: The Northeast region’s 10 farm banks increased farm loans by 21.7 percent to $503 million. Ag production loans rose 7.3 percent and farmland loans rose 30.3 percent. The South region’s 224 farm banks increased farm loans by 6.5 percent to $6.6 billion. Ag production loans rose 11.4 percent and farmland loans rose 4.8 percent. The Cornbelt region’s 1,014 farm banks increased farm loans by 9 percent to $38.4 billion. Ag production loans increased 9.7 percent and farmland loans rose 8.3 percent. The Plains region’s 828 farm banks increased farm loans by 9.3 percent to more than $33.9 billion. Ag production loans increased 9 percent and farmland loans rose 9.7 percent. The West region’s 76 farm banks increased farm loans by 10.3 percent to $8.3 billion. Ag production loans increased 12.3 percent and farmland loans rose 8.6 percent.
Westpac forecasts $3 billion in mobile contactless transactions in 2015 April 09, 2014 | BBR http://www.finextra.com/news/fullstory.aspx?newsitemid=25947 Westpac is forecasting almost $3 billion in contactless transactions will be made via mobile by 2015 as the Australian bank begins the roll-out of a new m-payment service on Samsung's Galaxy S4 and S5 smartphones. Contactless debit cards have already been embraced by Australians with 60% of all scheme debit card transactions in Australia now made using contactless technology, says the bank. This trend will be further boosted by the growing availability of contactless payment technology on mobile phones, says Westpac's chief product officer, David Lindberg. "Based on existing uptake of contactless card technology, together with customer usage of our mobile and online banking platforms, we anticipate that there will be around three million Australians making contactless payments using their mobile in 2015," he says. "In line with this, we believe that there will be nearly $3 billion worth of contactless mobile transactions made in 2015."
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Australians adopting contactless payments using their phones are most likely to use the functionality for payments of $100 or less, says Lindberg. "We believe that low value cash transactions will gradually decline. Cash won't disappear altogether, but when you're buying your morning coffee, your lunch and your train pass, these will increasingly be paid for on your card or phone and therefore people won't need as much cash in their wallets. This is a revolution." The roll-out of the new handsets, which utilise Visa's Mobile Provisioning Solution (VMPS), also coincides with the launch of a new mobile point-of-sale device for small traders. The Bluetoothenabled Mobile PayWay is a portable EMV-compliant plug-in that works with most Android and iOS phones. "Mobile PayWay is the first of its kind from an Australian bank for small businesses who want peace of mind when taking payments on the go," says Lindberg. "Our small business customers told us that they don't feel comfortable handing over their expensive smartphone to take payments from customers, as this generally also doubles as their personal phone. This device turns most Apple and Android phones into an acceptance terminal."
Citi agrees to pay $1.1bn to settle RMBS case April 08, 2014 | BBR http://retailbanking.banking-business-review.com/news/citi-agrees-to-pay-13bn-to-settle-rmbscase-080414-4210604 Citi has reached an agreement with a group of 18 institutional investors to pay $1.12bn to settle claims over the alleged sale of faulty residential mortgage based securities (RMBS) before the 2008 financial crisis. The recent agreement will resolve the cases pertaining to the certain legacy Securities and Banking private-label securitization representation and warranty repurchase claims. As per the terms of the settlement, Citi will make a binding offer to the trustees of 68 Citi -sponsored mortgage securitization trusts to pay $1.12bn to the trusts. Additionally, the bank will pay approximately $100m as certain fees and expenses. The 68 trusts issued in the aggregate $59.4bn of residential mortgage-backed securities and represent all of the trusts established by Citi's legacy Securities and Banking business during 20052008. Once the settlement is approved by the trustees, it will release Citi's obligation to repurchase mortgage loans sold into the trusts, or make the trusts whole, for outstanding or potential claims for breaches of representations and warranties on the loans. "This settlement resolves a significant legacy issue from the financial crisis and we are pleased to put it behind us," Citi said. Earlier in March, BofA agreed with the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to a $9.33bn claims settlement over the alleged sale of faulty RMBS to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
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In 2013, JPMorgan Chase paid $5bn to the FHFA and government mortgage agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, as part of its $13bn settlement with the US Department of Justice (DoJ) and state attorneys-general.
BofA may pay $800m to settle credit-card case April 04, 2014 | BBR http://cards.banking-business-review.com/news/bofa-may-pay-800m-to-us-regulator-tosettlement-credit-card-case-040414-4208997 Bank of America (BofA) is reportedly engaged in negotiations with the US Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to pay nearly $800m, to settle a probe into its malpractices for driving customers to sign up for extra credit-card products The agreement, which is expected to be announced in the coming days, would be the CFPB's fifth such agreement with a credit-card provider, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. It is believed that the considerable amount of the settlement will be used to compensate the affected customers. The CFPB found that credit-card companies sold out add-on credit card products to consumers without clearly providing the costs associated with such products, claiming that they would protect the cardholders from identity theft or cancel debt in the event of a job loss. The investigators said these products offer little financial benefit to consumers and were re gularly marketed in a deceptive manner. After facing criticism from regulators, the bank ceased to provide products known as "Credit Protection Plus" and "Credit Protection Deluxe" to new customers in 2012. The consumer protection watchdog had also reached similar settlements with Capital One Financial Corp, American Express Co, Discover Financial Services and JPMorgan Chase & Co since 2012. Earlier in March, BofA agreed with the US Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to a $9.33bn claims settlement over the alleged sale of faulty residential mortgage based securities (RMBS) to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
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Technology Citi launches block pricing tool on Bloomberg app portal April 15, 2014 | Finextra http://www.finextra.com/news/fullstory.aspx?newsitemid=25967 Citi has become the first broker to use the Bloomberg App Portal to deploy an application to clients around the world. The bank has added an electronic block pricing tool to the portal, enabling investors to request bespoke prices on demand as an integrated part of their workflow on the Bloomberg Professional service. The Total Touch Price app builds on Citi's block electronic execution platform, which gives access to the bank's liquidity on over 3000 names. The platform - Total Touch - is already integrated with the Bloomberg Execution Management System and its IOI network but the app will extend electronic trading services to clients who use the Bloomberg Professional service. Sean Shanker, director, cash products, Citi, says: "Total Touch Price enhances the level of electronic communication with our clients in relation to pricing real time blocks on an actionable basis. It will elevate block trading to a whole new level."
China Construction Bank selects Catena TRACE trade repository gateway April 14, 2014 | BBR http://custodyandclearing.banking-business-review.com/news/china-construction-bank-selectscatena-trace-trade-repository-gateway-140414-4214193 Catena Technologies has announced that China Construction Bank has selected its TRACE trade repository gateway product to report OTC derivatives trades to the Monetary Authority of Singapore. "Using Catena's TRACE gateway will enable us to achieve many benefits by centralizing the reporting of our OTC Derivatives trade reporting across a line of financial products," said Mr. Terence Lee, head of China Construction Bank Singapore Operations." "TRACE's ability to report a variety of different OTC derivative trade types will help us to meet trade reporting obligations both in the immediate short-term and in the future. Further, TRACE's flexible features and configurable business rules will enable us to adapt our trade submissions in the future as regulatory requirements continue to evolve. In addition, Catena continues to consult with us about how to enhance the product to serve our future needs."
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Catena Technologies' TRACE product enables banks to report OTC derivatives trade information to regulators via trade repositories. It captures, consolidates, and transforms derivatives trade information, and serves as a gateway that manages the flow of information between trading systems and DTCC-based trade repositories. TRACE aligns with the major trade reporting initiatives in Asia, including those in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Australia. "China Construction Bank selected TRACE because of its proven capability to deliver trade reporting for the bank's compliance obligations quickly and efficiently," said Aaron Hallmark, CEO of Catena. "The bank's selection of the system underscores TRACE's growing acceptance in the Asia Pacific market as the standard for trade reporting integration. We look forward to continuing to help China Construction Bank, along with other clients in the region, as current and future phases of trade reporting continue to place new demands on the market."
With SAS, Banco Santander expects to reduce fraud losses, operating costs April 10, 2014 | BBR http://riskmanagement.banking-business-review.com/news/with-sas-banco-santander-expectsto-reduce-fraud-losses-operating-costs-100414-4212408 With fraud losses on the rise across the banking industry, Banco Santander Brazil is beefing up its anti-fraud efforts by moving to a new comprehensive fraud management platform using a trifecta of SAS technology. Santander, the country's third largest privately held bank, will use SAS Fraud Network Analysis, SAS Visual Analytics and SAS Grid Manager. The expected result? Reduced fraud losses and operational costs through better management of the bank's daily big data generation. "This year, we expect these new solutions to fuel our anti-fraud efforts and technology modernization, generating significant reduction of losses and gains in efficiency and productivity," said Fernando Diaz, Executive Director of Technology at Santander. Santander wanted to increase processing efficiency and saw that analytics, data visualization and better system integration was the best path. According to Diaz, "The bank's objective is to significantly reduce fraud in three areas - credit card, current account and loan - with Fraud Network Analysis. We can also hope to improve efficiency when creating new retail credit policies and models." SAS Visual Analytics provides a point-and-click environment to explore data graphically, and SAS Grid Manager offers a shared, managed analytics environment with workload balancing, high availability and parallel processing. "We needed a flexible technology platform so our infrastructure could keep up with the growth of our business areas," said Diaz. "A platform that would give us autonomy to manage processes, prioritizing the most critical ones and optimizing the windows of peaks and valleys." Santander's choice of SAS was based on loyalty, flexibility and project time frames. Also, the bank needed to improve information management with more options for adapting and altering models and increase efficiency so business areas can easily visualize scenarios and concepts
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Diebold delivers ATM software and services to Russia's Alfa-Bank April 04, 2014 | BBR http://bankingtechnology.banking-business-review.com/news/diebold-delivers-atm-softwareand-services-to-russias-alfa-bank-040414-4209367 Addressing an influx of new automated teller machines (ATMs) added to Alfa-Bank's fleet via acquisition, Diebold, Incorporated will deliver software and services to support the operation and uptime of the Russia bank's newly expanded self-service network. Recently, Alfa-Bank concluded an agreement to acquire certain assets of Master Bank, including its ATMs. Alfa-Bank is now in the process of incorporating many of these newly acquired ATMs into its multi-vendor fleet. Diebold will assist with this implementation process by integrating its Agilis速 ATM software platform into Alfa-Bank's network, as well as delivering a variety of managed services. "We needed a powerful software solution that would make it possible to speed up the work of our growing network as soon as possible, to integrate and launch a new fleet of ATMs to provide the convenience of continuous self-service banking to our customers," said Maksim Dareshin, head of Self-Service Systems Development for Alfa -Bank. "Diebold's Agilis速 software platform was the most suitable solution for interfacing with our services and ensuring operability of our self-service network." Diebold's Agilis software is a multi-channel, multi-vendor platform designed to raise the overall efficiency of Alfa-Bank's self-service channel. Agilis will enable the bank's ATMs to operate to their full potential by serving as the foundation for a powerful integrated suite of business-oriented products, tools and ATM services. To enhance the uptime of Alfa-Bank's fleet, Diebold will deliver first- and second-line maintenance services for a minimum of 800 ATMs. Diebold Russia experts will supervise the Diebold ATM network and work to achieve maximum uptime. "We're delivering efficient service, as well as best-in-class software, to help Alfa-Bank continue to grow its service offerings and customer base," said Jurgen Schultz, Diebold country manager, Russia and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). "Partnering with an institution of the caliber of Alfa-Bank demonstrates our ability to meet the diverse needs of the largest financial institutions in the world
FIS partners with Visa to promote EMV adoption in US April 02, 2014 | BBR http://payments.banking-business-review.com/news/fis-partners-with-visa-to-promote-emvadoption-in-us-020414-4207543 FIS, a global banking and payments technology firm, and its NYCE Payments Network have signed a licensing agreement to make the Visa EMV debit technology available to all NYCE participants.
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Furthermore, the agreement ensures that NYCE will have access to Visa EMV technology in perpetuity to support NYCE clients and NYCE will be able to support transactions using all authentication types. FIS Payments Networks svp and general manager Bob Woodbury said, "EMV deployment is at a critical point in its business adoption in the U.S. and carries the promise of significantly reducing card-based fraud. "This agreement will now enable us to offer this Visa-NYCE solution to all NYCE participants and will complement FIS' substantial EMV card production and EFT processing capabilities." Visa corporate strategy and government relations executive vice president Bill Sheedy commented, "With the uncertainty of how to enable debit routing on EMV chip effectively resolved, issuers, acquirers and merchants can move forward in their implementations with confidence
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Strategy Alfa Bank closes banking operation in Crimea April 16, 2014 | BBR http://retailbanking.banking-business-review.com/news/alfa-bank-closes-banking-operation-incrimea-160414-4215075 Alfa Bank Ukraine is set to shut down its banking business in Crimea amid rapidly changing geopolitical and legal condition in the region The bank said in a statement: "Alfa Bank no longer can work within the legal framework of the new Ukrainian legislation, and doesn't have a legal basis for continued operations and provision of banking services in the territory of Crimea." It further said that Ukraine and the Western countries do not recognize Russia's annexation of Crimea, and Ukrainian and Western banks have been shutting down their business in the region. Assuring its customers, the bank said that they can close their accounts and return deposit funds, and can still use its other Ukrainian branches. Most recently, UniCredit Ukraine has officially announced that it halted operation in Crimea from 15 April, saying that it no longer had a legal basis for offering banking services in Crimea. In March 2014, Privatbank closed its operations in Crimea by shutting down all 339 bank offices in the region. Most recently, a subsidiary of Austria's Raiffeisen Bank International said it would cease operations in Crimea by mid-April. First Ukrainian International Bank, which is owned by Ukrainian oligarch Rinat Akhmetov and stateowned Ukrgasbank, is also planning to halt banking business after mid-April. According to the National Bank of Ukraine estimations, there were 1,022 branches of more than 20 Ukrainian banks operating in Crimea before the seizure by Russia, with assets and liabilities worth $1.7bn to $1.9bn.
BNP Paribas to acquire South African credit card firm RCS April 11, 2014 | BBR http://cards.banking-business-review.com/news/bnp-paribas-to-acquire-south-african-creditcard-firm-rcs-110414-4213098 BNP Paribas Personal Finance, a subsidiary of French bank BNP Paribas, has entered into an agreement to acquire RCS, a South African retail credit card provider, from Foschini Group and Standard Bank in a SAR2.65bn ($253m) deal. RCS is 55% owned by Foschini, while Standard Bank holds the remaining share. The firm offers retail credit card programs and personal loans.
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It has partnerships with 3,000 merchants for general purpose card and exclusive agreements with 14 local merchants for private or co-branded cards, including Massmart. BNP Paribas Personal Finance said that the acquisition is in line with its international growth strategy. BNP Paribas Personal Finance CEO Thierry Laborde said, "The potential for growth of South Africa combined with the quality of RCS management allow us to consider with confidence our entry into the South African market." RCS CEO Schalk van der Merwe said, "Both companies have a keen understanding of the retail consumer finance market with the many similarities in its operating models making for a very good strategic fit. "RCS looks forward to expanding its presence in the Southern African consumer finance market through the scale, expertise and financial support that BNP Paribas Personal Finance will b ring as a shareholder."
Barclays to divest UAE retail business to Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank for $177m April 07, 2014 | BBR http://retailbanking.banking-business-review.com/news/barclays-to-divest-uae-retail-businessto-abu-dhabi-islamic-bank-for-177m-070414-4209909 British bank Barclays has reached an agreement to divest its retail banking business in the UAE to Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank (ADIB), in a deal valued at approximately AED650m ($177m). Upon completion of the takeover, the Islamic bank will gain 110,000 customers, which will enable it to boost its presence and expand into the expatriate market, as expatriates form the vast majority of the UAE's population. Barclays' customers will be able to access ADIB's network of 80 branches, 590 ATMs and benefit from a product suite that ranges from current accounts to home finance, personal finance, car finance, education and travel finance and award winning co-branded cards with Etihad and Etisalat. Barclays Middle East and North Africa chief executive John Vitalo said, "The decision to exit the UAE retail banking space, while not taken lightly, allows us to focus on our businesses in corporate and investment banking and wealth and investment management. "These businesses are strong, performing well, and have significant future growth potential." Barclays believes that the disposal of the retail business will enable it to concentrate on its corporate and investment banking operations in the region, ADIB, which currently manages 600,000 customers, emerged as the preferred vying with nearly Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Commercial Bank of Dubai, Citigroup and Standard Chartered. In September 2013, the UK-based lender announced that it will sell its retail operations in the UAE including credit cards, mortgages, personal lending and deposit-taking operations
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Royal Bank of Scotland plans to close 44 branches April 03, 2014 | BBR http://retailbanking.banking-business-review.com/news/royal-bank-of-scotland-plans-to-close44-branches-030414-4208013 The UK Government majority owned lender Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is reportedly planning to shut down approximately 44 bank branches across the country and Scotland, as part of its cost cutting drive RBS closed nearly 60 offices in 2013 and currently manages approximately 2,000 branches across the UK. Speaking about the bank's decision on closure, a RBS spokesperson was quoted by Reuters as saying there has been a 30% drop in branch transactions since 2010 as banking has changed significantly over the last few years. "Many branches classed as 'Last Bank in Town' are only open for a few hours a week and only see one or two customers per hour," the spokesperson added. "We have to adapt to what our customers want, which is why we are investing in a range of other ways our customers can bank with us, including online and telephone banking, our mobile app, and in any one of the Post Office's 11,500 branches across the UK." According to data from RBS and NatWest, one in five customers bank only through an electronic device, including a tablet or mobile phone, a 43% increase on 2013 figures, which also encouraged the lender to cut down on its physical presence. By the end of this year, RBS and NatWest believe that nearly four million customers will be using their mobile apps. The number of online and mobile transactions has already surpassed those taking place in branches and at ATMs, the banks said. In February 2014, the 81% British government owned bank said that it may slash operational costs by ÂŁ5.3bn, or 40%, over the next three to four years, out of which ÂŁ3.1bn will be raised though the divestment of businesses including its US retail unit, Citizens. The bank was also gearing up to cut more than 20,000 jobs in the coming years, as part of CEO Ross McEwan's Project Cook strategy to boost balance-sheet and control increasing operational expenses
Northrim BanCorp completes acquisition of Alaska Pacific Bancshares April 02, 2014 | BBR http://commercialbanking.banking-business-review.com/news/northrim-bancorp-completesacquisition-of-alaska-pacific-bancshares-020414-4207552 Northrim BanCorp has completed acquisition of Alaska Pacific Bancshares and its wholly owne d subsidiary, Alaska Pacific Bank, in a stock and cash transaction.
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"We are excited to welcome the customers, employees and shareholders of Alaska Pacific to Northrim and look forward to what we anticipate will be a seamless transition," said Marc Langland, Chairman, President, and CEO of Northrim BanCorp. "We are encouraged by the warm reception we have received as we have worked with the Alaska Pacific team to implement this combination of two of Alaska's homegrown banks." "With higher lending limits and an expanded level of financial services, including employee benefit plans, wealth management services and purchased receivables financing, Northrim brings a robust business and consumer banking platform to the communities in Southeast Alaska," said Joe Bee dle, Northrim Bank's President and CEO. "Returning to my roots in these communities has been a wonderful experience, and I look forward to working with our customers and employees throughout Southeast Alaska." Under the previously announced terms of the transaction, shareholders of Alaska Pacific had the option to elect to receive either cash or shares of Northrim common stock, subject to the proration procedures outlined in the merger agreement. Based on the 15 trading day weighted average closing price of Northrim's common stock ending on March 25, 2014 of $25.66 per share, Alaska Pacific shareholders who made a valid election prior to the March 21, 2014, election deadline are receiving either $17.57 in cash or 0.6847 shares of Northrim common stock (with cash paid in lieu of fractional shares) for each previously outstanding share of Alaska Pacific common stock, while Alaska Pacific shareholders who did not make a valid election will receive $3.32 in cash and 0.5553 shares of Northrim common stock (with cash paid in lieu of fractional shares) for each share of Alaska Pacific common stock not subject to a valid election. In total, Northrim BanCorp paid approximately $6.4 million in cash (including approximately $2.4 million paid to the United States Department of Treasury for Alaska Pacific's TARP warrants) and issued 290,405 shares of Northrim common stock to Alaska Pacific's shareholders, which was less than 1% dilution in Northrim BanCorp's tangible book value per share at December 31, 2013. "We currently expect to earn back any dilution to our tangible book value in less than one year," added Langland. Northrim BanCorp had assets of $1.2 billion, net loans of $765.0 million, and deposits of $1.0 billion at December 31, 2013, and Alaska Pacific Bancshares had assets of $176.7 million, net loans of $144.6 million, and deposits of $154.5 million at December 31, 2013. The combined bank has fifteen banking offices in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, Ketchikan, Sitka and the Matanuska Valley as of April 1, 2014. Northrim BanCorp's legal counsel for the transaction was Davis Wright Tremaine LLP and its consultant is Jean-Luc Servat. Keefe Bruyette & Woods, Inc. acted as financial adviser for Alaska Pacific, while Breyer & Associates PC served as its legal counsel
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