Retail Banking Competitor Tracker:July 2008

Retail Banking Competitor Tracker:July 2008

Introduction

Datamonitor's Retail Banking Competitor Tracker is a monthly product providing updates on key events relating to major and innovative players in the retail banking sector. Covering events such as M&A activity, market entries and withdrawals, partnerships, product innovation and customer targeting on a global basis, the Retail Banking Competitor Tracker provides succinct summaries of key stories.

Reasons to Purchase

*Provides invaluable information on your closest competitors' strategies all in one place.

*Keeps track of how the competitive landscape is changing through M&A activities, partnerships and organic growth.

*Provides input to your product development by tracking the latest product innovations.

Overview 1
Catalyst 1
Summary 1
Methodology 1
Table of Contents 2
Introduction 3
The Retail Banking Competitor Tracker provides both one-month and 12-month views of developments 3
Each month, Datamonitor tracks the most relevant announcements from 79 competitors 3
Datamonitor's Retail Banking team provides analysis of the key developments at both the one-month and 12-month level 4
A fully searchable database of the past 12 months of developments is also delivered alongside the report 4
Key Trends and Developments in July 5
One of the key developments this month is the manner in which banks are adapting their services to the iPhone 5
Some of the large banks have announced the steps they will take to render their offerings compatible with the iPhone 5
Banco Santander announced that it had agreed to take over Alliance & Leicester 5
HSBC and Raiffeisen Bank look to make inroads into Kazakhstan, central Asia's largest economy 6
July was a fairly busy month, with a fairly even split between M&A and product innovation news stories 6
There was a drop-off in the number of M&A, partnership and organic growth stories compared to last month 6
Western Europe was dominant in its provision of the number of stories 7
The news stories for July focused mainly on M&A and new services 8
M&A, Partnerships and Organic Growth 10
BBVA 10
US: BBVA rolls out Compass brand in its US franchise 10
BNP Paribas 10
Global: BNP Paribas refreshes management to fit its global dimension 10
Dexia 10
Europe: Dexia is planning to adopt the status of a European company and makes changes to its operational organization 10
EFG Eurobank 11
Cyprus: Eurobank EFG opens two new business centers 11
HSBC 11
Kazakhstan: HSBC expands in Central Asia's largest economy 11
ING 11
Germany: ING DIRECT receives regulatory approval for its public takeover bid for Germany's largest mortgage distributor, Interhyp 11
Intesa Sanpaolo 12
Italy: Intesa Sanpaolo signs agreement for the sale of 30% of Carifano to Credito Valtellinese 12
Kaupthing 12
Iceland: merger schedule approved by the boards of Kaupthing and SPRON 12
KBC 13
Slovakia: KBC finalizes acquisition of ISTROBANKA 13
Rabobank 13
Indonesia: Rabobank finalizes legal merger with Hagabank and Bank Hagakita 13
Raiffeisen Bank 13
Czech Republic: merger of Raiffeisen Bank and eBanka completed 13
Kazakhstan: Raiffeisen International to establish a bank in country 13
RBS 14
UK: RBS to sell 50% shareholding in Tesco Personal Finance to Tesco 14
Santander 14
UK: Banco Santander to purchase Alliance & Leicester 14
Standard Bank 15
South Africa: first full-service branch in DRC 15
Product Innovation and Customer Targeting 16
Abbey 16
UK: loyalty pays with Abbey's new 8% youth account 16
ANZ 16
Australia: ANZ launches internet banking for iPhone 16
New Zealand: Kiwibank launches iPhone banking 16
Barclays 17
UK: Barclays first bank to offer complete free online security software to all its customers 17
BBVA 17
Spain: launch of "BBVA tú cuentas" personal finance 17
Bank of East Asia (BEA) 17
Hong Kong: BEA introduces new installment loan/revolving loan 17
Citibank 18
China: Citibank China unveils expanded services in support of 2008 Beijing Olympic Games 18
Hong Kong: Citibank launches mobile financial services 18
Crédit Agricole 19
France: Crédit Agricole's online banking service adapted for the iPhone 19
HBOS 19
UK: Bank of Scotland unveils new student account 19
Nedbank 20
Australia: Nedbank expands AskOnce service 20
Northern Rock 20
UK: Northern Rock's latest mortgage product range for new customers 20
Woolwich 20
UK: Woolwich revamps broker website 20
APPENDIX 22
Methodology 22
Further reading 23
Ask the analyst 23
Datamonitor consulting 23
Disclaimer 23
List of Tables
Table 1: The 79 companies and subsidiaries covered by Datamonitor's Retail Banking Competitor Tracker 3
Table 2: List of banks tracked , table 1 of 2 22
Table 3: List of banks tracked, table 2 of 2 23
List of Figures
Figure 1: There were marginally more stories regarding M&A, partnerships and organic growth than product innovation and customer targeting 7
Figure 2: Western Europe was the main focus for interesting developments in July 8
Figure 3: The news stories for July focused principally on M&A and new services 9