Avelo launches on 4th April

3 companies join together 1st The Exchange, N4 Solutions and Screen Business to form Avelo.

Clydesdale defies Ombudsman over shortfalls

This also includes Yorkshire Building Society

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Santander £20bn IPO could come this year

Speculation is mounting that Santander could be set to launch a £20bn stock market listing of its UK business as the Spanish bank looks to raise new money after a spate of acquisitions. Santander UK, which comprises the former businesses of Abbey, Alliance & Leicester, Bradford & Bingley, could be floated on the London market as early as this year, according to some observers. Arturo de Frias, banks analyst at Evolution Securities, said now was a good time for Santander to float its UK operations and said a listing could come "sooner rather than later". "The profitability is good and Santander has done a very impressive job of turning around the performance of these businesses," he said.

Source : Daily Telegraph page B5 - 16.09.10

Leeds Building Society has revealed a pre-tax profit of £18 million

Leeds Building Society has revealed a pre-tax profit of £18 million in the first half of 2010, a 10% increase on the same period a year earlier.

CFS rise in mortgage sales

A strong year for the mortgage business at The Co-operative Bank and Britannia has been predicted after the lenders reported a 31% increase in like for like mortgage applications in the first half of 2010.

January cheaper property sales hit by end of stamp duty holiday

House purchase loans fell by more than three times the decline in remortgages in January, according to data released today by the Council of Mortgage Lenders. This emphatically demonstrates the effect on the mortgage market from the end of the temporary stamp duty holiday in December.

There were 49% fewer house purchase loans in January than in December but only 15% fewer remortgage loans.

Taken from CML press release: http://www.cml.org.uk/cml/media/press/2571

Santander calls time on UK banking brands

The Spanish bank Santander will axe their individual brands - which date back as far as 1851 - by the end of 2010 and replace them with its own global moniker.

Abbey and the B&B's savings business, snapped up by Santander in 2004 and 2008 respectively, will be the first to go, between January and March next year. A&L will follow later in 2010, according to Santander.

But it will begin introducing the Santander brand this year, by changing over Abbey credit cards under the group name, as well as the commercial and corporate banking arms of Abbey and A&L, which include 20 regional banking centres.

Santander has not drawn up plans as-of-yet to change the level of savings compensation on offer with each bank. Abbey and B&B have the same compensation coverage at present, which means a customer who has accounts with both banks would receive a maximum of £50,000 protection across the two accounts should the parent bank fail. A&L has separate coverage of £50,000.

However, a union of the three under the same compensation umbrella seems likely. It means that savers who currently hold accounts with both A&L and one of Abbey or B&B would need to move one pot to a new savings provider to benefit from the current levels of protection.

Antonio Horta-Osorio, chief executive of Santander's UK business, said customers would benefit from access to all of the group's 1,300-branch network after the rebrand is complete.

Santander is spending £12m on the rebrand, although it is aiming to save £180m from integrating the three businesses.

Around 1,900 jobs have already gone as part of its efforts to combine the acquired banks. Mr Horta-Osorio said customer feedback had shown support for the Santander brand in the UK.

'Customers trust us as a global brand and they feel very safe about their savings,' he said. 'It's important for customers who travel around the UK to have 1,300 branches to transact with - and they will have the same product and the same people facing them in the branches,' he said.

Santander has expanded aggressively in the UK over the past five years, using the banking crisis as an opportunity to buy up struggling rivals.

The group is now the UK's second biggest mortgage lender and third largest savings bank following last year's dramatic move to snap up the savings and branch operation of collapsed B&B in October, just a month after its rescue takeover of A&L.

The Government nationalised B&B's £50bn loan book, which remains in State ownership and is unaffected by the Santander rebrand.

Santander has emerged relatively unscathed from the financial turmoil, picking up swathes of savers searching for safety.

It said earlier this year that Abbey's annual pre-tax profits lifted by more than a fifth to £991m, thanks largely to the boom in savings business.

'Our prudent approach and focus on branch-based banking enabled us to acquire the A&L and B&B savings business in 2008, despite unprecedented market turmoil,' said Mr Horta-Osorio.

'Since then, we've applied the same principles to both, improving the products and services we offer as well as the business performance of each bank.'

Credit cards will be offered to new customers under the Santander brand from next month. But the group said specialist brands will retain their existing names, including internet bank Cahoot, Cater Allen, James Hy, and Abbey for Intermediaries, as well as the international businesses of all three acquired banks.

Santander has 25m customers in the UK and employs 23,000 staff. It was founded in 1857 and has since grown to become a global business with operations in 40 countries and a 170,000-strong workforce.

www.thisismoney.co.uk

Virgin plans Internet bank

Virgin Money is planning to launch a UK Internet bank in a bid to take advantage of public anger at traditional high street outfits, according to the Observer newspaper.

The financial services arm of Richard Branson's empire is preparing to apply to the Financial Services Authority for a banking licence that would allow it to take deposits and offer mortgages.

Virgin Money was launched in 1995 and claims over two million UK customers, offering credit cards, personal loans, savings products and insurance. Sales rose from around £70 million to £100 million in 2008 with profits estimated at £30 million.

The unit is now looking to follow the lead of Tesco and push much further into financial services, taking advantage of public anger at traditional banks. Tesco bought out RBS to take complete control of Tesco Personal Finance in December and plans to open 30 bank branches in its stores by the end of the year. Another retailer, Boots is also considering following Tesco's lead.

The Observer says Branson is now in discussions with US investment banks over financial backing and is also talking to advisers about a new bid for failed bank Northern Rock.

Branson is said to be considering three options: launching a new bank with a branch network; teaming up with another finance firm; or joining a consortium to buy a troubled bank like Northern Rock.

www.finextra.com

Industry Stats

Statistics provided by CML for March 2009

  

Societies see sharp rise in mortgage approvals

1 May 2009

Mortgage approvals by societies in March were £1,542m compared to £742m in February.

Gross lending among societies amounted to £1,462 million in March 2009 compared to £3,633 million in March 2008.

Adrian Coles, director-general of the Building Societies Association, says the market remains challenging but the latest figures are encouraging.

He says: “As might be expected at this time of year, mortgage approvals in March rose sharply. Even adjusting for seasonal influences this is the highest figure since November. Although this may suggest a very slight recovery in activity in the housing market over the next few months the environment nevertheless remains very challenging.”

Societies experienced a small net withdrawal of £196m from savings accounts in March. However, with interest credited, balances rose by £2,140m.

Coles says: “The Bank Rate was reduced to 0.5% at the beginning of March, and the figures show the impact of low interest rates and economic conditions on people’s ability and willingness to save. However, it is pleasing that despite this, an extra 450,000 savings accounts were open at building societies at the end of March compared to the start of the year.

"Over £1bn was deposited in building society savings accounts during this period and the sector’s share of the retail savings market increased from 20.2% at the end of February 2008 to 21.4% at the end of February 2009.”

www.mortgagestrategy.co.uk

Temenos T24 R09 on general availability

5 May 2009

Temenos (SWX: TEMN), the global provider of integrated core banking systems, today announced the release of the latest version of its core banking software, TEMENOS T24 (T24) R09. Featuring over 100 individual enhancements to the packaged solution, including TEMENOS Insight (Insight), the Business Intelligence product suite, T24 R09 introduces new modules for structured products, corporate internet banking and loan origination, while further leveraging T24's strong Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). In addition to this release, Temenos has also announced the first implementation of T-Verify, its automated software upgrade tool, at Schroders Private Bank.

The annual T24 release, which spans all geographies and banking sectors, is designed to keep clients one step ahead of evolving marketplace requirements, as banks seek to reduce costs while increasing competitive advantage. Key improvements include:

1) T24 R09 now incorporates Insight which was launched in March. Fully integrated with T24, Insight empowers users to analyse and understand enterprise data in depth and identify customer trends, profitability and risk, thereby improving decision-making and boosting profitability. Senior management enjoy dashboards that incorporate the business's key rations and performance indicators, providing daily management information across the enterprise. Existing T24 users can deploy the system in three to eight weeks. High-quality, real-time information is a strategic asset for banks and has become more vital to their survival in this era of economic uncertainty.

2) T24 R09 marks the release of the first of T24's Reference Business Services in the T24 Service Catalog, extending Temenos' SOA investment and development. These real-world business services definitions, included as standard in T24 Model Bank, allow for faster, simpler, and more reliable and efficient integration of T24 with the bank's broader technology environment within a service orientated architecture. T24 R09 signifies the first formal release of a set of Model Bank banking services, which have been aligned with the work being done through BIAN on the banking services landscape.

3) With the key role of structured products in portfolio hedging strategies in a post-credit crisis climate, T24 R09 incorporates a new module for the creation of structured products with support throughout the entire investment life-cycle. This module addresses high market demand for a more conservative investment approach, which is more suitable to the retail investor seeking to minimise risk but maximise returns in a volatile investment market.

4) T24 R09 also extends Temenos' proven ARC Internet Banking (ARC- IB) product to the corporate market. Until now, ARC-IB supported both the personal and intermediary internet banking segments in the retail and private banking verticals. It now offers corporate clients a full range of electronic banking facilities including cash management, individual payments, bulk payments and bulk direct debits. This is supported by role-based workflows that can be defined by the client and controlled through sophisticated account mandates and challenge/response transaction signing.

5) T24 R09 also includes a major extension to the system's existing loan origination capabilities with the introduction of T24 Loan Originator (LO24). LO24 embraces all aspects of the lending lifecycle, fully supporting front-to-back processing from client handling at the initiation of the loan enquiry across any channel. Temenos clients now benefit from loan origination functionality for retail, SME and corporate financing in a single, integrated solution.

Andreas Andreades, CEO, Temenos, says: "Our continuous product development programme ensures we consistently deliver value to our customers. With each release we offer our clients more functionality, pre-packaged with standard service definitions, which means that the technology remains modern and the cost of ownership is reduced. This model gives an immense competitive advantage to our clients and enables them to upgrade to the new version of T24 with minimum effort. We anticipate smooth upgrades of T24 across the globe and expect clients to quickly take advantage of its new offerings."

Launched at Temenos' Client Forum last year, T-Verify has now been deployed by Schroders Private Bank to automate the testing processes involved in the upgrade of its T24 system. T-Verify automates a significant part of the software upgrade testing procedure, making it faster and more cost-effective to upgrade to the latest releases of T24 while reducing the banks effort and cost for the upgrade by as much as 70%.

Rolf Fischer CIO, Schroder & Co Bank AG, says: "T-Verify is an exciting product because it reduces the cost, effort and time to market of making new enhancements. And, as a CIO, I am always trying to maximise the part of the IT budget that goes into new functionality and automation."

www.bobsguide.com

Broker role to change

https://www.emoneyfacts.co.uk/news/breakingnews.aspx?newsarticleid=185193

Co-op contracts with Finacle for core banking overhaul

Co-operative Financial Services has selected the Finacle universal banking system from Infosys to replace its legacy technology infrastructure.

The Co-op says its current infrastructure, while currently fit for purpose, is unsuitable for future needs, prompting the decision to replace it with the Finacle platform as part of a business transformation programme.

Finacle will replace systems across the back-office and channels in the retail and corporate banking businesses. The implementation will cover core banking, CRM (uniting banking and insurance businesses) and e-banking across home-market operations in the UK.

John Hughes, director, retail banking, Co-operative Financial Services, says: "Once the new platform is implemented CFS will be able to create a differentiated customer experience through innovative products, a unified customer view and seamless integration across channels. Finacle will also enable CFS to acquire and retain customers, achieve sustainable scale, and lower operational costs."

www.finextra.com

Banks linking to whole of market broking service

Bank of China is teaming up with national brokerage mortgageforce to exclusively launch its whole of market broking service.
The bank has 5 branches in the UK, mortgageforce will handle applications which are outside of normal lending policy.

Earlier in the year HSBC linked with John Charcol to launch a seven month trial mortgage intermediary service on a whole of market basis.

Summary of rating actions at Moody’s on Banks and Building Societies

Taken from Moody’s website www.moodys.com, these were announced on 14th April 2009.

Abbey National plc ("Abbey"): the BFSR is downgraded to C- from C+ on review for downgrade (mapping to BCA of Baa2); senior debt/deposit ratings of Aa3 are on review for downgrade; the P-1 rating is affirmed; subordinated debt ratings are downgraded to Baa3; Tier 1 hybrid instruments are downgraded to Ba1; the review will focus on the impact of the integration of Alliance & Leicester and the degree to which this will be offset by further capital measures from their ultimate parent, Banco Santander S.A. (Aa1/B).

Alliance & Leicester: the BFSR is downgraded to E+ from C+ with a developing outlook (mapping to BCA of B1); senior debt/deposit ratings of Aa3 are on review for downgrade, the P-1 rating is affirmed; dated subordinated debt is downgraded to Caa1; junior subordinated debt is downgraded to Caa2; and Tier 1 hybrid instruments are downgraded to Caa3; the developing outlook on the BFSR reflects the intrinsic weakness of A&L, balanced by the potential strength to be derived from its shareholders, Abbey and Banco Santander; the Aa3 ratings and the review for downgrade are aligned with the ratings of Abbey, reflecting the cross-guarantee for senior debt between the two institutions.

Britannia Building Society ("Britannia"): The BFSR is downgraded to D+ from C (mapping to BCA of Ba1) and has been placed on review with direction uncertain reflecting the pressure from its weak intrinsic strength and the benefits expected from the merger with the Co-Operative Bank plc (rated A2/C); senior debt/deposit ratings of A2/P-1 are on review for downgrade; the review will focus on the impact of the near-term merger with the Co-Operative Bank and the extent to which the strength of the Co-Operative Bank can offset some of the intrinsic challenges that Britannia is facing; dated subordinated debt is downgraded to Ba2; and PIBS are downgraded to B1.

Chelsea Building Society ("Chelsea"): The BFSR is downgraded to E+ from C (mapping to BCA of B1) with a negative outlook; senior debt/deposits downgraded to Baa3 from A2 with a stable outlook; short-term ratings are downgraded to P-3 from P-1; dated subordinated debt downgraded to Caa1.

Coventry Building Society ("Coventry"): The BFSR is downgraded to C- from C+ (mapping to BCA of Baa2) with a negative outlook; senior debt/deposits downgraded to A3 from A2 with a negative outlook; the short-term ratings are downgraded to P-2 from P-1; dated subordinated and junior subordinated debt is downgraded to Baa3; PIBS are downgraded to Ba1.

Leeds Building Society ("Leeds"): The BFSR has been affirmed at C+ (mapping to BCA of A2), outlook changed to negative; senior debt/deposit ratings and subordinated debt ratings have been affirmed at A2/A3 with a stable outlook; the P-1 rating has also been affirmed.

Nationwide Building Society ("Nationwide"): The BFSR is downgraded to C- from B (mapping to BCA of Baa2) with a negative outlook; senior debt/deposit ratings downgraded to Aa3 from Aa2 with a stable outlook; P-1 ratings affirmed; dated subordinated debt and junior subordinated debt is downgraded to Baa3; PIBS downgraded to Ba1.

Newcastle Building Society ("Newcastle"): The BFSR is downgraded to D- from C- (mapping to BCA of Ba3) with a negative outlook; senior debt/deposits ratings are downgraded to Baa2 from A3 with a negative outlook and the P-2 short-term ratings are affirmed; dated subordinated debt is downgraded to B1.

Norwich & Peterborough Building Society ("Norwich & Peterborough"): The BFSR is downgraded to D from C (mapping to BCA of Ba2) with a negative outlook; senior debt/deposits ratings are downgraded to Baa2 from A2 with a negative outlook; P-1 short-term ratings downgraded to P-2.

Nottingham Building Society ("Nottingham"): The BFSR has been affirmed at C- (mapping to BCA of Baa2) and the outlook is changed to negative; senior debt/deposit ratings are affirmed at A3 with a negative outlook; P-2 ratings affirmed.

Principality Building Society ("Principality"): The BFSR is downgraded to D- from C- (mapping to BCA of Ba3) with a negative outlook; senior debt/deposit ratings are downgraded to Baa2 from A3 with a negative outlook; the P-2 short-term ratings are affirmed; dated subordinated debt is downgraded to B1; and PIBS downgraded to B3.

Skipton Building Society ("Skipton"): The BFSR is downgraded to D+ from C+ (mapping to BCA of Ba1) with a negative outlook; senior debt/deposit ratings are downgraded to Baa1 from A2 with a negative outlook; P-1 short-term ratings are downgraded to P-2; dated subordinated debt is downgraded to Ba2; This rating action concludes the review for downgrade on Skipton's BFSR initiated on November 3, 2008, following the merger with Scarborough Building Society. Furthermore as a consequence of the merger Scarborough's ratings are withdrawn.

Standard Life Bank ("Standard Life"): The BFSR is downgraded to D from C- (mapping to BCA of Ba2) with a negative outlook; senior debt/deposit ratings of A2/P-1 are on review for downgrade; the review will focus on the level of support available from the bank's parent Standard Life Assurance Ltd. rated A1; dated subordinated debt is downgraded to Ba3; junior subordinated debt downgraded to B1.

West Bromwich Building Society ("West Bromwich"): The BFSR is downgraded to E+ from C- (mapping to BCA of B3) with a negative outlook; senior debt/deposit ratings are downgraded to Baa3 from A3 with a stable outlook; short-term ratings downgraded to P-3 from P-2; dated subordinated debt and junior subordinated debt is downgraded to Caa3; PIBS are downgraded to Ca.

Yorkshire Building Society ("Yorkshire"): The BFSR is downgraded to D+ from C (mapping to BCA of Ba1) with a negative outlook; senior debt/deposit ratings are downgraded to Baa1 from A2 with a negative outlook; short-term ratings are downgraded to P-2 from P-1; dated subordinated debt is downgraded to Ba2.

Tieto outline another 620 job cuts

7 April 2009

Just months after outlining plans to axe 350 jobs, recession hit Scandinavian IT services vendor Tieto says it has begun the process of cutting a further 620 positions.

Tieto says approximately 300 jobs will go in Finland, 150 in Sweden, and 170 in the other 10 countries in which it operates. In addition, the firm says it will discuss the possibility of temporarily laying off more staff in Finland.

All negotiations with union representatives will be completed during the second quarter.The latest cuts come after February's decision to cut 170 jobs in Sweden with a further 180 going from Denmark, Norway, Germany, the UK, Latvia and India. A major part of this processes has already been completed.

Other cost cutting moves, including the consolidation of offices, reducing the number of subcontractors and slashing business expenses, will also be implemented.

Hannu Syrjälä, president and CEO, Tieto, says: "The decline in customer demand for IT services has been stronger and faster than we anticipated at the start of the year. Tieto has started a number of streamlining actions to address this situation with the aim of reaching new cost savings in the amount of EUR 100 million. Personnel adjustments are unfortunately also needed to adjust our cost-base."

Last month Tieto warned that it expects its full-year net sales to be lower than in 2008 as tough market conditions continue, with the banking and telecom sectors particularly hard hit.

In January 2008 the firm embarked on a restructuring and cost cutting programme designed to generate annual savings of more than EUR100 million by the end of 2009.

The programme followed an 18-month run of volatile earnings which had mainly been caused by project over-runs in the company's banking and insurance and healthcare and welfare units.

www.finextra.com

misc

Portrait Extends Agreements with Fiserv to Deliver Additional Aperio Modules

19 March 2009

Portrait announced today it has added Portrait Campaign Manager and Portrait Customer Analytics to its agreement with Fiserv, the leading global provider of financial services technology solutions, to provide a new and expanded platform in the marketplace.
Fiserv adopted Portrait Foundation to build its Aperio suite of customer interaction applications for retail banking providing financial institutions with a customer centric service and sales platform. With the extension to the agreement, Fiserv is placing a major emphasis on their Aperio suite of products, reflecting its confidence in, and commitment to, Portrait technology.
Fiserv has also agreed with Portrait to distribute new Aperio marketing and sales modules which offer a number of powerful enhancements:
• Advanced customer analytics to drive more precise and effective multi-channel marketing campaigns through intelligent customer segmentation and targeting. The customer analytics enables financial institutions to dynamically score, predict and respond to customer behaviour. With predictive analytics, institutions can increase the rates of return on all inbound and outbound marketing, manage delinquencies, and address customer churn and retention.
• Automated campaign management, which enables marketers to easily design, develop, deploy, monitor and measure their marketing campaigns across all customer communication channels.
• An additional layer of sophisticated analytics around Aperio intelligent prompts that provides real-time modelling and scoring tools. These analytics provide financial institutions with the historical data to create a 360º view of their customer and can be used to analyze customer behaviour and characteristics.
"Fiserv Aperio is the only next-generation sales and service platform for retail banks and these new agreements will increase Portrait's reach globally with an extended customer base using Portrait's technology," said Kieran Kilmartin, global marketing director, Portrait Software.
"Aperio's use of sophisticated predictive analytics and intelligent prompts allows financial institutions to deepen relationships with their customers and increase efficiency," said Carol Cowan, vice president, global marketing and product management, Bank Solutions from Fiserv. "By offering relevant products at the right time banks can create a unique customer experience allowing them to win, retain and delight their most profitable customers. This offering allows our clients to increase relationship value and drive profitability while creating efficiency through integration and business process management."
"Our mutual expectation is that we now have a new and expanded platform for collaboration in the market," said Kilmartin. "The agreement is for our two organizations to collaborate on go-to-market plans and sales for these products which will be distributed under Fiserv's Aperio brand as Powered by Portrait," he added.

www.bobsguide.com

Cattles to cost RBS £500m

23 March 2009

The collapse of troubled lender Cattles will cost Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) up to £500 million (€534 million), according to newspaper reports.

RBS, the lead lender to Cattles – which reported £2.4 billion of outstanding debt in its latest figures – still hopes that it can recover the £500 million, according to the Daily Telegraph.

But in reality it seems highly unlikely that Cattles will be able to meet all of its debt obligations.

“RBS isn’t the only bank to have been caught up in the Cattles debacle,” said an analyst. “But it is the biggest and, since this looks like it will be yet another problem the bank will have to pass on to the taxpayer, it’s another big dent in its reputation and its public image.”

Headed by RBS, Cattles’ 22-bank consortium of lenders also includes HSBC, Barclays and Lloyds Banking Group.

Last month, Cattles’ sub-prime hire purchase subsidiary, Welcome Financial Services, announced it would stop lending to new customers.

Following a forensic accounting review by Deloitte, the accounting consultancy, and Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer, the law firm, Welcome was found to have under-reported bad debts.

www.leasinglife.co.uk

LendingClub.com secures $12m in financing

20 March 2009

LendingClub.com, the social networking site that matches lenders and borrowers, is set to expand its operations after closing a $12 million round of funding.
The capital raising was led by Morgenthaler Ventures, which joined existing investors Norwest Venture Partners and Canaan Partners in backing the site.
Founded by Renaud Laplanche, LendingClub.com allows borrowers with good credit scores to apply for loans at more attractive rates than they would receive through banks or credit card companies.
Lenders can then review the applications and finance specific deals by investing in notes that relate to individual borrower loans. The site funnels the money from lender to borrower, while the lenders take on the risk of the investment and also share in its returns.
Mr Laplanche said the latest financing deal will enable the site to expand its capabilities and customer base.
"Lending Club is proud to be building a network where individuals come together to provide financial value to each other beyond what traditional banks can provide," he commented.
According to the website's statistics, Lending Club borrowers have received over $30.7 million in loans to date.

www.bobsguide.com

LendingClub.com secures $12m in financing

LendingClub.com, the social networking site that matches lenders and borrowers, is set to expand its operations after closing a $12 million round of funding.
The capital raising was led by Morgenthaler Ventures, which joined existing investors Norwest Venture Partners and Canaan Partners in backing the site.
Founded by Renaud Laplanche, LendingClub.com allows borrowers with good credit scores to apply for loans at more attractive rates than they would receive through banks or credit card companies.
Lenders can then review the applications and finance specific deals by investing in notes that relate to individual borrower loans. The site funnels the money from lender to borrower, while the lenders take on the risk of the investment and also share in its returns.
Mr Laplanche said the latest financing deal will enable the site to expand its capabilities and customer base.
"Lending Club is proud to be building a network where individuals come together to provide financial value to each other beyond what traditional banks can provide," he commented.
According to the website's statistics, Lending Club borrowers have received over $30.7 million in loans to date.

www.bobsguide.com

Portrait Extends Agreements with Fiserv to Deliver Additional Aperio Modules

Portrait announced today it has added Portrait Campaign Manager and Portrait Customer Analytics to its agreement with Fiserv, the leading global provider of financial services technology solutions, to provide a new and expanded platform in the marketplace.
Fiserv adopted Portrait Foundation to build its Aperio suite of customer interaction applications for retail banking providing financial institutions with a customer centric service and sales platform. With the extension to the agreement, Fiserv is placing a major emphasis on their Aperio suite of products, reflecting its confidence in, and commitment to, Portrait technology.
Fiserv has also agreed with Portrait to distribute new Aperio marketing and sales modules which offer a number of powerful enhancements:
• Advanced customer analytics to drive more precise and effective multi-channel marketing campaigns through intelligent customer segmentation and targeting. The customer analytics enables financial institutions to dynamically score, predict and respond to customer behaviour. With predictive analytics, institutions can increase the rates of return on all inbound and outbound marketing, manage delinquencies, and address customer churn and retention.
• Automated campaign management, which enables marketers to easily design, develop, deploy, monitor and measure their marketing campaigns across all customer communication channels.
• An additional layer of sophisticated analytics around Aperio intelligent prompts that provides real-time modelling and scoring tools. These analytics provide financial institutions with the historical data to create a 360º view of their customer and can be used to analyze customer behaviour and characteristics.
"Fiserv Aperio is the only next-generation sales and service platform for retail banks and these new agreements will increase Portrait's reach globally with an extended customer base using Portrait's technology," said Kieran Kilmartin, global marketing director, Portrait Software.
"Aperio's use of sophisticated predictive analytics and intelligent prompts allows financial institutions to deepen relationships with their customers and increase efficiency," said Carol Cowan, vice president, global marketing and product management, Bank Solutions from Fiserv. "By offering relevant products at the right time banks can create a unique customer experience allowing them to win, retain and delight their most profitable customers. This offering allows our clients to increase relationship value and drive profitability while creating efficiency through integration and business process management."
"Our mutual expectation is that we now have a new and expanded platform for collaboration in the market," said Kilmartin. "The agreement is for our two organizations to collaborate on go-to-market plans and sales for these products which will be distributed under Fiserv's Aperio brand as Powered by Portrait," he added.

www.bobsguide.com

FSA warns bankers

The Financial Services Authority (FSA) has warned city bankers to be "very frightened" as it launches a new era of tougher regulation.
Hector Sants, chief executive of the FSA, signalled the end of light touch regulation and a box-ticking culture within the regulator that had failed to detect severe risks taken by banks such as Northern Rock.
In its place, the regulator will impose a more draconian regime of checks that will include an assessment of banks’ business models, a key feature of regulation that trade bodies such as the British Bankers’ Association (BBA) said had been missing from the FSA.
Sants spoke at a meeting of executives at Thomson Reuters offices in Canary Wharf, London, yesterday.
He said: "There is a view that people are not frightened of the FSA. I can assure you that this is a view I am determined to correct. People should be very frightened of the FSA.
"I continue to believe the majority of market participants are decent people. However, a principles-based approach does not work with individuals who have no principles."
Sants said the regulators would look into the role played by the senior management of institutions that had failed, though he didn’t name specific firms.
The speech follows a warning from Sants at a conference hosted by the National Association of Pension Funds in Canary Wharf earlier this week. He told pension funds that they were partly to blame for the crisis after they failed to exercise oversight of the businesses they own.
He said that shareholders, including pension funds, would need to take their place alongside regulators as a check on the excesses of over-ambitious managers.

www.credittoday.co.uk