Community

Of course you're right about the HQ Melvin but that's a fairly recent development and follows the NationsBank takeover in '98. I'd say BoA is still considered a West Coast bank - I'm sure you're aware it was founded in California and had its HQ in San Francisco until the deal.

It looks as though AIB has now worked out how many customers were affected - 20,000 (according to the Irish Independent).

I suppose the Santander takeover was always going to result in some business lines getting the chop but I'm a bit surprised to see pre-paid cards on their way out.

The pre-paid market has been growing pretty rapidly for the past couple of years and I suspect it could be ready to really take off as the recession hits and people try to find ways to keep a closer eye on their spending.

Intuit has just made it onto a list of the world's most influential companies, compiled by Businessweek.

The magazine says Intuit earns its place because it dominates the market and is now looking to "stay ahead of the curve" with these new Web-based personal finance tools.

It will be interesting to see if it can manage this and hold off the likes of Mint, Wesabe and, if they get their act together, the banks.

Nyse Euronext has posted some decent videos on its site, in which the UTP programme executive director Anthony Attia talks to co-CIOs Steve Rubinow and Stanley Young.

http://www.nyse.com/tradingsolutions/connectmarkets/1226489148467.html

According to AAP, Commonwealth Bank is now installing gas detection systems in its cash machines.

Completely agree Steve. Quite how Nationwide and the vendor can claim this system will result in more loans I don't know. Surely it will just mean that the people who need loans the most will find it the most difficult and expensive to get them.

I think you should read this from the BBC's Robert Peston.

There is a ban on dividend payments for a year but after that it's down to the Treasury's discretion "irrespective of whether all the prefs had been repaid".

Chip and PIN is being well and truly forced down our throats here in Britain.

Last week the BBC reported that a man is considering taking Tesco to court for discrimination after it refused to let him pay by chip and signature.

Tim Arnold has a brain disorder which means he struggles to remember numbers - like PINs.

Tesco refused to let him sign for his payments on two separate occasions despite the fact its tills are capable of accepting signature cards.

I was told yesterday morning that there were "issues" with the Web site.

If you contact them via idfraud.org.uk they might send you a copy.