Join the Community

22,499
Expert opinions
44,476
Total members
582
New members (last 30 days)
199
New opinions (last 30 days)
28,863
Total comments

Latest expert opinions

clear
clear

3665 Results from /retail

Retired Member

Retired Member 

Time for a Referendum on the Budget

Not only are the projected borrowing figures staggering to comprehend, but they are also surely immoral. How can it be that any Government can condemn the population they purport to serve to a lifetime of debt in this way? It should not be possible, in our constitution, for any party to set us on a path like this without having to seek a fresh m...

/retail Trends in Financial Services

Richard Barr

Richard Barr Principal Associate at Citadel Advantage Ltd.

Moving beyond the economic swamp

I find it ever so fascinating to scan the economic news each morning. Doing so reminds me that old curse "May you live in interesting times". As almost anyone will tell you, our world market situation is certainly interesting. What it is not, is enjoyable. Our goal as a civilization, and my goal as an individual professional in this mark...

/retail

Paul Penrose

Paul Penrose Head of Research at Finextra

No more 'free smiles' as JPMorgan brings back boring banking

Conventional wisdom has it that bank branches should take their cue from modern retail practices. They should be bright and welcoming, preferably open plan with comfy seating and staffed by approachable, friendly sales people. So why is JPMorgan taking a bulldozer to the WaMu Occasio branch concept, a $1 billion branch remodelling exercise that fre...

/retail Trends in Financial Services

Alex Noble

Alex Noble Account Director at McAfee

Sallie Mae - Customer service or protectionism?

An interesting story on Finextra that Sallie Mae is looking to bring back onshore around 2,000 jobs. It's a trend that so far in Europe has been primarily associated with customer service. I've covered some other business that have brought work back onshore in previous posts (see "Despite the credit crunch, still call centre growth at Barc...

/retail

Paul Penrose

Paul Penrose Head of Research at Finextra

The pound in your pocket may be worth less than you think

The number of fake pound coins in circulation may be twice Royal Mint estimates, says the BBC. Official figures suggest around 2.5% - or one in 40 - are copies, but coin testing companies say it is one in 20. This would put the number of bogus coins in circulation at 73 million. The Royal Mint is playing down the data, as it doesn't want to underm...

/payments /retail

Paul Penrose

Paul Penrose Head of Research at Finextra

Too big to fail, or too big to compete?

UK retailer Tesco is not alone in enjoying the benefits of 'safe haven' status as consumers turn away from distressed banks and move their assets to more trustworthy institutions. The UK's Co-operative Bank - which last month posted a 70% rise in underlying profit for 2008 - is reporting a 123% annual increase in customers switching their current a...

/retail Trends in Financial Services

Retired Member

Retired Member 

What Banks Could Learn From Tesco

The fact that Tesco is seeing a doubling of customer deposits in recent months as distrusting consumers move away from the troubled banking sector highlights how banks need to go back to basics to retain their customers. A closer examination of why consumers are putting their financial trust in Tesco would probably reveal that, animosity toward

/retail

Retired Member

Retired Member 

12 Zeroes - Or Was That 20?

What the 20 heads of state at the G20 continually fail to understand is the plight of individuals and how that impacts on how well we will recover from this mess. How could they, as they are all insulated from the real economic world because of their status? What they didn't address is the dire state of individuals' balance sheets, and those of co...

/retail Trends in Financial Services

Paul Penrose

Paul Penrose Head of Research at Finextra

Make love, not leverage

Twitter seems to be coming into its own as a medium for reporting fast-moving events. Up-to-the-minute citizen reportage on the G20 protest rally can be found here. This just in: Protestors urinating in the Royal Bank of Scotland. 'Well, we do own it', says one tweet. More coverage from the FT's team at http://twitter.com/g20ft. 'Make love, not l...

/retail /wholesale Finance 2.0

Retired Member

Retired Member 

US Retailers Gearing Up As Banks

I have reason to believe there are one or two US retailers with financial services squarely in their sights, and are looking to pull a Tesco in the US. Some retailers might just score a bulls-eye with their recession resistant business model and large store networks. I see there have been some tentative attempts by Carphone et al. Having a few hun...

/payments /retail Whatever...

Now Hiring