Join the Community

22,409
Expert opinions
44,408
Total members
415
New members (last 30 days)
157
New opinions (last 30 days)
28,831
Total comments

Latest expert opinions

clear
clear

3658 Results from /retail

Paul Penrose

Paul Penrose Head of Research at Finextra

RaboPlus offers a role model for executive blogging

Bryan Inch, the general manager of RaboPlus, the Australian Internet arm of Dutch co-operative Rabobank, has been running an executive blog for over a year. In September, he announced through the blog that he would be moving back to New Zealand and leaving the bank. He also introduced his successor, Greg McAweeny, who successfully launched RaboDir...

/retail Finance 2.0

Retired Member

Retired Member 

Time to Switch off the IVR

Over the last couple of days, I've had occasion to phone a couple of companies that use IVRs, and it has reminded me just how awful the experience is. In both cases, I had to go through 4 or 5 levels before I got what I really wanted (and needed) - which was to speak to a real-life person. You end up with the impression that speaking to their cust...

/retail Online Banking

Retired Member

Retired Member 

Data Mining , Credit Ratings - Bank Tactics in Spotlight

A recent article in the New York Times has provoked some heated discussion as to the level of culpability banks and credit reference agencies share for the credit crash after it was revealed that they mined and marketed data and targeted sub-prime borrowers. Billions of mail solicitations for mortgages and refinancing, personal loans and credit ca...

/retail Innovation in Financial Services

Alex Noble

Alex Noble Account Director at McAfee

Are call centres so bad they hinder business?

I was struck today by an advertisement for Swiftcover.com that I saw from the train. I know customers often don't like call centres (especially offshore ones), but this advertisement seemed to be targeted at those allergic to the whole idea of talking. Now Swiftcover.com is part of Axa, so this is not an organization without call centre expertise....

/retail

Retired Member

Retired Member 

Interest-Free Periods On Credit Cards: A Common Mistake

Interesting little article in the Press the other day which said that, because some card issuers had reduced their ‘interest free periods’, customers who habitually paid interest would be paying £3 million more in interest each year. This demonstrates a lack of understanding of the basic financial drivers on card accounts, as a card issuer’s purp...

/retail Online Banking

Paul Penrose

Paul Penrose Head of Research at Finextra

NAB's social media meltdown

National Australia Bank's brave experiment with social media appears to have blown up in its face. NAB initially set up myfuturebank.org (now sadly deceased) to engage with customers online and listen to their experiences of using the bank. But faced with the inevitable critical comments that tend to surface in such a public forum, the bank seems t...

/retail Finance 2.0

Retired Member

Retired Member 

Deliver My Statement In A Wheelbarrow

I'm just wondering what will happen to my bank statement when contactless takes off - assuming I use it. When I think about the large number of cash payments (30p here, 60-odd p there, a couple of quid on something else) that could be switched on to a contactless debit card, the paper bank statement I get each month could be impressive in size. I...

/retail Innovation in Financial Services

Paul Penrose

Paul Penrose Head of Research at Finextra

HSBC's amazing new bank account

HSBC recently wrote to inform me of important changes to my bank account. Apparently, customers had expressed dissatisfaction with the paltry 0.1% AER rate of credit interest offered on HSBC's curent account. HSBC's solution? To stop paying any interest on its new range of current accounts. "After all," says the bank. "You could get ...

/retail

Retired Member

Retired Member 

An Out Of This World Perspective...

Floating in space in their spaceship, out beyond the Kuiper Belt, Zig and Zag have been monitoring Earth’s newswires. They receive a message from Zug at High Command. ZUG: Report. Should we establish first contact with these aliens? ZIG: On the face of it, it looks good. They’ve got satellites, probes visiting other planets, telescopes out i...

/retail

Retired Member

Retired Member 

Freeze Fraudsters Out Of Your Credit File Coming Soon

Nick Clegg, leader of the UK Liberal Democrat Party, and David Howarth, MP for Cambridgeshire announced their new party policy on protections against identity fraud during a recent visit to Cambridge Labs to watch a CHIP and PIN attack demonstrated. Credit rating companies are exempt from aspects of the Data Protection Act and can forward personal...

/retail Whatever...

Now Hiring