Showing the importance of technology to the banking customer experience, IT issues caused problems for some Lloyds Banking Group customers trying to use their debit cards on Sunday. The group, which also includes TSB, Bank of Scotland and Halifax, has 30 million customers across the UK, although only a minority were affected by the glitch, which lasted 3 hours.Lloyds has since confirmed that the p...
This week saw the re-emergence of a new name in British banking, with the creation of TSB. Formed from 600 branches of Lloyds Group, it has 5 million customers and promises to focus on local customers and businesses.The divestment of the branches was mandated by the EU as part of the state bailout of Lloyds during the banking crisis. Originally due to be sold to Co-Operative Bank, when that deal f...
There are many similarities between banks and retailers. Both sectors have large, geographically spread branch/shop networks, and in many cases are facing the same challenge of balancing online and offline channels to meet changing consumer needs.As part of their strategy retailers have aggressively been moving into new markets – offering everything from insurance, bank accounts and telecoms...
The Virgin brand is known for doing things differently and for putting the customer first, whichever market it is operating in. So last week’s news that the UK government has sold Northern Rock to Virgin Money could potentially have a big impact on the banking market.Northern Rock will be rebranded as Virgin Money, with the company pledging to increase the number of branches it has and to ad...
This week the Independent Commission on Banking (ICB) released its long-awaited report on reforming the banking system. It has two main aims - firstly to protect us all from potential future financial crises by splitting bank’s retail and investment arms but importantly to increase competition within the UK banking sector.In fact the report states that it wants a market where “ba...