Advances in technology will give consumers power over banks by 2020

LONDON, UK: Looking to the future of the financial services industry, independent market analyst Datamonitor has forecast that banks that are eager to engage with consumers will adopt new technology, putting consumers back in a position of power by 2020. 5 Apr 2011 09:08

Growth of mass affluent population to return across all markets

LONDON, UK: Datamonitor predicts that the number of mass affluent consumers (those with more than US$50 000* in onshore liquid assets) will return to growth in established markets** after declining during the recession. The client base will continue to rise in emerging markets, with particularly strong growth for countries such as Singapore. 5 Apr 2011 08:55

US mobile financial account usage surges

RESTON, US: comScore, Inc, a leader in measuring the digital world, has released the latest insights on the state of the mobile financial services market from its quarterly Mobile Financial Advisor report. 30 Mar 2011 06:19

Financial advisors can benefit by reaching out to women, reports Mintel

CHICAGO, US: Women are becoming increasingly influential in the financial world, according to data from market research firm Mintel. 30 Mar 2011 05:55

Western Union offers no-fee money transfers to Japan

ENGLEWOOD, US: Western Union Company, a leader in global payment services, in cooperation with its agents, has activated a limited-time "No Transfer Fee"* program for money-transfers sent to Japan from participating agent locations around the world. 18 Mar 2011 07:16

New study discovers link between social media popularity, stock prices

NEW YORK, US: A new study conducted by a researcher at Pace University, in association with Famecount.com, has looked at the link between social media popularity of key brands and their respective share prices - and identified a statistically significant correlation. 17 Mar 2011 11:12

Online banking on the rise in Southeast Asia

SINGAPORE: comScore, Inc has released the latest results from a study of Internet usage in Southeast Asia. The report found that an increasing number of consumers across the region turned to online banking throughout 2010. 9 Mar 2011 06:56

Emerging auto insurance and aggregator sites attracting meaningful market share

RESTON, US: comScore, Inc, a leader in measuring the digital world, has announced the availability of an expanded competitive set of insurers and aggregator sites for its online auto insurance benchmarker. In Q4 2010, these additional sites accounted for 724 000 submitted quotes, making up 8% of quotes submitted online. 8 Mar 2011 09:58

100 largest UK companies contribute 12% of all government tax receipts

LONDON, UK: In a challenging environment, The Hundred Group continues to make substantial tax contribution (£56.8 billion)* to the UK public finances and employment. 3 Mar 2011 12:56

Nothing for a rainy day - a fifth of Brits have no savings

LONDON, UK: While the financial crisis and economic downturn have focused attention on the need for consumers to shore up their finances, worrying new research from Mintel, finds more than a third (35%) of adults admit to having less than £500 (about R5500) reserved for a rainy day - and as many as one in 5 (19%) Brits have no savings at all. 1 Mar 2011 10:00

Fees could alienate online bill pay users

CHICAGO, US: Online banking continues to grow in popularity, and according to Mintel, 79% of consumers visit their banks' online website on a daily or weekly basis. However, it seems that loyalty to online banking would vanish if the service wasn't complimentary, as just less than 80% of consumers would stop using their banks online bill pay services if their financial institutions charged a monthly fee. 24 Feb 2011 08:22

Retail banks continue to resist social media

[Published by Ovum] LONDON, UK: Despite fragile consumer confidence, most retail banks do not view social media as an important tool to engage with customers, putting them in a dangerous position, according to Ovum, one of the Datamonitor group of companies. 22 Feb 2011 12:24

Mobile operators' service revenues head for record US$1 trillion in 2011

LONDON, UK: In 2010 alone, the world's mobile operator community, composed of more than 900 operators globally, generated US$965 billion (about R6498 billion) in annualised service revenues according to the latest research from Informa Telecoms & Media (www.informatm.com/gmf-report). 18 Feb 2011 11:26

Financial services CEOs look to emerging markets to feed growth aspirations

LONDON, UK: Financial services companies need to look far beyond their domestic markets if they are to achieve their ambitious growth aspirations. This is according to the 14th annual PwC Global CEO Survey, which shows CEOs of financial services companies believe emerging markets are more important than developed markets to their organisation's future. 16 Feb 2011 11:21