The financial sector is finally catching up with the demand for Islamic banking services. This year hopes to see the ground-breaking establishment of the IBB, which will cater to UK Muslims while also hoping to attract business from further afield.

Spain’s two banking giants both suffered loss of market share after recent mergers. SCH’s Enrique García Candelas and BBVA’s Julio López talk to Karina Robinson about their new client-focused strategies, designed to gain lost ground.

South African company Aplitec saw a gap in the payments market and devised a cheaper alternative to the EMV standard. Stuart Theobald explains how this upstart company has stolen a march on the global card giants.
Smart cards have heralded a technical revolution in payments systems across the globe. But the industry smart card standard Europay Mastercard Visa (EMV) is not without its challengers. One that has caught the attention of Visa particularly is a small South African IT company called Aplitec.

Many banks are turning their attention towards their branch networks in
the increasingly stiff competition for a bigger share of customers’
business, say Roy O’Neil and Chris Gentle.

Until now customers have preferred to queue for tellers to make
deposits, rather than trust ATMs. But new technology is helping to
allay their fears and free up tellers for more profitable transactions.
Keith Taylor of NCR reports.

Branches are back in fashion. But they look different. They are being
redesigned to provide better customer service, increase revenue and cut
costs, writes Michael Imeson.

Once touted as the next big thing, customer relationship management
failed to deliver. Now data warehousing is helping it to fulfil its
initial promise. Parveen Bansal explains how.

Multi-channel banking has become the norm for customers. Rekha Menon reports on developments in the four crucial areas of ATM, call centre, internet and bricks-and-mortar branches.

ATMs are customers’ primary point of contact with banks, making them
the perfect marketing channel. To maximise success, however, says Jeff
Lutz, information should be targeted.

Hungary’s OTP Bank is finally celebrating its profitable privatisation,
with a growing client base that enjoys a variety of sophisticated
access channels. Parveen Bansal talks to deputy CEO Csaba Lantos about the bank’s plans to be a major player in the region.