Lloyds Banking Group's new CEO, António Horta-Osório, had an easy option: to stay at the helm of Santander UK and await inevitable promotion. Instead, he left to front the bailed-out UK bank.

Technology is not always a primary consideration in banking M&A activity. But the success, or failure, of subsequent IT integrations can make or break any deal.

In a country where the number of landline phone owners and PC users is relatively low, and mobile phone ownership almost universal, mobile banking offers healthy opportunities to expand financial inclusion in India.

New technology, new players and the challenge of social networking occupied the minds of the participants in a round table discussion on retail opportunities over the next decade held by The Banker.

Years of double-digit growth stretched Banca Transilvania’s core banking system to breaking point. CEO Robert Rekkers explains how the bank embarked on a long-overdue upgrade.

The negative perceptions of Colombia that have dogged the country over the past few decades are finally being shed, causing global companies to take note of its role as an up-and-coming IT hub for Latin America.

India's HDFC Bank recently upgraded its ATM network. The bank's chief information officer, Anil Jaggia explains how it has increased transaction speeds, boosted sales and implemented SMS-based anti-fraud measures.

In future decades, banks will have to let go of their fixation with traditional means of interacting with the customer and instead offer solutions that meet the public's growing expectation of accessing banking services wherever and whenever they need them.

Polish policy-makers appear to be pushing the prospects for euro adoption further into the future. But this still leaves the country's banks with a dilemma about how to respond to client demand for retail loans in foreign currencies. Writer Philip Alexander

Home Credit Group, one of the largest unsecured retail lending specialists in eastern Europe, is pioneering the model in China and Vietnam. Writer Philip Alexander