Best of the Best?
Retail Banking International just published its 2008 Retail Bank of the Year Awards. I thought the following were of particular interest to US readers:
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JP Morgan Chase was “the run away winner” as Best Retail Bank – Americas based on its buoyant profitability and strong organic deposit growth within Retail Banking. While the award was finalized before Bear Stearns, I’m sure this even further reinforces JPM’s strength, especially in light of the financial problems and lackluster retail results at Citibank.
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Bank of America was singled out at having the Best Multi-Channel Distribution Strategy based on its sheer breadth and scale of distribution: 6,100 branches; 19,000 ATMs; 24 million on-line relationships; innovative new mobile banking; and recent acquisition of LaSalle and Countrywide.
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CapitalOne got a special Award for Product Innovation based on its new decoupled debit card (which, I might add, has created a flurry of inquiries from our clients as to “what does this mean for us?”).
Banks in the USA tend to be somewhat insular in their view of the industry, rarely looking outside our borders for inspriation. But as consultants we have always been impressed with, and learned from, the innovative work that is occurring internationally. So we noted with interest that the panel singled out several Spanish banks (I think they do an especially good job at customer segmentation), ICICI (likely to become of the world’s Top 10 banks), and several Australian banks for their innovation in retail distribution.