Just had a great discussion about segmentation today, building on yesterday’s blog entry. The old homogenisation of customers into apples and pears, oranges and lemons, goes back to a simplistic time of the 1980s, where the analytics tools could not mine customer data to a segment of one. Today, these tools can do this and far more, but banks are loathe to deploy such tools or are handcuffed from doing so due to their legacy systems. That is changing, as banks rethink processes for mobile...

Things we're reading today include ... Northern Rock offloads Irish armThe Telegraph Bank of America's $8.5bn sub-prime settlement blockedThe Telegraph Osborne and Cable at war over bank reform The Independent   Our 10 biggest banking bugbears The Telegraph Euro politicians 'ignore markets' BBC Bank shares lead market rise The Independent Banks pay £200m in PPI mis-selling compensation The Telegraph Banks up on regulation fightback BBC  

Adkit, an international research firm, just sent me their insights into customer segmentation in retail banking.  It’s an interesting report summarised in a 21-slide presentation. The main results show that most banks are narrowing down to three or four key customer segments. In the UK, we normally call these oranges, lemons, apples and pears.  Apples are mainstream customers; lemons are students and the underbanked;  pears are high net worth and mass affluent; and oranges are...

Things we're reading today include ...  Eurobank to merge with Alpha BankBBC Alpha Buys Eurobank, Becomes Greek BehemothBusiness Week Nordea Plans to Cut 2,000 Employees by 2013Business Week EMCF to push into OTC clearingFinancial Times Bank of America sells shares in China bank for $8.3bnThe Telegraph   Bank job cuts top 60,000 after ABN Amro axes thousandsThe Telegraph Bank cull signals times are-a-changin' for us tooThe Telegraph Will other banks push through pay...

  Our biggest stories of the week are ... Data can be currency, just like salt We are living in times where I often talk about data being our new currency, and that data is more valuable than money or gold in the context of modern life. This may sound like a joke, but historically no substance has been more valued than salt ..... Data is a currency … we just haven’t realised its value yet   I wrote about data as a currency, like salt, on Monday and have talked a lot about data...

There’s been quite a lot of coverage recently of the British Bankers Association’s (BBA) report about bank branch closures in the UK. Based upon the stats, UK banks are closing three branches a week.  That still leaves over 9,000 branches out there, but they are shrinking. The reasons are many – cost efficiency, movement away from remote locations, operational overheads, etc – but the clear trend is away from branch and towards automation. That being said, there are still branches out...

Things we're reading today include ... Union hits out at Barclays job cutsThe Independent Crédit Agricole hit by €202m loss but is banking on recoveryThe Independent Credit Agricole Profit Beats EstimatesBusiness Week Goldman Sachs staff to lose pay risesThe Telegraph Co-op's Marks sees worst conditions for 40 yearsThe Independent Co-op cautious over bid for Lloyds' branchesFinancial Times Charles Schwab files lawsuits against banks over 'Libor manipulation'The Telegraph...

Forget the news of Steve Jobs resignation as everyone's far more interested in the iPhone5. Is this the new iPhone5?

I’m sitting in a restaurant the other day, and hear the following conversation … Banker One: “So what’s this Bribery Act thingamajig?” Banker Two: “New Law.  Came into force July 1st.” mnum, yum, mnum. Banker One: “Yea, I know that”, mnum yum. “I meant what does it mean?” Banker Two: glug, glug.  “Can’t take a bung anymore.” Banker One: “You do?” Mouth open, food visible. Banker Two: “Not anymore ha,ha, ha”. Glug. Banker One: “So what’s the basics on this?” Mnum. Banker Two:...

Things we're reading today include ... Cheque delays 'must be reduced'BBC Cheques bounce backThe Telegraph Cost of insuring RBS debt reaches historic highThe Telegraph Bank of America still haunted by Lehman Brothers's ghostThe Telegraph Bank of America: a historyThe Telegraph LSE backs BATS merger with Chi-XFinancial Times Former RBS chief Sir Fred Goodwin 'threatened staff with disciplinary action over biscuit'The Telegraph Tax deal with Swiss banks agreedBBC