Retail Banking Competitor Tracker - July 2009

Overview 1
Catalyst 1
Summary 1
Methodology 1
Table of Contents 2
INTRODUCTION 3
This tracker provides both one-month and 12-month views of developments 3
Each month, Datamonitor tracks the most relevant announcements from 100 competitors 3
Datamonitor's Retail Banking team provides analysis of the key developments at both the one-month and 12-month level 4
A fully searchable database of the past 12 months of developments is also delivered alongside the report 4
KEY TRENDS AND DEVELOPMENTS IN July 5
Mortgage lenders in the UK continue to tweak pricing and launch new products to adapt to unpredictable market conditions 5
Scandinavian banking groups restructure to manage through escalating Baltic recession 7
DnB Nor - restructuring Norwegian operations to protect local growth 7
SEB - restructuring Baltic operations to isolate recessionary impact 7
UK banks launch a wave of student account packages in preparation for the start of the academic year 8
Overall competitor activity in July 2009 closely mirrored that of June 9
Stories about product and service innovation continued to dominate in July 9
News about new products and services continued to dominate this month's stories 10
Product, Services and Innovation 11
Abbey 11
UK: Abbey launches multiple mortgage deals for new and existing customers 11
Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) 11
Australia: ANZ introduces a new mortgage product 'ANZ Portfolio' 11
Barclays 12
UK: Barclays enhances student package for 2009 12
Eurobank EFG 12
Greece: Eurobank EFG launches ?co loans for Greek households 12
HBOS 13
UK: Halifax upgrades its student account offering 13
HSBC Bank 13
UK: First Direct announces the launch of a tracker mortgage 13
UK: First Direct introduces two new mortgage deals 13
Lloyds TSB 14
UK: Lloyds TSB enhances its mobile banking services 14
UK: Lloyds TSB introduces its student account for 2009 14
UK: Lloyds TSB announces the launch of 'Easy Step' mortgage deal 15
Nationwide Building Society 16
UK: Nationwide launches a range of mortgage deals 16
UK: Nationwide offers options for its existing mortgage customers 16
M&A, Partnerships and Organic Growth 17
Banco Sabadell 17
US: Banco Sabadell completes the acquisition of Mellon United National Bank 17
Bank of East Asia (BEA) 17
China: BEA establishes strategic partnership with Hana Bank 17
Crédit Agricole 17
France: Crédit Agricole acquires a 35% stake in CACEIS 17
DnB NOR 18
Norway: DnB NOR announces restructuring of the group 18
Intesa Sanpaolo 18
Italy: Intesa Sanpaolo announces partial demerger of Mediocredito Italiano 18
SEB 18
Norway: SEB agrees to sell its car financing operations in Norway to Volkswagen Financial Services 18
Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) 19
Japan: SMBC and PT Bank Central Asia signs agreement on mutual business cooperation 19
Appendix 20
Methodology 20
Further reading 20
Ask the analyst 20
Datamonitor consulting 20
Disclaimer 20
List of Tables
Table 1: The 100 companies and subsidiaries covered by Datamonitor's Retail Banking Competitor Tracker 3
List of Figures
Figure 1: Generally, consumers in established mortgage markets have mortgages with their primary bank, however this bears no correlation to consumer loyalty 5
Figure 2: M&A stories remained relatively low in July, as has been the case over the previous months 9
Figure 3: Once again, new products and services dominated this month's news stories 10