Overall customer satisfaction with retail banks in Canada has improved from 2009, as Canadian banks have increased investment in technology and customer service systems improvements following the global financial crisis, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2010 Canadian Retail Banking Customer Satisfaction Study. Overall satisfaction with primary financial institutions averages 730 on a 1,000-point [...]
Banking titan Citigroup Inc. is paying US$75 million to settle civil charges that it misled investors about its potential losses from subprime mortgages as the housing bust hit in 2007. The Securities and Exchange Commission announced the settlement with Citigroup on Thursday. It says the company repeatedly made misleading statements in calls with analysts and [...]
Seven of 91 European banks failed stress tests aimed at measuring their strength in case the continent’s government debt crisis takes a turn for the worse, regulators said on July 23. European Union officials hope the results will reassure markets worried about hidden bank losses from the crisis. The EU said the tests were tough [...]
Thanks to the overhaul of financial rules becoming law on July 21, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. can truthfully say “the check is in the mail” to about 9,500 customers of banks that failed in 2008. The agency plans to mail depositors roughly $200 million on July 22. The maximum the FDIC would insure in [...]
According to the latest Ernst & Young survey, 72% of global banking executives cite regulatory uncertainty as the top challenge their organizations face around risk management. As global regulators and legislators tighten regulatory oversight in response to the financial crisis, banks are bracing for the new rules to affect fundamental aspects of their business. Ernst [...]
The Board of Directors of the Bank of Canada has announced the appointment of Agathe Côté as Deputy Governor of the Bank effective 30 July 2010. As Deputy Governor, Ms. Côté will join the Bank’s Governing Council, which is the policy-making body of the Bank. The Governing Council is responsible for monetary policy, policies aimed [...]
On June 11, U.S. regulators shut down a bank in Washington, bringing to 82 the number of U.S. bank failures this year. Seattle-based Washington First International Bank, with US$520.9 million in assets and $441.4 million in deposits, was closed by the Washington Department of Financial Institutions, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as receiver [...]
Complaints about the financial industry have reached record levels, according to new figures released by the Ombudsman for Banking Services and Investments (OBSI). OBSI said it looked into 990 banking and investment consumer complaints in 2009, representing a 48 % increase over 2008 and a more than tripling of the number of case files in [...]
Ford’s Canadian lending arm is applying to become a bank. If the application by Ford Credit Canada is approved, the company will change its name to Ford Credit Bank and will be headquartered in Oakville, Ont. Ford Credit spokeswoman Margaret Mellott says the company, a subsidiary of Ford Motor Co., would continue to provide financing [...]
More than 400 works from the corporate contemporary art collection once displayed at Lehman Brothers will be auctioned this fall to help pay creditors of the failed investment bank, Sotheby’s announced. The selected works from the Neuberger Berman and Lehman Brothers Corporate Art Collection are scheduled to be sold on Sept. 25, pending bankruptcy court [...]
Canada’s five biggest banks held steady on profit growth in the second quarter, raking in $5.01 billion collectively, as several failed to deliver higher results from certain divisions while some fell short of analyst expectations. The latest quarterly roundup fell slightly short of the $5.09 billion the group made during the first quarter of the [...]
Ottawa is drafting legislation to stop Canadian banks from using their websites to promote insurance that can’t be sold through their regular branch offices. Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said Thursday he is moving forward with legislation that would make it illegal for federally regulated Canadian banks and trust companies to use their websites to promote [...]
As OSFI Assistant Superintendent Ted Price said, Canadian banks and insurance companies are front-line participants in the anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing (AML/ATF) regime. But Price said “Although their AMF/ATF programs are generally seen as adequate, there is more work to do. OSFI is not satisfied with the overall quality of the measures in place [...]
Credit unions are continuing to grow in the Canadian retail banking landscape and could present a competitive challenge to the nation’s banks in the domestic market over time, says Moody’s Investors Service in a new report. Credit unions currently account for a 16% share of domestic deposits and a 19% share of residential mortgages , [...]
On April 23, BMO Financial Group announced that it has acquired Rockford, Ill.-based Amcore Bank N.A. in a deal with the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. Financial terms of the deal for the failed U.S. bank were not immediately available, but BMO said the agreement was not material to earnings. Amcore’s 52 branches reopened under [...]
More than half (53 percent) of global insurance consumers are considering switching to a new insurance provider over the next 12 months and a rapidly growing number plan to buy insurance online, according to findings of an Accenture survey. Survey participants included more than 3,500 consumers in Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United [...]
TD Bank chief executive Ed Clark says some of the rules being proposed by global banking regulators could affect Canada’s banking system negatively. Clark told investors at the company’s annual meeting in Quebec City that certain rules would require banks to put up the same amount of capital for both high-risk and low-risk assets. Clark [...]
View the video here on your mobile device. Canada’s five biggest banks saw their profits soar in the first quarter of 2010, compared to a year before when the recession battered away at earnings. The banks earned a combined $5.09 billion in the three months ended January 31, compared to $2.97 billion in 2009. Scotiabank [...]
Bank of Nova Scotia wrapped up the Canadian banking industry’s first-quarter earnings season with a $988-million profit that was up 17 per cent from a year earlier and ahead of analyst estimates. Scotiabank says its profit for the three-month period was the equivalent of 91 cents per diluted share or 93 cents on a cash [...]
