Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are responsible for remodelling the Top 25 western European banks in this year’s listings. As ABN AMRO is consolidated onto the balance sheets of its three purchasers, it disappears from our rankings, while RBS, Santander and Fortis all move up the table.
How should technology be implemented to lower costs, improve efficiency, outwit the competition and reduce the organisation’s carbon footprint? What makes a successful partnership between a technology vendor and a bank? What future developments are in store? These were the key questions discussed at The Banker round table on ‘Retail banking and technology: a new era’, held in London last month. The event, the second on retail banking this year in the Leadership Series, was sponsored by Finacle from Infosys, but independently written and edited.
Australia’s Westpac Banking has approached St George Bank with a takeover offer in a deal that would mark the biggest shake-up of the Australian banking sector in years and would create the country’s largest financial services company by market capitalisation, with a combined value of about A$65bn ($61bn).