Archive for Retail distribution & delivery

  • Fairer, simpler what? Fairer, simpler what?

    The Federal Government's feeble attempt to seek so-called input on consumer credit legislation has been met with derision BY CHARIS PALMER Australia's major banks and mutuals have slammed the federal government over the consultation process and timeframe for consumer credit legislation amend...

  • Coulda been a contender.. Coulda been a contender..

    Australia Post's hopes of becoming a serious contender in banking seem to be lost in the mail... BY CHARIS PALMER Any hopes the industry and consumer advocates had of seeing Australia Post emerge as a viable competitor to the major banks appears to have evaporated, with Post's submission to ...

  • Cash and convenience Cash and convenience

    Further consolidation among independent operators and innovation in ATM functionality will characterise the Australian ATM market in 2011. BY ELTON CANE Despite the continued rapid rise of electroniuc payments volume in Australia, we are still a long way from a cashless society. And the role...

  • The people take a hit The people take a hit

    The gloves are off as the Government and Opposition wade into the ring on the Commonwealth Bank's latest mortgage rate rise BY CHARIS PALMER November's 0.45 per cent mortgage rate rise by the Commonwealth Bank should sound a huge wake-up call for the Australian Competition and Consumer Commi...

  • Video hits Video hits

    Citibank's deployment of video-conferencing rooms in two new branches in Victoria and WA could herald the mainstream arrival of technology BY ELTON CANE Citibank has confirmed that video conference rooms will be included in its new branch plans in Australia, with two branches in Camberwell i...

  • The human touch The human touch

    Just one year after winning an award for Australia's best phone banking service, Suncorp Bank has ditched voice recognition BY ELTON CANE Suncorp Bank has removed the speech recognition call routing from its phone banking service, while retaining the touch-tone menu for common tasks such as ...

  • Are you being served? Are you being served?

    New social media channels in business are inevitable,  say Gartner's experts, so best to prepare now BY CHARIS PALMER Customer service strategists should worry less about which service channels to invest in and more about getting their organisation ready to cope with more channels, say exper...

  • Wither the branch Wither the branch

    The number of branches operated by Australian banks is slowly rising, but they have less and less to do BY ELTON CANE The number of branches run by Australian banks declined 32 per cent from 7,064 in 1993 to a low point of 47,898 in 2001. Since then, numbers have climbed 13 per cent back up t...

  • Banking goes postal Banking goes postal

    Sure, Australia Post has more than 3,300 outlets, but that alone is not enough to attract and retain banking customers BY CHARIS PALMER Australia Post should focus on niche banking segments and direct channels if it is to offer a real banking alternative, say leading financial services consu...

  • Finance with faith Finance with faith

    The Australian Government is chasing the Islamic dollar in an effort to be the leading Asia Pacific hub for Islamic finance BY ELTON CANE Today there are only four organisations offering Islamic finance in Australia. But this is something the Federal Government is hoping to change, as it revi...

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