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Cost-Cutting Banks Seek Smartphone Customers
Strapped for new revenue and pressed into waves of cost cuts, the country's largest banks are trying to keep the customers they have, woo the ones they don't and do it all for less.
In recent months, they have increasingly found one solution to all of those problems: the smartphones that can let customers deposit checks, pay bills and check their balances without ever stepping into a bank branch. ...
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Financial Services Firms Setting Up Shop in Smaller Cities
The U.S. securities industry is booming -- just not on Wall Street.
Smaller cities around the nation have emerged as unlikely hives of financial-services hiring, thanks to lower wages, municipal-tax incentives and the misfortunes of older hubs that are home to companies ravaged by the 2008-2009 financial crisis. ...
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Low Rates Pummel Banks
Superlow U.S. interest rates are squeezing bank profits, complicating the industry's nascent recovery from the financial crisis.
An important gauge of lending profitability, known as net interest margin, has dropped to its lowest level in three years. The measure tracks how much banks earn when they borrow from depositors and then lend or invest those funds. ...
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Businesses Are Sweet Spots for Banks
Sara Ross makes deep-fried vanilla cupcakes filled with whipped cream, among others, but the popularity of her bakery's unconventional creations wasn't enough for her old bank, which last year elected not to offer her a line of credit.
No worries, as Ms. Ross, of Somerville, Mass., was able to find another lender that extended her a $75,000 credit line -- and in May she moved into a plant that handles all of her baking needs. ...
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Nation's Unbanked Continue to Grow, FDIC Says
The proportion of U.S. households with limited access to a bank inched up between 2009 and 2011, with most unbanked and underbanked still turning to alternative products to manage their finances, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said Wednesday. ...
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Who Are the Underbanked?
Don't overlook the underbanked. That's the central message of a recently-released Javelin Research report that describes the market for underbanked consumers and strategies for turning them into fully banked customers.
The firm estimates 35 million Americans are underbanked; about 15% of the population. ...
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9 of 10 Banks Are Mulling an Overhaul, Survey Finds
Nine out of 10 banks said that they have re-examined, are in the process of re-examining or will re-examine their operating models, according to a survey conducted by KPMG.
This means banks are rethinking everything from who their customers are to how they reach them and the products that they will offer, said Brian Stephens, national leader of KPMG's banking and capital markets practice. ...
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Bank Customers Defect Due to Fees, Poor Service
Fees are the main reason customers shop for a new primary bank, according to the J.D. Power and Associates 2012 U.S. Bank Customer Switching and Acquisition study.
One-third of customers of big and large regional banks cite fees as the main shopping trigger. However, poor service and unmet customer expectations also have fueled increases in defection rates among customers of large, regional and midsize banks. ...
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Mild Winter Cheers Retailers
U.S. retailers turned in solid sales for February as warmer weather brought out shoppers for spring wear and clearance sales.
Stores began displaying spring apparel during the month -- in many cases with bright colors offering some freshness. Analysts said some shoppers used money they didn't spend on apparel for a frigid winter that didn't come. ...
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Personal Loans Make a Comeback
Personal loans fell out of favor during the financial crisis. But they are starting to make a comeback at lenders such as Wells Fargo, Discover Financial Services and TD Bank.
Some borrowers are using personal loans for big-ticket items, such as paying for a wedding or home repairs, or to help children get settled after college. At a time when many people are seeking to pare their debt, a personal loan -- which isn't secured by borrower assets -- can also help borrowers take control of existing debt and pay it off over a fixed term. ...
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Banks Still Have Their Devoted Fans
Contrary to the widely held belief that banks have hit an all-time low in their approval ratings, more than half of consumers surveyed by TD Bank say they are committed to their bank.
Furthermore, nearly two-thirds feel valued by them, according to the survey. ...
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Credit Unions Welcome New Banking Customers
Thousands of people flooded into credit unions and small banks over the weekend as part of "Bank Transfer Day," an effort to prod depositors to abandon giant banks. But at least some of the big banks won't mind losing those customers.
On Saturday, the Boeing Employees' Credit Union in Seattle signed up a one-day record 659 new members. At the grand opening of a Randolph-Brooks Federal Credit Union branch in Pflugerville, Texas, the parking lot was so full that customers had to leave their cars across the street.
...
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Bank Customers Like Rewards, But Don't Redeem
Bank customers are quick to sign up for debit rewards programs, but are slow to redeem earned points, according to Mintel Comperemedia.
While such programs have been viewed by banks as an easy way to gain and retain customers and have been marketed heavily, Mintel found that debit card programs alone aren't likely to foster customer loyalty, as 47% of respondents who participate in a debit rewards program have never redeemed their points. ...
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The Great Customer Courtship
Banks Are Rolling Out New Incentives to Win Business
Who knew checking and savings accounts were so sexy?
Historically low interest rates, tough new capital requirements and heightened competition from brokerage firms are prompting banks to dangle juicy incentives to a group of customers that not long ago were considered wallflowers: depositors. ...
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