Today, let’s talk about office attire. What should we wear in an office that is suitable? In today’s world there are several possible answers.
Men are normally expected to wear a suit, a shirt, a tie, and polished black shoes. Women should wear a blouse, a skirt and smart office shoes. However, office attire in some countries does vary, probably because of the climate.
If staff deal with customers and are front office they will usually need to wear a suit or company office uniform. If they are back office they might not need to wear a formal suit. This though will depend on company policy.
In the Central European country of Slovakia, a mobile phone banking revolution is taking place. Thousands of people are now regularly making payments using their mobile phone. It’s all down to new technology that several Slovakian banks have introduced.
The system being used in Slovakia is called Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. This offers users a user-friendly solution to the mobile payment hang-up, but it requires coordination between banks and mobile operators, as well as infrastructure in shops. Slovakia is considered the European leader in adopting innovative solutions.
Category: Economic / Banks / Business
Recently Tesco launched its own current account. The supermarket’s aim is to challenge the top four major High Street banks in the UK with Tesco Bank, despite it having only a minimal in-house branch presence.
Tesco claims it will bring competition back to the market that currently offers “ridiculously poor value” to consumers. It said its new current account was without the “smoke and mirrors” offerings, such as charges and introductory deals, used by others.
Category: Business / Banking / Tesco Bank
Recently a study by the British Banking Association (BBA) reported a doubling in mobile banking transactions, which will further increase the risk to branch banking. The number of transactions carried out on smartphones and tablets in the UK at the end of 2013 reached 18.6 million per week.
Category: Business / Banking / Mobile Banking
The writing is on the wall in the UK for free-if-incredit banking. Several banks have recently mulled the idea of gradually ending this idea. The reason being they need to refinance themselves.
The Chief Executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland Group Ross McEwan said recently it was only a matter of time before “free banking” ended. The chairman of Barclays said two years ago that he agreed “in principle” with ending the practice.
Category: Business / Banking / Free-if-in-Credit Banking
British banks are to cut thousands of jobs and close hundreds of bank branches. The huge shake up is a result of them being allowed to get too big. The devastating 2008 financial crisis saw two of the biggest UK banks taken over by the government because of the losses they incurred.
The Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS), that is 81% owned by the government, is expected to axe 30,000 jobs this year. The bank will withdraw from risky business and severely cut its international division. Its new Chief Executive Ross McEwan aims to decrease the RBS Group headcount by a quarter over the next 3-5 years.
Category: Business / Economics / Banking
More than a few months ago I was set a challenge by some students to
write a lesson about SIFI Banking. I discovered SIFI has nothing to do with
science fiction (Sci-Fi) banking i.e. banking in the future! SIFI actually
means ‘systemically important financial institutions’. The term was created
in 2009 following the financial crisis of 2008.
Category: Business / Economic / Banking – SIFI
