Online video use soars in the mortgage market

Five major mortgage providers now using videos to attract customers

04 November 2011 |

Mapa researchers recorded around 35 changes whilst completing the latest Mortgages Dashboard update.

A notable trend was the increase in video marketing amongst the mortgage providers, with many of them adding videos to their websites to help convey facts and guidance about their products and...keep reading

Internet Banking renaissance continues

More UK banking platforms improved and enhanced

20 December 2011 |

Mapa has recently produced the Internet Banking Dashboard: an in depth look at all the major UK banks’ Internet Banking services.

Nationwide recently completely relaunched their Internet Banking platform as part of a wider IT transformation. The new platform has much of the same functionality...keep reading

UK Banks Encourage Customers to Update Contact Details in Enhanced Security Drive

Halifax and NatWest / RBS allow customers to update their contact details online

29 September 2008 |

Our September UK Internet Banking Dashboard update highlights moves by providers to enhance online security. Banks are encouraging customers to check their contact details and update when necessary. Halifax and NatWest / Royal Bank of Scotland are using their interstitial login screen to stress...keep reading

Mobile: UK banks have been busy!

New services and promotions, as the UK banks continue to develop mobile services

28 November 2008 |

Q4 of 2008 saw some substantial activity from two of the UK high street banks; Lloyds TSB and HSBC.

Lloyds TSB launched a mobile banking pack, which includes low and high balance alerts. They also introduced the option for current account customers to sign up for an overseas debit card...keep reading

More decision making tools for mortgage customers

Mortgage lenders are providing more online tools and calculators for customers

09 December 2008 |

In November’s research for the Mortgage Dashboard more mortgage lenders have added pages to their websites giving advice to customers facing financial difficulty, the latest to provide this information are Cheltenham and Gloucester, and Coventry Building Society.

New tools and calculators...keep reading

Personal loan providers no longer pushing PPI sales

Changes to online Payment Protection Insurance sales

09 December 2008 |

November’s update of the Personal Loans Dashboard has uncovered over twenty changes, a number of which are around the sale of Payment Protection Insurance (PPI).

Barclays, Natwest, RBS, Lombard Direct and Nationwide are notable amongst those who have made changes around the sales process.

...keep reading

Report on LPI reflected in the Loans Dashboard

40% of sites monitored on the Dashboard have recently stopped selling LPI online

13 March 2009 |

For some time now selling loan payment insurance has been profitable business for UK banks, however not without criticism from consumer bodies and regulators. For example in October last year FSA fined Alliance & Leicester £7 million for serious failings in its telephone sales of LPI.

In...keep reading

mBanking Dashboard unveils receipt service from BB&T

New service introductions in several countries including NatWest (UK), BB&T (US), SNS Bank (NL) and Nordea (SE)

20 March 2009 |

NatWest becomes the first High-Street bank in the UK to introduce international mobile money transfers. NatWest now provide the option for Polish & Non Resident Indian Welcome Account customers to transfer money to Polish PKO BP Bank and Indian ABN AMRO bank accounts respectively. This is as...keep reading

Banks launch prize draw to push online statements

Prize draws increasingly used to encourage online statements sign up and product applications

24 June 2009 |

Mapa’s Internet Banking Dashboard of June 2009 revealed several prize draws launched by banks. Halifax, NatWest and RBS launched prize draws to urge customers to switch off paper statements and view their statements online within Internet Banking instead.

As a reward for switching off...keep reading

HSBC tops best British brands poll

Despite the appalling year for banks generally, 9 banks still make it into the Marketing Society’s top 50 Brands of British origin listing

25 June 2009 |

The multi sector brand parade covering all sectors, and featuring an A to Z spectrum of well known favourites, ascribes each individual brand a value, and it is this that determines the rankings.

Examination of the full list shows a clear divide of banks featured, between those tainted by the...keep reading

‘Your Savings Goal’ added to NatWest/RBS secure site

New savings tool introduced for NatWest/ RBS online bankers

09 March 2010 |

The February update of Mapa’s competitor intelligence Savings Dashboard has recorded 38 changes. The most notable of these changes coming from NatWest/ RBS.

NatWest/ RBS have added a brand new section duly titled ‘Your Savings Goals’ within the banks secure online banking environment. The...keep reading

Explosion of changes in Mobile and SMS Banking

Service removals and extensions all evident as providers scramble for market advantage

24 February 2010 |

The February update of Mapa’s Mobile Banking and SMS Competitor Intelligence dashboards recorded several notable changes in the countries monitored.

Europe is catching up with the US banks following the introductions of iPhone applications from many major banks. In the American market, BB&T’s...keep reading

UK online banking improves

A kaleidoscope of improvements from banking providers enhance the customer experience

07 January 2010 |

The December 2009 update of Mapa’s Internet Banking Dashboard recorded a significant number of impressive updates to UK online and mobile banking.

The most notable of the functionality and usability changes came from Barclays, Nationwide and NatWest/ RBS.

Barclays have now optimised the...keep reading

Major improvement to mobile offering by RBS/NatWest

RBS / NatWest introduce iPhone application as well as multiple SMS services and Abbey introduce new SMS security for Online Banking

25 November 2009 |

The November Mapa competitor intelligence update of the UK Mobile & SMS Banking Dashboard has revealed a number of interesting service introductions / extensions.

As the first banks in the UK, NatWest and RBS introduced a Mobile Banking iPhone application. The service contains the same...keep reading

Lloyds TSB stays ahead as other major banks improve

The latest November 2009 SMS consumer monitoring quarterly update from Mapa shows that the banking sector continues to dominate SMS sending

24 November 2009 |

Whilst Lloyds TSB remains at number one with double the mention of its nearest rival, both Abbey and Natwest have increased their mentions over previous quarters.

Nearly one in five of the population claimed to have received an SMS from a Financial Services company which is three percent up...keep reading

RBS and NatWest Make It Pay

Updated iPhone app gives customers external payments with a native experience

20 January 2012 |

Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest updated their much loved iPhone app just before Christmas, allowing customers to make payments to external payees. With Lloyds TSB and Santander recently launching mobile apps and Barclays’ apps '‘on the way’' the UK Mobile Banking market is certainly taking...keep reading

Loans overlooked in our mobile conquered world

Are the UK loans providers missing an opportunity?

31 January 2012 |

This month saw the most recent update to the Personal Loans Dashboard. The Dashboard compares a list of individual personal loan services across fourteen competitors. It is updated quarterly, highlighting competitor changes that have occurred in the market during that time.

One key highlight...keep reading

Account balance on mobile and tablet without login

How to make life really easy for your customers!

12 March 2012 |

Every day millions of customers make contact with their bank to ask the following question: What is my balance?

If they use internet banking then this is pretty easy to do, but the need to be in front of a PC security hoops to jump through can make this take as long as….. a whole minute! As...keep reading