Large investment banks are usually divided into two main areas: corporate finance or investment banking and sales & marketing with trading. Careers in banking and finance in an investment bank usually involves capital raising, debt and equity, mergers and acquisitions, services involving financial advisories and in some areas activities concerning merchant banking. Within the sales and trading division an employee might be engaged in analysis and research, distribution and brokerage of trading securities amongst other such activities. It is important to know the difference between the numerous functionalities within an investment bank during your quest for the right career path in banking and finance.

If you are a young graduate who has just passed out from a management school or college, you might want to enroll in a specific training program or banking internship that will provide you the valuable opportunity of gaining an understanding of what a financial institution is all about and kinds of opportunities available. These specific programs in different banking departments maybe of varying nature; some programs may offer a cyclical structure in various areas while others might have a specific emphasis on a particular specialization. An internship that offers a cyclical structure can give you the chance of experiencing the various opportunities available in a particular department within the bank. Prior to entering into an internship program or graduate plan, remember to look into the duration of the program. At the end of the day, irrespective of the kind of program you enroll in, a good internship will give you valuable knowledge about the basics of banking or finance before you even start on your career path. In addition to the technical and soft skills needed to succeed in careers in banking and finance, a good training program will also offer you an inside knowledge about the institution’s vision and strategy and a broad introduction of what the company stands for.

Careers in banking and finance are usually well paying, but if you are starting out your career as an intern do not look at the salary, rather look at the reputation of the banking or financial institution you are going to be a part of and the valuable knowledge that you will gain for your future.

Monster one of the leading online career and recruitment resource, works for everyone by connecting job seekers across industry verticals, experience levels and geographies instantly with leading employers. Now a day’s various kinds of Careers in banking and finance available today. Monster offers to candidates from around the world and the kind of training received on latest jobs. Update your resume on Monster and search for a suitable jobs.

Despite the crisis people still seem to be very keen to work within banking or finance. Amongst the majority of the population it is safe to say that the reputation of banks has taken a hit, but amongst job seekers working for a bank or a financial institution remains very much desirable. Jobs for these companies are considered to be very prestigious as they still have the best technologies, the best systems and the best rewards compared to other sectors. Because of this the highest achievers still look to work for banks or financial institutions.

What else attracts people to work in finance or banking roles? Relative to other sectors these types of roles tend to have more responsibility and involve a lot of problem solving skills. Besides that they get a chance to work with people, there are opportunities to travel and to go out for meetings, and these roles also tend to offer possibilities for fast advancement. All these factors combined make these roles very challenging and interesting for the highest achievers.

So what has changed within the banking and finance sector? There seems to be a change in the expectations of employees that broadly run along the line of the generations. You could say that the employee profile is slowly evolving from what is called -Generation X’ to -Generation Y’. Within these generations the expectations they have of their employers are very different. Generation X will want to know -What is in it for me’, while Generation Y expects great workplace flexibility as well as wanting extremely fast progression and are less willing to work their way up slowly.

The profile of employees within the banking and finance sectors is changing, however this is due to a change in mentality that runs alongside the generations more than being caused by the financial crisis.

Reuben Dennis is a PRO with a leading service sector company and for more on London jobs she recommends you to visit http://www.boycerecruitment.co.uk/

The Bank currently has three foreign subsidiaries within the African continent, namely: Skye Bank (Sierra Leone) Limited, Skye Bank (Gambia) Limited, and Skye Bank (Guinea) Limited.

The CBN, in its recent release directed banks to submit their individual plans for their new banking models 90 days from October 4, 2010 (i.e. on January 3, 2011), on account of the repeal of the Universal Banking Model (one-stop shop financial services supermarket) which banks in Nigeria had operated inthe past few years.

In a recent special release to all banks and the general public, with the title “CBN Scope, Conditions and Minimum Standards for Commercial Banks Regulations No. 01, 2010″, the minimum capital requirement for banks seeking ‘national banking license’ was pegged at N25 billion, which was the minimum capital for the recently repealed Universal Banking license. In like manner, the CBN stated that the minimum capital for banks seeking international banking license is now N50 billion.

Skye Bank Plc is believed to likely seek the international banking license, considering that after raising additional capital of about N12 billion recently via a special placement, its capital rose to about N99 billion, which is approximately 100% above the minimum N50 billion capital requirement for international banks. This is in addition to the Bank’s three foreign subsidiaries, which the Bank is likely to keep, in order to remain internationally competitive.

Skye Bank, which has good reputation for supporting businesses, especially through structured finance in critical sectors such as manufacturing, power, oil and gas, construction, transportation, hospitality, education, housing, agriculture, maritime/shipping etc, is expected to continue its tradition, in addition to seeking to up-tier its business focus in favor of the corporate segment.

The Bank recently financed the ultra modern Beloxxi Industries Limited, the biggest indigenous biscuit manufacturing company in Nigeria today, which is located at Agbara, Ogun State.

It also funded projects such as Independent Power Projects (IPPs) in the South-South and North-West, Steel Mills in various parts of the country, fertilizer importation, ultra modern hotels in Lagos and Port Harcourt, private schools in Lagos and Abuja, housing schemes across Nigeria, West Africa’s leading cocoa factory, several oil and gas exploration and production installations, various vessel acquisitions, clearing and forwarding agency activities, etc.

Skye Bank is also committed to encouraging the Nigerian entrepreneurial spirit, having accessed significant funding through the CBN-led Commercial Agriculture Guarantee Scheme (CAGS) for subsequent on-lending to customers. The Bank equally partnered with Bank of Industry (BOI) in the disbursement of funds under the Power & Manufacturing Fund. It was also appointed among only four banks as a Primary Lending Institution (PLI) under the Cabotage Vessel Financing Fund (CVFF) Scheme by Nigerian Maritime Administration & Safety Agency (NIMASA).

Analysts suggest that the Bank would continue to leverage its well-acknowledged cutting-edge Information & Communication Technology (ICT) infrastructure for deployment in the areas of revenue collection, payment systems, and various e-banking platforms.

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT
Head Office: Skye Bank Plc.
3, Akin Adesola Street, Victoria Island, Lagos.
Tel: + 234 1 2701600
Email:
www.skyebankng.com

In the United Kingdom, unless you have outstanding interview skills, a flawless investment banking cover letter and resume, and correctly complete an investment banking application form, its probably likely that you wont the job. So where do you find the information you need to correct these problems in order to put your name at the top of the list of potential applicants? Helpmegetajob is the answer.

This website is dedicated to helping people in the UK find an investment banking job. There are tips, techniques, seminars, and coaching programmes to help you succeed in finding the perfect job. The site is very easy to use and offers a great deal of information.

One of the best sections of the site lists the available seminars and courses. These are taught by leading professionals in the banking industry, as well as some of the people that actually do the hiring in many of the financial businesses. They know what mistakes applicants make and can tell you how to avoid them. One of the seminars will explain in detail the best way to complete an investment banking application form. It will also teach you how to create the perfect investment banking cover letter to get you noticed by potential employers.

Another seminar deals with how to find a job in the commodities market. While many industries are laying off due to the economy, the commodities industry is looking for people to hire. This course explains what these companies are looking for and how to make you the best possible candidate for the job.

If you are in need of guidance, Helpmegetdajob can help you as well. Elite Investment Banking Coaching Programme put you in touch with your own personal coach. After an initial one-on-one meeting, you will know what your specific goals are and how to create a plan to achieve them. You will also have support through email, phone, and SMS. You will be able to attend two seminars of your choice and you will receive two books that will help you realize your self-worth.

There is a terrific section with valuable links to other websites that can offer you assistance as well. For the times that you are frustrated, take a look at Al Pacinos very inspirational speech. You can watch an interview with one of the most powerful and wealthiest men in the world, Sir Richard Branson.

This resource section will also give you the tips you need to have a successful interview, as well as an eye-catching investment banking application form. There are checklists for creating a convincing investment banking cover letter. You simply wont find a better site to help you get started in the right direction towards an investment banking career.

Helpmegetajob is your one stop for learning what it takes to succeed in the banking and financial world. While this career choice isnt for everyone, for those who dedicate the time to learn correctly, this can provide a very profitable and challenging career.

Few things are more important when you are looking for a career in the investment banking world than investment banking cover letter and an investment banking application form. Make sure these are correct or you may not even get an interview.

Nicola Stokes: I was appointed General Manager Shared Services in 2005. There was probably about two-thirds of the organization that exists today in place when I got there; the organization was all based in Melbourne at that stage. I think the most striking feature for me when I arrived was probably that the people didnt really understand why they were all put together in a shared service; each piece was run quite separately, and was very much a cost-driven service-delivery focus.

SSON: What functions are in place now?

NS: Basically as ANZ Shared Services exists now, we are responsible for HR Operations such as recruitment, remuneration, learning and development, pension/superannuation; Finance processes such as payroll, accounts payable, reconciliations, indirect taxes, information and reporting; Strategic Sourcing (IT and business services); and ANZ Environmental sustainability program and system. Weve expanded quite a lot over the last couple of years. We have a team of 400 now, half in Melbourne, and the other half are in India, in Bangalore with our captive center there. The clients are based in various geographies, Australia, New Zealand, India and SE Asia. The headcount for ANZ is about 35,000, and the 400 of us service all of them.

SSON: That does sound like a major expansion. So was this planned when you came in, or was it as a result of your own strategy formulated after your appointment?

NS: When I went in, you could just see the opportunity; I looked at ANZs strategy, where it was going with its five-year plan, and it was definitely based around having a very efficient and effective and high-quality infrastructure to support its planned expansion. ANZ had a captive center in Bangalore for nearly 18 years, and it was used for software development; my boss at the time – Mike Grime, managing director of Operations Technology and Shared Services (OTSS) understood we had a huge competitive advantage in India and we werent using it. So I looked at how we could use the captive for shared services and started to move the transactional elements of our service offering to Bangalore, with great success. We kept the roles that interacted with the client in the same country as the client a hub and spoke model. I also looked at overall cost, because obviously in all SSOs cost is an important factor, but we had quite a different way of approaching that I think. ANZs products are not the cheapest banking products on the market, but they are cost-effective, and so the question was, how could we match the cost-effective nature of shared services to meet that sort of customer delivery.

When I talk about customers I mean the customers of the bank; my clients are my internal customers, if you like. Sometimes when you use the term customer for your internal clients, you create a kind of master-servant relationship within the organization. That doesnt actually do any good, because in the end what were trying to do is all oriented around the end customers, which for us are the retail banking and institutional customers.

My strategy involved using the Heskett model of the service-profit chain, to help my own staff understand why they were all in a shared service: basically if you can deliver an excellent level of internal service, that will enable the front-line staff to deliver a similar level to customers. Indeed Hesketts model shows how front-line staff can ONLY deliver the level of service they receive on the inside of the organization. So that gave everybody a bit of vision as to how all the pieces fit together given everything we were responsible for was about the internal operations of the Bank. It also helped our clients understand what else we could do for them and what would or would not be effective. It was also important that we did not become the dumping ground for things the rest of the Bank did not want, so if a process/service was customer-facing or revenue-generating it did not belong in Shared Services. Then when we started to demonstrate this strategy/model to our clients, and to articulate our value proposition, thats when we started to grow and we started to take on more work for them, which was wonderful.

SSON: Does the SSO have any clients beyond ANZ or is it still all internal shared services?

NS: It is still all internal shared services.

SSON: Was there the plan eventually to sell services to other organizations?

NS: Its a really interesting question. Sourcing and partnerships are one of the strengths of what we developed, but a lot of shared services entities start to fail when they start to take on third-party work, because theyre going against the reason they were set up in the first place. What in my experience you need to do is draw a line in the sand – and then if you decide that now its about revenue generation, ANZ then becomes a client. There are many documented cases where this had been attempted and has been a failure as the shared service starts to believe it exists for its own revenue-generation – and the business we are in is banking. If this step is to be taken the most successful ventures I have seen are when the shared services is sold or JVd.

Part of the vision that we had for shared services was that we would enable the Banks growth whether organic growth or through acquisition. Shared services traditionally get involved after the acquisition has been decided, whereas what we believe is that because of the responsibility placed in our shared services organization we had financial stewardship of A$4bn we would become part of the decision-making process about what we would acquire because we would be able to demonstrate that we would enable the benefit delivery of the M&A by getting things up and running and integrated more quickly. So, my strategy was to ensure that shared services would move from a purely cost-focused, internal transaction operation to something that was a crucial part of the growth and development of the Bank through operational excellence and energetic and agile service delivery.

SSON: Before we move on to talking about your role as thought-leader for which youve been recognised, can you tell us a little more about the environmental sustainability department you mentioned?

NS: Absolutely. Its quite unusual within shared services. Part of ANZs strategy under the previous CEO was ensuring the bank became more environmentally sustainable; there was quite a big community and employee engagement plan, but the environmental sustainability area, our understanding of our consumption, was still in its infancy. We started with the basics: we designed and implemented an environmental management system, around creating baselines and understanding performance. If you look at the other pieces of shared services especially the procure-to-pay process and the responsibility for the supply chain, the processes and methodologies we used, we could control the type of things the Bank consumed.

Our next step was to further understand how we could become carbon-neutral. We started working on a strategy and education program, internally for bank employees and all the way through our supply chain. We started to only select environmentally sustainable products for the catalogue; we worked with current suppliers so they could get to a benchmark with us; and we stopped doing business with people new work if they didnt understand their own footprint. We taught our suppliers things and they taught us things.

And I was actually voted onto the United Nations Environment Program Finance Steering Committee, and went to Geneva representing ANZ. I was voted onto the committee by 80 of the banks globally who are members of the UNEP-FI. And our crowning glory was that in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index we, ANZ, became the number-one sustainable bank for 2007/08 – pipping WestPac at the post which wasnt the aim! But it was a wonderful outcome, and its now embedded in the way that the bank does business. We can now monitor everyones buying behaviour on an ongoing basis. It was quite a wonderful achievement: a lot of hard work – and a lot of scepticism – but one of the great examples of shared services being able to demonstrate that its value is much more than transactional or purely operational functions.

SSON: Thats a very impressive achievement. Congratulations.

NS: Thank you. Were very proud of it.

SSON: You deserve to be. Lets move on to your award. Why do you think you were honoured as Shared Services Thought Leader of the Year?

NS: Two things I think. Firstly the leadership program I put I place and secondly the strategy, business plan and implementation methodology I designed and used to ensure the ongoing effectiveness of shared services in ANZ.

The leadership program that I put in place was a three-year rolling program for all of the leaders in shared services – so not only the leaders in line management, but my direct reports and their direct reports functionally. And then we added people who hadnt worked in a bank, because they bring in all this other experience. Shared services is full of young people, so we picked out all the older people with experience in life, and knowledge, so the whole leadership forum could get that sort of balance.

We used a Human Synergistics tool called Life Style Inventory which is very well-known in this part of the world, and it talks about moving from passive-aggressive or defensive-aggressive styles to constructive styles, and their tools show that the constructive styles lead to increased share price and profitability. We ran that over the first year of the program, putting 38 people through this: we launched it for the whole 400 in Melbourne and Bangalore because when people see shift in their leaders they get concerned, they dont know whats going on – so we simply articulated what was going on. I employed a leadership coach and for six months the 38 each met with me every eight to twelve weeks and with the coach every four weeks, working through the program – so they sort of practised for six months and then went up to implement for the next six months.

Then Year 2 of the program was positive psychology: this is a way of thinking and discussing whats good in life, and doing more of it, rather than as most organizations operate – on deficit, grading performances on what you havent done or what youve done wrong. This research is quite phenomenal. Its run as a course at Harvard, and its the most attended course. [Martin] Seligman did a lot in relation to happiness, and what hes actually shown is that its not about being happy but being happier, and the effects on the physiology of the brain and what that does for individuals and therefore the organization. By rolling this program through, we got the biggest shift to constructive profile that Human Synergistics have ever seen in their history and theyre actually doing a profile on us, thats out in the next couple of months.

The Heskett service-profit chain model worked really well for us; Im not sure if it has to be that one in particular, but it has to be something that will bind all the people who work in shared services together. And then we had a robust business-planning methodology which we developed that other parts of the bank started to use, using end-to-end process management approach, and Lean and Six Sigma, Balanced Scorecard and a lot of those basic tools that deliver an effective process but then free up the individuals in the process to think and be innovative for our clients. We automated end-to-end so we could use our ideas and our people to deliver a better service. You know, if our clients have a clunky process that takes their time away from managing existing and new clients the consequences are quite well documented.

The combination of these two elements ensured that we were moving up the value chain and would continue to do so.

SSON: You mentioned targets there; what were your personal targets? Did you set yourself specific benchmarks you wanted to surpass?

NS: I had a three-year plan for shared services. My targets were around employee engagement; financials; risk; process effectiveness and client/service delivery. This was all wrapped up into an overall measure of how many new products or services were we asked to take on for the Bank. Did my colleagues want to do business with my organization? This combination of qualitative and quantitative data was fundamental for our success and progress towards the achievement of our strategy and of course to help us stop doing work that was no longer valued by our clients.

SSON: What were the biggest obstacles you encountered?

NS: Its really interesting question and I feel the longer I think about it the more I come up with, but there are a few key ones. The first one is understanding that most business units want to control their own stuff – not wanting to give anything up. If you think about why that is, in most organizations roles are scoped and scaled and paid relative to the actual size of the job headcount is important in this equation – so by taking peoples staff were actually decreasing their own roles within the organization. So we began taking in pieces of work, saying just give that to us, well put it through our process and then well give it back to you, and you can just run it and they thought this was just wonderful. Eight times out of ten they never took it back, because they were still getting the credit or the kudos or whatever were all human beings for the outcome of the process running really effectively or the engagement running really well. And I think thats something that people all over the world running any form of shared service continue to challenge. We in shared services need to keep our focus on the benefits to the whole organization, not the benefits for our own SSO.

Another challenge is that when you take on other work all of a sudden the expectations change. So somebody thatd been running their own process and had a quality score and a time rating and error rating and complaints rating, when we came into the equation the expectation changed massively and our clients want a much higher quality rating for example. So thats where we introduced client councils, so we could say this is what were taking over and thats what it looks like now. This started as a plan over 12 months but we were able to make traction much more quickly, achieving targets over six to eight months. This approach only works with a lot of face-to-face interaction.

Another major change maybe not an obstacle but the transformational change through the leadership from being a reactive organization to being proactive, so not only doing what was asked, when the answer was always yes irrespective of what was possible or not, but actually coming up with thoughts and ideas for our clients because we understood their business just as well as they do.

SSON: Lets look at the future now. What are your plans? Youve moved on from ANZ

NS: Well I moved from Sydney down to Melbourne to take the role, and had a three-year timeframe in my mind. And thats what I did. I think Im where a lot of people get at a certain time in their lives I got very involved in the environment and community agendas, and Ive decided that I want to work in more community-focused organizations. What I believe is that the things that I do around consolidating internal activities and organization, reducing costs while keeping service levels high, and enabling access to products and services – I want to do within a more community-oriented organization, rather than in an organization where any monies I was involved in saving or producing go back to the shareholder only.

Ive got to this stage in my career that I want to do something with a bit more purpose to get me up in the morning! Ive had a ball, ANZ was wonderful, and I want to do something that takes that commercial acumen that we develop in corporates into working for an organization thats more community-oriented. Its a pretty huge step for me. Ive given myself six months, by the way, to see if they want me and if not Ill get back into corporate and will still really enjoy it! But Im really very excited by trying to make the change.

SSON: Please do let us know how you get on!

NS: I certainly will. You can do so much within an organization, its really amazing. You can really positively impact on a lot of other people in their daily lives whether inside or outside the organization. But well see how I do!

SSON: So lets wrap up. What advice could you give to an individual or a team embarking on shared services?

NS: If youre going to establish shared services you need to understand two concepts. The first one is: why, and who are the sponsors? What does an organization think it can get from shared services? And understanding if there have been any attempts in the past and what were the outcomes of those attempts. So thats a really important piece.

The second piece is a bit about understanding the organizations culture and life-cycle. So in a command-and-control, why would you attempt a shared service model?

The glue that keeps it all together is knowing what leadership model youre going to bring into the SSO. Your classic line manager is one thing, but you need influencing skills and negotiation skills at all levels. Shared services clients are always there, whereas in any other organisation I think the average interaction with your customers in financial services is around four times a year; so this understanding of the clients access is really crucial, and you need the best leadership for that. Finally, if you only focus on getting all of your transactions and processes and data perfect before you move up the value chain, youll never get there.

TECHNOLOGICAL LIMITATIONS WILL BE EASILY OVERCOME
Saying technological limitations are more easily overcome might sound unrealistic because people could ask that if it can be that easy, why do we not have a perfect condition in Electronic Commerce? It must be noted that technological limitations refer to those factors caused because of imperfect conditions in the global technologies. Yes, I agree that there is never going to be a time when EC will be in a perfect condition, but the problems could be solved as soon as they are confirmed limiting factors. The US (DHS), in a bid to merge data from different sources and integrate the networks of 22 federal agencies having over 170,000 employees depended on Informatica to develop a system that would combine disparate systems to make information more widely accessible throughout the organization. Thus informatica has been able to live up to its promise that Informatica supports the expanding diversity of customers, partners, and their data with structured and unstructured data transformation, multi-enterprise visibility, and pre-emptive data quality Informatica.com (2009)

The case may be different with non-technological limitations because the factors are dependent on customer concerns, emotions, trust, public and legal issues, online fraud etc. It should be noted here that organizations can correct every fault that is caused by technological issues but customers emotions, perceptions and the likes are extraneous to ECs jurisdiction. The global community at large needs a gradual paradigm change towards certain developments in EC before success can be achieved in eradicating non technological limitations.

AUTOMATED TELLER MACHINES
Whoever knows Nigeria well will testify that the use of ATM is now a way by which customers are delighted with 24hr service on a daily basis throughout the year. It is therefore not surprising to know that every Bank in Nigeria strives to improve customer loyalty by serving the customers well through consistent and qualitative additional services at the ATMs. Though the ATM brought speed and satisfaction to customers transactions, some woes came with its advent. There are certain times when certain technological failures result in the trapping of customers cash meaning that the concerned customers account has been debited without cash dispense. Nigerian banks are improving daily on getting these errors reversed but the occasional anomaly has caused many Nigerians to decide against the use of ATMs or even web based payments. It is very evident that when Banks have succeeds in correcting the anomaly, it would take more time in correcting the mindset of the adamant Nigerians who believe that ATMs are used in enriching the banks by subtly debiting customers money without dispense. Valerie Anofochi (2009)

INSPECTION TEAM AT OCEANIC BANK
Another event I can remember happened one day when certain inspectors of Oceanic Bank asked me for hard copies of the branch account proofs. I told them I dont have it and hell was let loose. You know it is quite disheartening to know that in a world where every organization is going green, and even Oceanic Bank constantly reiterating the need to reduce cost through paperless banking. Some of the bank officials are not ready to benefit from the B2E EC facilities made available in the bank. I thought to myself these inspectors expect me to print 100 pages of paper on a monthly basis when I have my soft copies well kept in a backup server

CONCLUSION
Technological limitations are easily overcome than the non-technological ones because the cause can be defined and regularized by the community involved as they are noticed, whereas there is no way the community can fully understand the causes responsible for the non-technological limitation because it depends on people emotions and the likes. This means that it takes more to overcome non-technological limitations of electronic commerce than the technological limitations.

Banks provide numerous financial and personal services.All the retail banking services are available such as credit and debit facilities, mortgages and loans. Beside this they also provide services on estate planning, whereby the value of an individual’s estate can be maximized. Income tax advice and other personal tax matters are a part of the financial service provision and securities and assets investments will be a significant factor too. Other services include trustee services, credit and trade finance letters, foreign exchange, fund management, electronic and wire funds transfer, and corporate administration.

List of Banks in Singapore:

Bank of India – Singapore
Provide services in Trade Finance, Loans and Syndications, Forex Covers, Options, Placement of Deposits in major currencies, Twin currency deposit scheme, Remittances and a host of other Banking Products.

OCBC bank Singapore
OCBC bank in Singapore was formed in the year 1932. Three banks merged to form OCBC bank-the Chinese Commercial Bank Limited, the Ho Hong Bank Limited and the Oversea-Chinese Bank Limited.Today they has an asset of $110 billion and operations are conducted in fourteen different countries and territories. OCBC is one of the leading financial services groups in Singapore.

ABN AMRO Singapore
ABN AMRO opened its first Asian office in Jakarta in 1826 to finance business ventures in the Dutch East Indies.They have a clear focus on consumer and commercial clients in local markets and focus globally on financial institutions.

Association of Banks in Singapore (ABS)

It is a non-profit industry body which promotes and represents the interests of the banking community in Singapore. They works closely with the Monetary Authority of Singapore and other government and non-government agencies to support their respective roles in developing and upholding a sound financial system in Singapore.

Other banks in singapore

Barclays Bank PLC
23 Church Street, (S)049481
Landmark Category : Bank
District : Raffles Place

Barclays Capital
60B Orchard Road, (S)238891
Landmark Category : Bank
District : Dhoby Ghaut

Citibank Great World City Investment Center
1 Kim Seng Promenade, (S)237994
Landmark Category : Bank
District : River Valley

Deutsche Bank
991 Alexandra Road, (S)119964
Landmark Category : Bank
District : Telok Blangah

EFG Bank Building
25 North Bridge Road, (S)179104
Landmark Category : Bank
District : City Hall

There is more than 7% month-on-month growth in the number of mobile transactions in India. This is based on the monthly transactions by August 2013.
By September 2013, the users have exchanged around Rs. 1565 Cr though the mobile transactions.

Though, the year-on-year growth is phenomenal, it cannot be considered well received when only a small fraction of the Indian banking customers are using it. When you realize the number of functionalities available, it is surprising that more numbers of people are not using it. The banking and allied functionalists available via mobile banking application are:
Locate the nearest branch of the bank via Google maps
Order a new cheque book
Check the status of new cheque book
Transfer funds
Check the balance available in the account
Take the mini-statement of the account
Pay utilities bills, credit card bills, insurance premiums, etc.
Make donations
Top up mobile recharge
The demat account services such as purchasing mutual funds, cancelling transactions, check NAVs, etc.

Arguably, all these services are not available in all the mobile banking apps released by all the banks. There is no sufficient response to the already-launched apps either. The research indicates that the primary reasons for this low-responsive state are:
Compatibility: The existing apps are not compatible with the various types of smartphones available in the market. Though, the smartphone market in India is expanding at the extraordinary rates, it is challenging to identify and release as many versions of the banking applications in the respective app stores. So, all interested customers dont get the app for mobile banking.
Awareness: All the bank customers are not aware of these apps. In spite of the promotions, this information hasnt penetrated down to all the social strata.

With few changes, the growth of smartphone banking in India can go in the high gear. It will become a routine concept. However, there are considerable infrastructure challenges. We still need to overcome them. With the right marketing and information strategy in place, interest and participation in the phone banking operations will reach sky high.

“Sometimes it is better to remain silent and thought ignorant than to speak up and remove all doubt.”

Politicians say the darndest things and continue to amaze me with their lack of knowledge of how the world and how reality work:

– With regard to the recent Arizona immigration law, Attorney General Holder testified before the Senate recently, “Sure there is a potential for challenging a law on its face and then challenging a law as it is applied.” No problem here, as Attorney General of the entire United States, it is his job to make sure that laws are proper in light of the Constitution and other state and Federal laws. But, he did not close his mouth fast enough. When queried by a Senator on whether he had actually read the ten page Arizona law, he replied: “I have not had a chance to. I’ve glanced at it. I have not read it.”

So, here is the top law enforcement officer in the country talking about filing suit against a sovereign state of the United States and he has not even read the law that he has a problem with! And, unlike Obama Care’s 2,000+ pages, the Arizona law is only ten pages long. As a lawyer, I would think he could have read and understood the bill in less than a half hour. Thus, he looks extremely ignorant on two counts. First, you would have thought he would have taken the short amount of time to read the bill before testifying about the bill, under oath, before Congress. Second, he does not look unbiased in this matter since he has prejudged law that he has not even read.

– Consider the following quote from Joanna Doven, a spokesperson for the current Pittsburgh mayor, as reported in the June, 2010 issue of Reason magazine, pertaining to urban farming: “Anytime you see something growing and expanding and there are no rules, you need to regulate it.” She acts as if government regulation is a good thing. The U.S. housing and banking industries are regulated by the Federal Housing Authority, Housing and Urban Development, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Senate banking and housing committees, House banking and housing committees, state level government regulatory agencies for banking and housing, the Federal Reserve Board, the Treasury Department, etc., and all this government regulation did was cause the housing market bubble, and then watch helplessly, as the housing and banking industries collapsed. Just as a side note, according to Fortune magazine’s May 3, 2010 issue, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac lost a combined $94 billion in 2009. Guess regulation did not work in this case.

This is the same government and the same government employees that are regulating the overall economy and we see how poorly they are doing there. Unemployment continues to hover around an obscene 10%. This is the same government that regulates Social Security and Medicare, both of which are hurtling towards insolvency.

Also, in the June, 2010 issue of Reason magazine was an article on the plight of Cleveland. One of the big problems, according to the article, is how hard it is to get a business permit and how hard it is to conduct business in the red tape laden regulatory envirnment of Cleveland. As a result, companies, jobs, and eventually people have fled the city because of how difficult regulation made life.

Ms. Doven, like most in the political class, does not get it. We do not want incompetent bureaucrats running our lives and getting in our way. Let the market and the buyer/seller relationship regulate itself, regulating something because it is successful is just plain ignorant.

– Nancy Pelosi continues to prove the wisdom of the above quote with quotes of her own like the following: “A bill can be bipartisan without bipartisan votes.” Huh? This was reported in the June, 2010 issue of Reason magazine and referred to the health care reform bill that was passed without a single Republican vote in either the House or the Senate. How ignorant is this statement? Consider the example where I absolutely detest a specific painting even though it has my favorite color, green, within the picture. Bipartisan means that elements of both parties like the final product, not just specific components, e.g., the color green. Does she think we are that ignorant?

– Late last year a Nigerian terrorist almost blew up an airliner as it was coming in for a landing at Detroit airport. The only reason he was not successful is because his underwear bomb failed to detonate. In reaction to the incident, the head of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano, boldly stated the the security apparatus and procedure for preventing terror attacks had worked. Let’s see, the terrorist is one good detonation away from downing a plane he is riding in and the system worked? The only way that is not an ignorant statement is if the system is built to assume a faulty detonation.

– In introducing President Obama at the high profile official signing of the health care reform legislation, Vice President Biden did not realize that the microphone was still live when he mumbled an obscene word under his breath as he shook the President’s hand. How immature, un-Presidential, how un-leaderlike is it to drop obscenities in a public gathering, very ignorant.

– A constant international source of ignorance quotes is just about anyone in the ruling political hierarchy of the Iranian government. Several months ago a ruling cleric declared that the earthquake in Haiti was caused by women’s promiscuity and skin exposure via revealing clothing. Iranian leric Kazem Sedighi has preached about “the slime of homosexuality, the slime of promiscuity” and how these behaviors cause natural disasters. He hedged his bets a little but not much, “We don’t say committing sin is the entire reason [for the natural disasters] but it’s one of the reasons.”

It is very, very sad that we allow these types of people to have powerful positions in government. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to remove them from office due to faulty campaign finance laws, excessive Congressional earmarks, and the gerrymandering of Congressional districts. Thus, it is critical that we begin the long term process to implement term limits for all members of Congress. Hopefully, by removing incumbents form office November, a first step in that direction would be accomplished. Only then can we get some more effective and intelligent problem solvers involved with the nation’s major issues. At the very least, could we at least get people into office that are smart enough to not speak and remove all doubt?

To access their accounts from any where in the world.
Perform various functions over the net itself, saving on time.

Features of PNC Bank Online Banking
PNC Bank Online Banking service is available for the banks customers free of cost. Following are the distinctive features of this service:

Account Summary: You can remain in touch with your finances by obtaining a summary of your PNC personal, business and investment accounts through this service.
Account Activity: You can access your accounts round the clock. You can check balances, review recent transactions and view images of the checks you have submitted.
Online Bill Pay: You can save time and money by paying your bills through this service. Online bill payment requires just a few minutes of your time, with you using just one simple screen to place your instructions. This service gives you the flexibility to decide how much you want to pay for each bill.
Online Statements: You can contribute on saving paper. You can use the PNC Bank Online Banking service to receive and view your statements online. You can also print or download statements for up to last 36 months.
Transfer Funds: Through this service, you can move your money to where you need it. You can either transfer funds between your PNC Bank accounts or between your PNC account and your accounts at other financial institutions.
AutoAlerts: You can use this facility to remain informed about every critical event related to your accounts and bills. This service can send you e-mail notifications to alert you about key account activity such as low balances, the arrival of direct deposits or overdrafts on your account.
Data Export: This facility in the PNC Bank Online Banking service enables you to download account activity in Excel, Microsoft Money or Quicken file formats in just a few clicks.