- Virgin Money has reported that underlying profit before tax increased to £128.6m in H1 2017 compared to £101.8m in H1 2016, with retail deposit balances rising to £29.6bn, +5% on FY 2016 and mortgage balances increasing to £31.8bn, +7% on FY 2016. Credit card balances increased to £2.8bn, 13% higher than FY 2016, while credit card balances two or more payments in arrears increased to 0.82% compared to 0.78% at FY 2016. The bank also confirmed that it is planning to launch a digital bank on time and on budget towards the end of 2018
- AIB has decided against offshoring certain IT functions to India as part of its five-year outsourcing arrangement with Wipro. The bank decided that such a move was too risky in the current environment, according to the Irish Times
- Allied Irish Banks has said it is reviewing its British business and will stop investing in the UK until there is more clarity around the UK’s departure from the EU. Separately, the bank announced a 12% year-on-year increase in operating profit to €0.8bn in H1 2017, while net interest income at the bank increased by 14% year-on-year to €1.0bn in the period
- BBVA has reported that it made nearly 1m product sales through digital channels in June 2017
- Revolut is considering applying for a banking licence to allow it to offer current accounts. The payment app is currently undertaking a £4m equity crowdfund to support its expansion into Asia and North America
- HSBC’s Rich Napier has said that Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence are going to radically change how we buy homes. Mr Napier told BBC Radio 5 live that AI combined with social media will help narrow down homebuyers’ preferences in their house search, while VR will enable homebuyers to feel what it would be like to live in that property
- Santander Global Corporate Banking has announced it is to work with UK start-up, BiBox, to help it improve the integration of technology from fintech start-ups. BiBox is working with the bank to deploy its ‘curation and industrialisation’ proposition, which allows fintech companies to provide their tools within end-to-end workflows that banks can use more readily
