ReleaseWire Connect

In a global ranking of the social media presences of the world’s top 50 banks Citibank comes out as winner, but two-thirds of the surveyed banks still fail to grasp the opportunities of social media such as Facebook and Twitter.

Of the 10 most important features user expect of their banking mobile apps,for only three is provision by the banks adequate. This is a leading finding of a survey by MyPrivateBanking Research,in which the Swiss research company compared the features integrated into the mobile apps from world’s 50 top banks with the needs voiced by the users of banking apps.

Echoes of the dotcom bubble - same underwriting banks, business models and promises might lead to same, disastrous results

The findings of a new research by MyPrivateBanking Research are disappointing. Only half of the major banks and wealth managers offer mobile applications at all, but fewer still are those that offer applications that aren’t related to online banking.

New research findings by MyPrivateBanking Research reveal that only 10% of the world’s most important wealth managers publish performance data for their discretionary accounts (accounts for which the holder gives the wealth manager or bank authority to buy and sell securities at their discretion) and only 22% offer specific information about their fees. These results are based on an analysis of the public websites including all reporting documents that the 40 largest wealth managers worldwide publish online.

The recent events in North Africa and the Middle East show once again that every time a dictator falls from power, governments, politicians and banks across the world announce that his, his family’s and follower’s assets in foreign countries will be frozen and later returned to the new, legitimate government. But the fact of the matter, according to a new report by the research company MyPrivateBanking, is that these announcements have only been paying lip service to the public demands for amends to be made. Only a small fraction, of 5% of stolen assets by dictators and corrupt politicians, is frozen and after often tortuous legal proceedings only about half of that is repatriated.

The new report of MyPrivateBanking GmbH shows that most private banking websites aren’t user-friendly and lack crucial information.

Banks need to cooperate with new Arab governments in returning illegally obtained assets. Wealthy individuals from the Middle East and Africa hold about USD 1.5 trillion in foreign bank accounts (offshore). The research firm estimates that at least 15% of these assets have been obtained illegally.