Research carried out by the Abbey National has shown that around 20 percent of UK consumers have all their finances dealt with by just one provider. They feel it is simpler this way.
On top of these people who have already gone to one supplier there is another 18 percent who are seriously thinking about it. Between these two groups that is almost 40 percent of people looking to make their finances easier to manage. Does this say something about the population as a whole or the finance companies themselves wonder Abbey National?
On average we have 3 different finance organisations we deal with, as well as three passwords and three PIN numbers. No wonder people want to simplify things. The Abbey National do not advocate using just one password or PIN number though since this has a detrimental effect in security.
Lloyds TSB has just announced a new current account, called the Vantage. The account offers tiered rates of interest and is open to both existing and new customers.
There are no fees associated with the day to day running of the Lloyds TSB Vantage account and all customers need to do is pay at least GBP1,000 per month into the account and make sure it stays in credit. Interest rates are worked out on a daily basis and the rate determined is applied to the whole amount held.
The interest rates offered, go from 0.1 percent for the lowest amounts held up to a maximum rate of 5 percent where a balance is GBP5,000 or more. A Lloyds TSB spokesperson said that the tiered structure had been applied to reward customers and show them it was worth keeping their money in the account.
Citibank parent citigroup has posted another loss for the third successive quarter, though it is less than was expected.
Asset wise Citibank is the biggest bank in the United States but has been badly hit by the sub-prime lending troubles and is fighting to get out of the mire. The bank recorded losses of GBP1.3 billion in the three month period to the end of June, with around GBP5.8 billion of write-downs again hitting them hard.
The losses were less than anticipated though leading to their share price going up by a little less than 8 percent. The Citibank chairman said that although there is still a lot of work to do they are very encouraged by the progress that has already been made.
