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Featured Financial Services, Personal Financial Services Article, bad loans
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Best practices for bad loans

November 2007

Collections departments should use advanced approaches for each segment of debtors.

Featured Financial Services, Personal Financial Services Article, business management strategy
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Developing a new rural payments system in China

May 2007

China could provide itself with a rural payments system cheaply and quickly by taking advantage of an existing technology and infrastructure.

Featured Financial Services, Personal Financial Services Article, business management strategy
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Capturing opportunities in the Gulf's financial sector

March 2007

Foreign financial firms should focus on areas where scale and experience give them a competitive advantage.

The Archive

2007
Extending financial services to Latin America's poor

March 2007

The president of Inter-American Development Bank argues that achieving greater "financial democracy" is crucial for achieving greater inclusiveness, improving social cohesion, and generating broad-based growth.

What US workers don’t know about retirement Premium Content

January 2007

Many preretirees have too rosy a picture of their golden years, and financial-planning firms have yet to develop helpful solutions.

2005
Competing for China's credit card market

November 2005

To be competitive, most foreign issuers will need to partner with a local company.

What Indian consumers want from banks Premium Content

September 2005

Investment advice and better service are the places to start.

Financial advice for Europeans Premium Content

July 2005

Financial-service providers that don't invest in better customer service will lose out on a potentially valuable consumer segment.

2004
Retail banking in China

December 2004

The race is on to make money from individual consumers. Foreign banks had better get into the game.

Selling life insurance to China Premium Content

December 2004

The hour is late for foreign companies that haven’t already entered the Chinese market, but not too late for those with strong skills and creative strategies.

Managing credit card risk Premium Content

August 2004

Four approaches could help issuers raise their profitability by up to 15 percent.

Seizing the Hispanic market

August 2004

Financial institutions will need to do more than just translate their brochures into Spanish to capitalize on opportunities in this consumer segment.

2003
Credit cards come to China

December 2003

Turning a profit in China’s nascent credit card market could take a while; here’s a shortcut.

2002
Sending money back home

November 2002

Money remittance services for immigrants represent a high-margin opportunity for financial institutions prepared to offer them a better deal.

Serving Europe's affluent investors Premium Content

November 2002

Well-to-do investors in Europe are a hard market to crack. A new segmentation scheme could provide hooks for drawing and retaining them.

China's banks get personal Premium Content

June 2002

Although some product markets will open up for foreign banks in China, the playing field won’t be as level as many expected. Yet Chinese banks must become far more savvy or risk losing their local dominance.

Build-to-order banking in Asia Premium Content

May 2002

Asian banks will lose business unless they learn to tailor their services to individual needs.

2001
Could mobile banking go global? Premium Content

December 2001

People who have never had a bank account could enjoy basic banking facilities for the first time thanks to mobile financial services—a good reason for service providers to turn their sights to emerging markets.

A broadband future for financial advice Premium Content

June 2001

Before purchasing financial products, most Europeans want advice from experts. Broadband technology will allow it to be dispensed on-line, but will consumers accept the new dispensation?

Giving Asia some credit Premium Content

February 2001

A survey probing Asian attitudes toward financial services suggests that many people say one thing and do another.

2000
A future for bricks and mortar Premium Content

August 2000

Physical banks are not an anachronism, but less is sometimes more.

Banking on the device Premium Content

August 2000

Both mobile phones and interactive TV could help on-line financial services reach market segments that elude other devices for accessing the World Wide Web.

Beyond day trading Premium Content

August 2000

Round one of the on-line brokerage game was about adjusting to a new medium in a raging bull market of technology stocks and rising price-to-earnings ratios. Round two is about holding the client’s hand.

Click and save Premium Content

August 2000

Incumbents have grown rich from customers who don’t manage their assets rationally. The World Wide Web will take away most of that income, but now that incumbents are finally facing the music, they are starting to compete effectively.

Plastic explosive Premium Content

August 2000

Conventional credit card issuers need not cede territory to on-line upstarts offering low interest rates. They still have strengths that can be used to maintain a competitive advantage—if they move quickly.

The virtual reality of mortgages Premium Content

August 2000

New Internet-based players face more challenges than some of them—or the stock market—once expected. Even so, the Net’s advantages can be brought to bear on the mortgage industry.

Financial services for everyone Premium Content

February 2000

Two South African companies are showing that the poor are neither unbankable nor uninsurable. Bankers and insurers in Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America, take note.

1999
Personal financial services goes global Premium Content

May 1999

Being an insider in your local market is no longer enough. Do you have the skills to specialize or the market cap to acquire?

1998
Electronic bill payment and presentment Premium Content

November 1998

Just about everyone who is (or is about to be) on-line has a bank, a broker, a credit card, or a mortgage. For a long time, the business has been a matter of numbers flickering from one file to another.

What’s in the cards? Premium Content

November 1998

The future of the US payment card system.

Where your money went Premium Content

August 1998

The banking, credit card, brokerage, and insurance industries are inexorably converging into a single personal financial services industry. Research has shed light on the flow of funds between products, the changing sources of profitability, and the reasons for these movements.

1997
Playing to the endgame in financial services Premium Content

November 1997

There are many deals and more consolidation ahead. Ultimately, the model may be airlines or aerospace. Size will count, but success will require more than empire building.

Bancassurance Premium Content

August 1997

Could banks be a new channel to sell insurance? Three partnership models.

Personal financial services: A question of channels Premium Content

August 1997

Five key trends need to be recognized. Success will rest on knowing what customers really want.

Reinventing real estate closing Premium Content

August 1997

$30 billion in economic value could be created. And many players could participate. Buying a home without a realtor or lawyer.

Emerging markets for personal financial services Premium Content

May 1997

$380 billion in global profits and $255 billion outside the United States. Chinese profits could exceed the United Kingdom’s by 2002.

Mutual funds in Germany: Evaluating opportunities Premium Content

May 1997

Germany’s mutual fund market is growing in line with Germans’ realization that they can no longer rely on the state pension to provide for their old age. This article looks at the types of retirement product that are likely to emerge, and at the market roles fund providers old and new might take.

1996
Who grew in personal financial services? Premium Content

February 1996

As tight expense control runs out of steam as a means of generating earnings, financial services executives are wondering how best to achieve growth. McKinsey set out to identify the growth stars of the last decade, with surprising results.

1995
Battling for the wallet Premium Content

May 1995

Battling for the wallet. For many players, bigger profits hide weaker positions. Who will be the discount stores, warehouse clubs, and category killers? Capturing 1,000 pieces of information per customer.

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