Spend on internet advertising grows rapidly in the later to the game markets. Global spending on internet advertising increased from $18.7 billion in 2005 to $24.9 billion (£12.6 billion) last year, according to ZenithOptimedia, the media-buying agency. The Middle East and Asia are driving a boom in global advertising spending. Zenith predicted a spike of 7.7 per cent in spending in Asia in the run-up to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. In the Middle East and Eastern Europe, advertising spending is growing faster than in North America and Western Europe, which are maturing rapidly as advertising markets, Zenith said. … Continue reading World advertising spend on internet about to overtake radio

 We have touched on this opportunity before, and Oz has written extensively on the topic.  Well Lloyds have implemented across all their branches. Thousands of Muslim businesses across Britain will be able to bank according to their faith from today, as Lloyds TSB launches the first high street Islamic business account in the country. The account, which complies with Islamic law (Shariah), is available across the bank’s 2,000 branches, and will be open to the UK’s estimated 100,000 Muslim firms. Source: Finextra: Lloyds TSB launches Shariah business account   Technorati tags: sharia+banking, UK Continue reading Lloyds TSB launches Sharia business account

 The mystery deepens with ABN.  Turns out several Banks are looking at it, including Citi, who may be interested in the whole thing, or Lasalle in Chicago. Citigroup is not alone in considering an offer for ABN Amro. European banks such as BBVA and Santander, of Spain, BNP Paribas, of France, and ING, of the Netherlands, are understood to have made informal approaches to ABN Amro in the weeks before it entered exclusive talks with Barclays. Royal Bank of Scotland, Britain’s second-biggest bank, is also thought to be monitoring developments. Source: Citigroup prepares to ambush ABN talks-Business-Industry Sectors-Banking & Finance-TimesOnline … Continue reading ABN Amro – the vultures hover

 Aggressive forecast from Forrester here.  Hat tip Netbanker.  Go there for their analysis. Online banking adoption continues its upward trajectory, as evidenced by a 27% growth rate in 2005. Expect this trajectory to continue during the next five years: By 2011, Forrester expects online banking adoption to grow by 55%, to roughly 72 million households. In 2011, 76% of online households will bank online. The largest adoption growth will come from the Gen Y segment, and in 2011, 85% of Gen Yers will bank online. Source: Forrester Research: US Online Banking: Five-Year Forecast I think this is perfectly rational.  By … Continue reading Forrester Research online banking prediction, means Banks have a loyalty problem

 Seth describes well the antithesis of not just good internet sense but of good business sense.  Their approach is the web / social equivalent of email spam. I get emails too, but generally they are from like minded people, and even then I only post with attribution, and when it suits me and this site. Anything less would be a total failure in my view. Over the last few weeks, I’ve received several emails, all the same, all from real people at Reed. They baldly (and boldly) ask me to swap links with them as part of a scheme to move … Continue reading How NOT to do social

 Prompted by the Minority NDP party, the government who are operating under a minority mandate in Canada are getting serious about questioning the Banks and not just their ATM fees. but all fees. What intrigued me one headline, and this comment in the body. But most consumer advocates would be delighted if the Commons finance committee succeeds in getting an ATM cost breakdown from the banks. Source: TheStar.com – Business – Convenience at what cost? If they saw the costs in running ATM’s, this would hurt not help their argument.  I would speculate that the costs would be in the … Continue reading Its election time: Service charges under fire in Canada again

 Doc describes precisely what is so annoying about Banks, Telco’s and other large companies, yet we continue to design them this way …  sigh At one point the call center maze voice tells me to enter my account number and my telephone access code, whatever that is. So I guess it might be the last digits of my social security number. Nope. How about the last four of my company’s federal ID number. No luck. The last five digits? Six? Bzzzt. Then I try just punching zero at every possible choice point. But the system keeps telling me to now … Continue reading Customer Deflection Mismanagement