Abbey National/Homebase: bank improvements

It's another innovative move from Abbey National, which has also opened coffee shops in its branches and launched a similar scheme with Safeway. And it's certainly good to see a UK bank experimenting with its branch distribution strategies. But it's too early to say whether or not the venture will actually work.

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Abbey National/Orange: making life less complicated

It's another innovative move from Abbey National: customers will soon be able to get cash and talk time for their mobiles with one visit to an ATM. The new scheme looks set to be a winner, with similar programs already successfully implemented elsewhere in the world. Abbey is clearly the UK's leading bank in developing novel distribution strategies.

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Abbey National: a beleaguered bank

It appears as if Abbey National may be forced to axe 3,000 jobs - 10% of its workforce - as part of a cost cutting review. Cutting 3,000 employees from its workforce would save the bank GBP100 million. Adding to its current problems, it still hasn't even found a new CEO.

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Abbey National: a game of two halves

Though painful, the split of Abbey's core personal finance unit from its loss making businesses may be just the tonic the bank needs. The bank's successful UK personal finance units will be insulated from what goes on elsewhere within the group, and a speedier sale of the unwanted businesses will benefit the company as a whole.

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Abbey National: a right job

This week has been bad even by Abbey National's recent standards. Capping off a terrible year, the bank has announced that it will record a loss in 2002 after a profit of GBP1.9 billion in 2001 - and also that the managing director of its retail banking division has resigned. The nature of the problems facing Abbey National aren't unique, but their scale is certainly unrivalled.

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Abbey National: another chink in the armor

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Abbey National: back to its roots

The sale of First National will enable Abbey to refocus on its core retail banking business. At the right price, it offers the successful bidder a strong position in the UK point of sale finance market - but further industry concentration appears unlikely.

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Abbey National: banking on online investments

Abbey National has an immediate audience for it's the new fund supermarket service through its retail customer base. However, its success is dependent on the bank's ability to cross-sell to existing account holders: something that retail banks have struggled to do in the past. Abbey will have to market its product carefully.

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Abbey National: first high-street casualty of the card wars

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Abbey National: going back to the future

Abbey National likes to use the slogan 'because life is complicated enough'. Life certainly seems complicated for the UK bank at the moment, as it searches for a new CEO, refocuses on its core mortgage and savings business, and is the subject of takeover rumors. One bright spot is its online unit, Cahoot, which has slashed its losses and grown customers.

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