Month: October 2019

Breeze Mobile Banking – Better Business Relationships

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In recent months, word has spread about a new mobile banking application. Although mobile banking has been around for a while, the solution being offered by Standard Chartered Bank is unique. For one thing, this platform is designed to run currently off the iPhone, which is considered the most innovative mobile phone on the market, and will be rolled out to Apple’s iPad next month. Second, the application has built-in features that have never been introduced anywhere in the world until now. Third, this unique mobile banking option is being offered by one of the most reputable banks on the internet.

Standard Chartered Bank is one such bank that was established on a philosophy of providing products and services based on what customers really want, not what the bank thinks they want. Therefore, anyone looking to invest money into a bank online, Standard Chartered Bank would be an exceptional choice. However, this bank now offers something even better.

Building the customer base is one small part of operating a successful business, one based on trust and integrity. With today’s technology, multiple options exist to help businesses accomplish the goal of better and stronger customer relationships, one being Standard Chartered Bank. The primary difference between this and other banks is that every decision made is from the customer’s perspective. Therefore, the type of assistance is guaranteed to draw more customers in but also keep them.

In addition to entrusting money with the bank, the Breeze mobile banking solution will also provide the opportunity for people to save money. For instance, most banks charge high penalty fees when an account becomes overdrawn or creditors charge fees whenever payments are made late. With the Breeze E-Cheques (E-Checks) feature, the first of its kind in the world, people can log onto the bank’s website using a mobile device, choose a registered payee from a list already authorized, and request the bank to mail a check.

Along with monitoring account activity, with Standard Chartered Breeze, bank customers also have the ability to track and move. With this, people have a convenient but also easy and safe way of looking at financial information in real time. With the iPhone, rather than wait to find a computer, people can simply log onto the bank’s website and within minutes, have full access to their accounts. Now, while numerous features have been built into the Breeze mobile banking platform, one that most people find to be the most important is the added security measure.

These features are just two that Standard Chartered Bank offers on the Chartered Breeze mobile banking platform. This bank has always approached the banking and financial industry different from other banks, which is apparent in the different products and services, but also the innovative features being offered on the Standard Chartered Breeze mobile banking platform.

Without a system such as this, it is common to see customers needing to be paid but with the company owner or authorized person out of town, processing of the check has to wait. For the person or company on the receiving end, this causes financial obstacles, as well as issues of trust with the company paying. As more and more checks are paid late, the customer will take their business elsewhere.

The products and services provided through the Standard Chartered Bank website and the products and services offered through the Chartered Breeze mobile banking platform work hand-in-hand to ensure every customer, whether personal or business, has a seamless experience. Breeze is truly unique by running on Apple’s high-tech devices, offering a high level of convenience, and allowing account holders the ability to interact personally with accounts whenever and wherever wanted.

Brazil’s Banking System

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Post global recession, the Brazilian banking model is now internationally recognized as a highly efficient system. Many attribute its recent success to the sophisticated mechanisms and regulatory systems that were created during the ‘lost-decade’ of hyper-inflation.

Nowadays, financial regulation is very conservative and was created to ensure the banks would be able to regularly stress test their processes to check and balance their activities in a variety of hypothetical unstable environments. Internal controls, limits for client exposure, loss provisions, company credit capital are all closely and strictly monitored. The following practices are also worth highlighting:

– The minimum Basel Ratio of the Brazilian banking system is set at 11 percent, which 3 percent higher than what is suggested in the Basel Accord. Most banks, in reality, operate much higher than this level (at over 17.5 percent) with low leverage ratios (over six times the level of their capital holdings);

– All banking limits and requirements are applied in consolidated terms which means that so called toxic assets or special investment vehicles are put under heavy scrutiny;

– All investment funds are weighted in line with their corresponding assets. This is undertaken to ensure that leverage levels are reasonable and over-exposure is kept to a minimum;

– Over the Counter (OTC) derivatives need to be registered with the Central Bank (or face legal action);

– The Brazilian Securities and Exchange Commission (Comisso de Valores Mobilirio) legally obliges all public companies to disclose all information with regards to the financial instruments that are being used. In addition, full sensibility’ analyses are undertaken on a regular basis;

– The central bank has control over all non-financial subsidiaries of banking institutions;

– Expected loss provisions are taken into consideration (not just actual losses);

– Liquidity and market risks are monitored intensively by the Central Bank on a daily basis;

– Bank reserves must cover all debt payments past;

– All lending above the value of $BRL 5,000 must be registered with the Central Bank;

– Issue ratings are regularly undertaken;

– Regulatory procedures are applied to all banks and are also regularly updated in line with financial innovations (approved by the Central Bank), international standards and conjuncture changes.

Many commentators attributed Brazils above average resistance to the effects of the global recession to these reasons. Indeed, at the onset of the global economic crisis, the securitisation market was less than 10 percent in comparison to the credit volume of the country which meant that the intersection between the two markets did not bring any significant damage.

At the close of first decade of the 2000s, Brazil was one of only four countries in the world with a wide spread on lending, with an average at over 30 percent. Indeed, the country was awarded first place for its high regulatory standards at the 2009 Financial Stability Forum’ in Basel that “helped it avoid the worst of the global economic crisis.” As pointed by Alexandre Tombini, Director of Regulation at the Central Bank: “We are used to dealing with challenging environments at our institutions and our regulations. Everything we have done since the mid-1990s has tended to take a more cautious approach.”

Below is a list of the main banking institutions of Brazil:

Central Bank of Brazil the highest monetary authority and the country’s governing body in all matters related to finance and economics. The institution is linked with the Ministry of Finance and decides the monthly SELIC interest rate.

Banco do Brasil the largest Brazilian and Latin American bank by asset values. With its headquarters in Braslia, it is also the oldest active bank in Brazil (founded in 1808).

Caixa Econmica Federal founded in 1861 (more commonly referred to as Caixa), nowadays the bank is well known for financing the civil and construction sectors; administering the Minha Casa, Minha Vida housing programme as well as being the large stakeholder in Brazils largest property and land portal: Zap.

The Brazilian Development Bank (Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econmico e Social or BNDES) established in 1952, it is now the second largest development bank in the world and is a federal public company associated with the Ministry of Development, Industry and Foreign Trade.

Bradesco founded in 1943, it is one of the largest banks in operation in the country (it was formerly the largest until Banco Ita and Unibanco merged in 2009).

Ita Unibanco based in So Paulo, the bank was formed out a merger of Banco Ita and Unibanco in late 2008 and now operates as the largest financial conglomerate in the Southern Hemisphere and the 10th largest bank in the world.

Banco Santander Brasil founded in 1982, with its headquarters in So Paulo, major acquisitions were made in the late 1990s and 2000s including Banco Real, Banco Geral do Comrio, Banco Noroeste and Banespa.

Banco Real a Brazilian bank that was previously owned by ABN AMRO.

HSBC Brazil in 1997 Banco HSBC Bamerindus was set up to take over Banco Bamerindus do Brasil which was subsequently changed to HSBC Bank Brasil in 1999.

Safra with its headquarters in So Paulo, the bank is part of the larger Safra Group of financial institutions.

Banco Nossa Caixa the bank was incorporated into the Banco do Brasil in 2008, formerly serving as the financial agent of the State of So Paulo.

Why Computer Skills Are Required For Jobs In Banking Sector

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Computer occupies an important place in many of the industries and they employ computer skilled personnel to carry out their jobs efficiently and effectively. This trend is found not only in companies but also in growing banking sector. The banks which provide a plenty of customer services like corporate banking, financial assistance, savings, and investment, find it easier to computerize these services. Internet banking is considered as a boon for all busy people, which makes it easy to transfer and receive money quickly. It also gives the exact information of the amount in the bank accounts.

Importance of computer knowledge in banks:

As the computers are dominating the industrial world completely, it is quite natural that banks also insist their employees must have basic knowledge in computer. This makes the fresher easily understand their jobs which are performed on the computer. Computer knowledge makes it easy for the fresher to get training for probationary officer posts and for clerical posts. In other words, the candidates can go for a computer course in a reputed institute for 6 months to gain more knowledge in computer and improve their chances of being hired in banks. Many banks have started to set this eligibility criterion to stress this point. Still some candidates may question whether computer skill is mandatory to join in banks. The answer is it is necessary as most of the banks are fully computerized and they have adopted the core banking.

Most of the private and public sector banks find the usage of computer is so essential to network between their branches and to provide faster and effective service. Hence, as most of the banks are moving towards the core banking, it is necessary that the candidates who are applying for banking jobs must have knowledge in DOS, internet, e-mail and MSOffice. It is very true that a clerk should know all the basics about using computer. This is compulsory in many cases and it is advantage for others. A probationary officer in banks must know about MSWord, MS Excel, Window operating system and they should have a sound knowledge in MS Access. Certifications in these courses are insisted in many cases. This quality proves to be essential to handle files, documents and records maintained in computer in different branches and banks effectively.