Industry News - June, 2008

One of Lloyds TSB's debit cards has provoked an outcry after it emerged that children as young as 11 have been sent credit cards.

The marketing communications move has been labelled "grossly irresponsible" by Liberal Democrat MP Vincent Cable.

Lloyds TSB wrote to cash card holders aged between 11 and 15 offering them a debit card, but asking them to tell their ... more...

More than four in ten financial services firms expect business volumes to fall during the next three months, according to new research.

In a period when financial services marketing could prove crucial to the success or failure of firms, business volumes during the last quarter to June stood at minus 35 per cent, according to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) an... more...

Credit card providers have been urged to tighten up their lending criteria by a debt consultancy firm.

While credit card marketing communications and applications ask many consumers to state their income, providers rarely ask applicants to prove it, according to Thomas Charles.

The advice follows research by uSwitch.com which found that only eight per cent of credit card... more...

Financial services firms are leading the way by remaining transparent to customers and "humanising their image", new research has shown.

According to Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, financial services marketing campaigns are leading the way in keeping customers informed of their activities.

Guy Walsingham, managing director of Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, claims tha... more...

Not all firms will be able to meet the December deadline to introduce management information (MI) for treating customers fairly (TCF) , according to the Financial Services Authority (FSA).

MI is the FSA-imposed requirement that all firms must have in place to demonstrate that all customers are being treated fairly, in everything from sales to marketing communications.

Ba... more...

The average young driver pays more than double the premium for car insurance than other motorists, new research has shown.

According to uSwitch.com, drivers aged between 17 and 25 years old will pay two-thirds the value of their vehicle for their insurance.

Despite only making up seven per cent of the market, they also pay 22 per cent of all premiums.

However, uSwitch.com insurance expert, Ashton Berkhauer, suggests that recently proposed legislation to end age discrim... more...

Businesses may be damaging their chances of benefiting from the marketing efforts if content on their website is hidden behind advertisements, it has been revealed.

Well orchestrated marketing communications and search engine optimisation campaigns are all well and good, but pop-up ... more...

A new comparison tool linking corporate pension schemes with independent financial advisers (IFAs) has been launched by Unbiased.co.uk.

This presents a potential marketing communications opportunity for IFAs, particularly in light of the search parameters available to users.

IFAs registered on the Unbiased.co.uk database can be found by users according to their regional ... more...