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The move comes as part of a larger wave of opposition to the trading platform, as peers Santander and Barclays also block payments to Binance. Back in June, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued a warning against Binance, banning the trading platform from conducting any regulated activity in the UK, and advising consumers to be wary of advertisements that promised a high return on crypto assets investments. The FCA ordered Binance to remove all forms of advertising and promotions by 30 June.

NatWest has said it has seen high levels of cryptocurrency investment scams targeting customers across retail and business banking, a trend particularly prevalent across social media platforms. To protect its customers, the UK bank said that it was temporarily reducing the maximum daily amount that a customer can transfer to cryptocurrency exchanges. NatWest is also blocking payments to a number of cryptocurrency asset firms, where the bank notes some customers have already suffered fraud-related harm. However, despite the changes, NatWest has stated that customers will still be able to accept cryptocurrencies as a form of payment if they wish to do so. 

Ebury provides corporate banking services to small businesses that trade worldwide. Operating in 119 countries, in 140 different currencies, it has processed over £16.7 billion in payments since its inception and helped over 43,000 clients trade internationally.

News has broken that Santander is buying its 50.1% stake in the fintech for £350 million, of which £70 million will help Ebury merge into new markets in Latina America and Asia.

This is a bold but expected move form Santander, as it manages accounts for more than four million SME customers around the globe, 200,000 of which operate on an international scale. The partnership between Santander and Ebury will also allow the fintech to make the most of the bank’s relationships, assets and brand to build new banking partnerships.

Ana Botín, group executive chairman of Banco Santander, said: “Small and medium-sized businesses are a major engine of growth around the world, creating new jobs and contributing up to 60% of total employment and up to 40% of national GDP in emerging economies. By partnering with Ebury, Santander will deliver faster and more efficient products and services for SMEs, previously only accessible to larger corporates.” 

YouGov carried out Custom Research using brand tracking tool, Profiles, into online banking usage revealing that almost one in five Brits still visit a branch monthly (17%).

Interestingly, this figure is slightly lower among Santander customers (15%) than the industry as a whole (17%). Over a quarter of Barclays customers (27%) and a quarter of Lloyds customers (25%) visit their bank at least monthly.

Just under half (48%) of Santander customers open the bank’s smartphone app in an average month (48%). This is some way short of banks such as NatWest, which sees almost two thirds (65%) of customers open the app each month.

Unsurprisingly, those who use physical bank branches are mostly older (32% are over 65) and retired (33%). This reluctance to bank digitally isn’t completely due to lack of access however; almost all own a mobile phone (93%) and three quarters have a laptop (75%).

Six in ten of those who visit their branch at least monthly say they find the pace of new technology overwhelming (60%) and 42% say they “don’t understand the decisions made by computers”. Over a third feel uncomfortable using online banking (36%) and the majority prefer to use cash when shopping (52%). In fact, aside from online banking over a quarter never make online purchases (26%).

Commenting on the research, Matt Palframan, Director of Financial Services Research at YouGov said: “Santander is not the first to close physical branches and it won’t be the last; the way people are banking is constantly changing. However, it’s worth remembering there will always be customers who prefer to go into their branch. The question is whether these customers are prepared to travel further or use alternative channels if their local branch closes.”

(Source: YouGov)

One third (32%) of Britons would apply for a job as a money mule, helping criminals to launder money. That’s the finding of an experiment carried out by Santander to shed light on just how convincing the ‘bogus job ad’ is: a technique which criminals use to lure people looking for work into transferring money connected to criminal activity.

Santander’s experiment involved presenting 2,000 British adults with a falsified job description to work at a fictitious company called Money Spark as a ‘Financial Transaction Control Analyst’. Details of the role included ‘receiving and processing of incoming cash funds’ and; ‘transferring of funds to accounts indicated by our managers’.

While some people were suspicious of the description of the role and spotted the tell-tale spelling mistakes and bogus link in the ad, one in three (32%) said they would definitely apply for the job if they were looking for work. What’s more, one in four (27%) said they would leave their current job to join the Money Spark Company. Alarmingly, upon learning the job was a front for criminal activity, seven% said they would still accept the job anyway. Only fifteen% correctly spotted the role was for a money mule.

Although 91% of Britons are familiar with the term money laundering, almost three quarters (71%) of those taking part had not heard of the term ‘money mule’. The research also suggests that many Britons are not aware of the true risks associated with becoming a money mule.

Sixty-nine% of the ‘applicants’ in the study did not think that becoming a money mule and partaking in the movement of stolen funds (unwittingly or not) could lead to a jail term in excess of three years (money launderers can face a maximum prison sentence of 14 years). While around a quarter of people thought the punishment would be no more than a fine or a warning.

This form of criminality is an increasing problem, with the latest official statistics showing that the number of Britons using their bank account for money mule activity has grown by 55% in the past year3. Around four% of respondents to Santander’s research believed they, or someone they knew had been approached by a criminal looking to recruit money mules, with this figure doubling to eight% for those in the age bracket 18-24 years – that’s around 453,3604 young adults across the UK.

Chris Ainsley, Head of Fraud Strategy at Santander UK, commented: “Santander is committed to helping consumers protect themselves against scams and fraud. Criminals often target vulnerable people, such as those desperate for a job, and our research illustrates how easily some people can be tricked into falling victim.

“We are seeing a rise in the number of fake job ads such as the one used in our experiment and raising awareness of the issue is key to preventing people unwittingly getting involved and ultimately facing life changing consequences for their actions.”

Other detail from the research revealed that flexible working was the most appealing aspect (80%) to those who were attracted to the job, followed by low working hours (62%) perceived career progression and personal development (44%).

Those aged 18-24 were the most likely to apply for the job, followed by those in the 25-34 year bracket. Regionally, those based in Northern Ireland came out as the most likely to apply for the job, followed closely by Yorkshire and Humber and West Wales.

Immediately following the conclusion of the experiment, 72% of those taking part have said they will now be more suspicious and cautious of these types of job descriptions in the future.

(Source: Santander)

Santander_DSC_2875Banco Santander announced it made attributable profit of €1.7 billion in the first quarter of 2015, at a press conference held at the end of April. This represented a 32% growth on Q1, 2014 figures. Of the ten core markets in which the group operates, only Chile showed a decline in profit. The strong growth was supported by the bank’s three largest markets: Spain, UK and Brazil.

Exchange rates, marked by the euro-dollar and euro-pound depreciation, had a positive impact on growth rates, adding to the favourable trend in the business and in group revenues. Attributable profit for the quarter grew 32%, a change that would have been 22% without the exchange rate effect. Revenues increased 13%, 7% without the exchange rate factor; and lending grew 14%, 7% without the exchange rate variation.

The improvement in profits are a result of an increase in basic revenue of 13%, which sits two points greater than costs, which grew 11%. This performance allowed continued improvement in the efficiency ratio of almost one point, to 47%. Net operating income stood at €6,067 million, with growth of 15%.

Emerging economies (Latin America and Poland) accounted for 42% of profit and mature markets contributed 58%. By country, the largest contribution was from Brazil (21%), followed by UK (20%), Spain (15%), US (10%), Mexico (7%), Chile (5%), Poland (4%), Argentina (3%) and Portugal (2%). Santander Consumer Finance contributed 10% to total profit.

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