Will new banks travel well too?

While I welcome Tom Bawden’s article about the challenges of creating a pan-European banking brand (“Internet opens up Europe for banks” MW April 20), it failed to examine the role new banks such as Tesco Personal Finance and EasyGroup’s Easymoney will play in this trend.

With the exception of Easymoney, the article suggests the majority of UK expansion into Europe is confined to the traditional banks, such as Barclays, Abbey National, HSBC and Lloyds TSB, albeit under new brand names.

While concluding that “the revolution in the UK spearheaded by new entrants such as Prudential’s Egg and Tesco Personal Finance could end up becoming Britain’s greatest export to Europe,” he didn’t examine whether these new entrants were themselves likely to be moving into Europe.

Other than that, the article raises a good question – whether any bank, traditional or new-kid-on-the-block, is likely to succeed across the Continent, given that many people in Europe are never likely to trust “foreign” banks with their money – particularly when they are delivered over the Internet.

Angela Whitfield

Norwich

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