Retail Banking News Updates, January 4th 2012

SBI cancels proposed POS deal with Visa and Elavon
State Bank of India has called off its proposed joint venture with US-based Visa and Elavon to build point of sale (POS) terminals across the country to focus on building the network on its own. The proposed venture, named SBI Payment Services, was to set up 600,000 point of sale terminals in five years across the country. SBI held a majority stake in the new company.

MetLife to sell retail banking deposits to GE Capital
Metropolitan Life Insurance will be selling $7.5 billion in retail banking deposits, including certificates of deposit and money market accounts, to General Electric Capital. The $7.5 billion sale to GE is subject to approval by the Federal Reserve.

Barclays appoints COO for UK retail business
Barclays has appointed Rumi Contractor as chief operating officer, UK retail and business banking. Contractor, who was global head of service delivery and CEO of global resourcing at HSBC, will be responsible for driving customer service innovation and technology across the division. He will join Barclays in his new role on 1 March 2012.

Re-disseminated by The Asian Banker