HSBC Group Chairman Douglas Flint attends a news conference after an informal meeting of local shareholders in Hong Kong May 21, 2012.
Credit: Reuters/Bobby Yip
HSBC chairman warns poorer customers could lose out
Showing posts with label Customers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Customers. Show all posts
Monday, April 22, 2013
HSBC chairman warns poorer customers could lose out
HSBC chairman warns poorer customers could lose out
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Does Amazon favor customers at the expense of shareholders?
It seems like Amazon sells everything these days — baby clothes, power tools, lawn furniture, oh yeah, books. And it undercuts competitors with rock-bottom prices. Critics say that might be good for you and me, but it’s lousy for Amazon shareholders because the company barely ekes out a profit, if any at all. Some accuse CEO Jeff Bezos of running the company like a “charity” for consumers. Now Bezos is pushing back, responding to his critics in a recent letter to shareholders.
Look, he says, we’ve had the same strategy for years: Keep prices low, which does lead to lower profits, but builds customer loyalty. As he says in the letter: “Proactively delighting customers earns trust, which earns more business from those customers, even in new business arenas.”
Jeff Howe is a visiting scholar at MIT media lab. He says Amazon is onto something.
“They think long-term instead of short-term,” he explains. “They don’t get distracted with a shiny little object that’s going to please shareholders for two quarters.”
Still, shareholders do seem to be fairly pleased with Amazon, right now. The stock has more than doubled over the past five years. And there doesn’t seem to be any massive shareholder revolt.
“If people were really worried about Amazon’s future prospects, they wouldn’t be buying the stock,” says Tim Carmody, who writes for the online magazine The Verge.
But, Carmody says, if Amazon revenue falls or the company falters in new markets, shareholders will flee. For now, Carmody says Amazon’s long-term focus on consumers is working.
Just look at customers like Andrew Wallace. He’s 23, from Brooklyn. He buys everything from books and music to nuts and frozen food on Amazon. He says, “Amazon is this great big and easy thing that keeps you coming back for more.”
But does Wallace love Amazon enough — would he shop there even if found stuff cheaper somewhere else? Maybe not.
“It’s hard to feel loyalty to something so big,” he says. “You know what I mean?”
Are you listening, Jeff Bezos?
Does Amazon favor customers at the expense of shareholders?
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Barclays put profit ahead of customers
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The logo of Barclays bank is seen at its office in the Canary Wharf business district of London April 1, 2013.
Credit: Reuters/Chris Helgren
LONDON |
LONDON (Reuters) – Barclays (BARC.L) put profit ahead of customers and standards within the bank were allowed to slip from the early 2000s, veteran lawyer Anthony Salz said following his review of business practices at Britain’s second-largest lender.
Salz was commissioned by Barclays to conduct the review in July last year after the bank was fined $ 450 million for its role in a global interest rate rigging scandal.
“Through the 2000s, there was a very short-term focus on profit which led to a problem with culture and values. It appeared to emphasize financial performance rather than looking after customers. That was reinforced by the pay structures,” Salz said in an interview on Wednesday.
Salz also said that Barclays had an unsatisfactory relationship with Britain’s financial regulator.
“They were seen to become somewhat aggressive and a bit too clever by half and that led to less than ideal relationships including with the UK regulator,” he said.
(Reporting by Matt Scuffham. Editing by Carmel Crimmins)
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Barclays put profit ahead of customers
Monday, March 18, 2013
Cyprus bank customers asked to help bail out banks
The eurozone crisis — after several months in hibernation — roared back to life today. The euro fell. Gold rose. Bank shares tanked.
All this, thanks to a bailout plan for the small island nation of Cyprus. A plan designed to calm markets and smoothe investor worries… but it had the opposite effect.
That’s because restructuring bank debt in Cyprus means depositors have to share the burden.
This is the first time since the euro crisis began that depositors have been asked to bail out the banks where they save. Not the bondholders or the equity investors. Anyone with cash in a bank account in Cyprus could now lose up to 10 percent of it, as a one-off tax.
“That sends a scary message to all other Europeans,” says analyst Louise Cooper. “It says that your savings are not necessarily safe in a bank. What this risks is bank runs.”
But the Germans, in particular, insisted that depositors take a haircut. They say up to half the cash swilling around the Cypriot banking system comes from wealthy Russians. Why should German taxpayers bail them out? Rupert Ruparel of the Open Europe think tank says there’s been a paradigm shift in Europe’s debt crisis.
“Germany is no longer willing to put unlimited bailout cash on the line,” Ruparel says. “They weren’t willing to put money on the line to bail out these Russian depositors.”
And economist Andrew Hilton says the Germans have a point.
“They feel that Cyprus had become a sort of money-laundering machine for dodgy Russian money, and that Cyprus must pay,” says Hilton.
But Cyprus can only be pushed so far by its European partners. The country’s bank liabilities are more than seven times the size of its economy. It could easily default and crash out of the eurozone, with unpredictable consequences. The Cypriot parliament votes tomorrow on the bailout plan.
Cyprus bank customers asked to help bail out banks
Monday, February 18, 2013
Walmart Senior VP Asks "Where are All the Customers? And Where’s Their Money?"; "February MTD Sales a Total Disaster"
Here’s an interesting story from Friday regarding sales at Walmart that just came my way: Wal-Mart Executives Sweat Slow February Start in E-Mails.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. had the worst sales start to a month in seven years as payroll-tax increases hit shoppers already battling a slow economy, according to internal e-mails obtained by Bloomberg News.“In case you haven’t seen a sales report these days, February MTD sales are a total disaster,” Jerry Murray, Wal-Mart’s vice president of finance and logistics, said in a Feb. 12 e-mail to other executives, referring to month-to-date sales. “The worst start to a month I have seen in my ~7 years with the company”
Murray’s comments about February sales follow disappointing results from January, a month that Cameron Geiger, senior vice president of Wal-Mart U.S. Replenishment, said he was relieved to see end, according to a separate internal e-mail obtained by Bloomberg News.
“Have you ever had one of those weeks where your best-prepared plans weren’t good enough to accomplish everything you set out to do?” Geiger asked in a Feb. 1 e-mail to executives. “Well, we just had one of those weeks here at Walmart U.S. Where are all the customers? And where’s their money?”
Murray declined to comment and Geiger didn’t return telephone and e-mail messages seeking comment.
Both executives attributed the performance to increased payroll taxes and delayed tax returns, which Geiger called “a potent one-two punch,” according to the e-mails.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com
Walmart Senior VP Asks "Where are All the Customers? And Where’s Their Money?"; "February MTD Sales a Total Disaster"
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