And more "toxic" news.....

Nationwide has revealed it invested £1.6bn in securities backed by assets in the so-called PIIGS economies of Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain, although 99% of them were rated AAA or AA and it had seen little evidence of any deterioration in their asset quality. It also owned £1.2bn of medium-term notes issued by financial institutions in those countries, including £692m in lending to Spanish banks. CEO, Graham Beale, said the society is following a new BBA code of practice in disclosing relevant facts.

The power of greed is consistent...

OECD has calculated that 15 leading banks, including Barclays, HSBC and Santander, paid to staff a cumulative £147bn in remuneration in 2009, exceeding the previous record of £144bn paid out during the 'boom' conditions in 2007. Remuneration at these banks was three times larger than pre-tax profits, and compared to dividend payments of £8.5bn. A spokesman said it is 'somewhat disconcerting' that the taxpayer-driven earnings are not being used to bolster capital cushions.

The Visa show

Visa is reportedly planning to create its own ad-funded TV series following British athletes in the build-up to the London 2012 Games. The card provider is in negotiations with production companies and broadcasters about the programme, which would showcase medal hopefuls as they enter the final two years of preparation before the event.

Are you left or right ?

First Direct research has found that a person's ability to save money and their willingness to switch banks is determined by the side of the brain they typically think with. The study, conducted by Hertfordshire University, found that those who think with the right side of the brain (typically creative and impulsive types) have a carefree attitude to money management, credit card debts and little or no savings.

DMA warns of deliverability pitfalls for email marketers

The Email Marketing Council of the Direct Marketing Assoication is warning that the rising volume of spam is putting deliverability of legitimate marketing emails at risk unless practitioners adopt best practice.

Publishing a white paper on the issue, the council says that a new definition of email deliverability needs to be adopted in order to ensure messages are reaching the inbox.

Guy Hanson, business development director at Database Group Interactive, co-author of the report and a member of the DMA EMC, says: “With an estimated 130 billion spam messages broadcast every day and ISPs reacting to the barrage, the deliverability challenge has never been greater. ISP acceptance rates provide no guarantee that the subscriber actually sees the message while sender reputation monitors, spam filter vendors and blacklist operators all play key roles in determining whether the email ends up in the inbox or not.”

He adds: “Companies that fail to understand these issues risk jeopardising their email marketing strategy as well as the company’s bottom line.” The white paper challenges email marketers to address the portion of their emails that are not getting delivered and to understand why this is happening.

One of the ten improvements it proposes is better data collection processes. Permissioning mechanisms are a major aspect of this, with a double opt-in preferred, although this is not a legal requirement. “Go for the strongest mechanism that your programme will support,” the paper recommends.

Simon Bowker, managing director of eCircle, member of the DMA EMC and co-author of the report, adds: “Understanding good delivery is more than just a technical issue - marketers need to be aware of its effect on email revenue and ROI. While complicated, good deliverability is not difficult to achieve. Our guide aims to provide simple, clear and practical steps that anyone can follow to improve their inbox placement.”

Data gives the edge for Supermarkets

Sainsbury’s chief executive, Justin King, has claimed that supermarkets without loyalty schemes are being forced to use promotions in order to try to keep up with J Sainsbury and Tesco. Mr King said that 'those without data' were being drawn into 'ever more promotions' because they lack databases which can tailor special offers to particular customers.

EHS 4D wins BBC customer relationship task

The BBC has appointed EHS 4D to its roster as it looks to identify new ways of retaining a younger audience.

The agency won the business after a pitch against undisclosed agencies that was called in March.
EHS 4D will now work on a number of customer relationship marketing and eCRM projects that will aim to attract and retain interest in the BBC's portfolio of websites and other online offerings, such as its iPlayer service.

The BBC now has access to a greater range of data thanks to the growth in video-on-demand via iPlayer and digital television. EHS 4D will be responsible for identifying new ways that the corporation can use this data to produce better-targeted messages and content.
EHS 4D already works with a number of major brands on its loyalty and customer retention programmes, including Tesco, easyJet and Comparethemarket.com.

News of EHS 4D's appointment coincides with reports that the BBC is holding a pitch for its £20 million advertising business. Pitches for the account, which is held by Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R and Fallon, are due to take place in June or July.

Sky and Experian form database marketing joint venture

Experian is to hive off its hosted database services business into a joint venture that will be controlled by its longstanding client Sky.
The transaction is expected to complete on 30 June, with a number of Experian's large hosted database clients crossing over to the new business.
Experian sought to explain the move as an attempt to focus its marketing services portfolio on core data and analytics and digital marketing.
Duncan Painter, a former chief executive of Experian Integrated Marketing, will become managing director of the joint venture.

It is unclear where the new company, in which Sky has a majority stake of an undisclosed size, will be based and how many employees will be affected.
The name of the new company and brand is yet to be announced.

Wealthy Scots

Barclays is to reportedly double the size of its Scottish business by 2012, with its Barclays Wealth and Barclays Corporate divisions planning to expand by hiring 10-15 new staff in the next 12 months. Barclays Wealth has reported 30% growth in Scottish assets under management over the past 12 months, while Barclays Corporate has committed £250m in fresh lending in Scotland since the start of 2010

News today

Confused.com is planning to hold a pitch later in May 2010 for an agency to handle its direct marketing account. The appointed DM agency will handle a series of campaigns focused on boosting the consumer experience and delivering greater return on investment.

Tesco Bank has appointed Kwik Fit insurance development director, Gerry Meechan, to its new general insurance structure, Tesco Underwriting. Mr Meechan is believed to be taking responsibility for customer strategy, sales and service centres, retail pricing, marketing and proposition development.

Lloyds Banking Group has placed its general life, pensions and investments PR accounts up for pitch, with the review primarily covering its Scottish Widows brand. The bank's six-figure corporate and consumer financial services brief is currently held by Lanson Communications, which is thought to be repitching. The review also covers the six-figure retained public affairs account held by Cicero