Foreign Perspectives

If they’re honest, most people would say “not much” whether it be for their holiday spending or for their business dealings.

The practical reason for that in most cases is that Forex margin management is something that can be quite a complex subject to get your head around but these days currencies are moving around so much that it’s becoming essential for many businesses. Although in normal times exchange rates are fairly stable, we’ve not been in “normal times” for a while now and we’ve seen the British pound going from almost $2 to $1.40 over the last couple of years.

Such wide variations in exchange rates generally lead to wider foreign exchange margins too which means that it’s more important than ever to at least get the margin you’re charged down and try to get some control of the exchange rate itself through the various forex products available these days.

Popularity: 1% [?]

One of the great things about the introduction of the chip & PIN technology was that it greatly increased security in the sense that you were no longer relying on the shop assistants comparing your signature against that on the back of the card.

If you’d been carrying the card around for a year or two chances are that the signature was barely visible but that rarely mattered anyway given the cursory glance of most shop assistants. Once the novelty value of the photo cards had dwindled it mattered little what photo was on the card although the current rarity of those cards does offer a measure of additional security to those who have them.

However, the problem is that your PIN is required EVERYWHERE. Fair enough when you’re buying something in a shop although it’s a little too easy to watch someone entering their PIN in a lot of locations and there’s a tendency for the person behind you in the queue to get so close that they can easily see your PIN. However, why the need to enter the PIN when you make a deposit in the post office? Not only are post office keypads more visible than most but why the need to identify yourself when making a deposit at all?
After all, the Halifax are able to take machine deposits without a PIN. Why can’t the post office?

Popularity: unranked [?]

One of the problems in the recent round of bank takeovers is that the vast majority were shotgun weddings with little consideration being given to the fit between the banking cultures involved.

Already it would seem that the Halifax will be needing some exit signs for their current customers through a combination of tightening up of the lending criteria and raising of charges to the level typical of Lloyds. Both are understandable in different ways. The more lax lending at the Halifax was quite a contributing factor to its downfall and, of course, it would hardly be sustainable for overall charges in the Halifax to be lower than at Lloyds itself.

Still, it is sad to see the demise of the Halifax.

Popularity: 2% [?]