Econsultancy.com published an article about the importance of mobile banking for customer experience.

"Generally, people’s impressions of banks aren’t too positive. The credit crunch, banker’s bonuses, overdraft fees and call centre queues are some common negative associations in people’s minds. However, digital does offer some opportunities for banks to improve the way they are perceived, by helping them to improve the overall customer experience."

"First Direct has gathered a reputation for great customer service. It regularly comes top in consumer polls for this, achieving an impressive score of 92% in a recent MoneySavingExpert poll for example. By comparison, its nearest rival, Santander 123, had 74% while most high street banks struggled to beat 50%. (...) First Direct actually answers the telephone when it rings. No call queues or automated systems. Simple but effective. (...) First Direct, with no branch network, has focused on providing an excellent all round experience, especially online. Its social campaigns are daring and innovative. Take ‘first direct live’ for instance. Launched in 2009, it turned its site into a repository for customer feedback, a very brave move for a bank in the wake of the financial crisis but one that paid off. "

"The site works well too, making it easy to check balances, transfer funds and so on, but it’s mobile where customers really feel the benefits. Mobile and online banking frees customers from the need to call into branches or take to the telephone for most common transactions. It saves them time, and thus enhances their lives in a small way. Indeed, a recent Bain report (PDF) on customer loyalty in banking found that mobile and online banking are the areas most likely to ‘delight’ customers and therefore increase their loyalty and make them more likely to recommend a particular retail bank. "

"Mobile banking is taking off too. While some banks were slow to launch mobile banking, most high street banks now offer this service. The ubiquity of mobile banking apps means that they will soon become a hygiene factor. People will not consider opening an account if their bank doesn’t offer this."

"Younger age groups are particularly keen to access their money via mobile. According to Tealeaf stats, 57% of 25-34 year olds and 53% of 18-24 year olds in the UK say they have accessed banking on smartphone or tablet, either via app or mobile web."

"Under closer scrutiny, smartphone apps are the most popular mobile way of accessing banking services for both of these age groups, with 22% and 25% doing so respectively. In the digital age, where bad news spreads fast on social media and consumers trust reviews and recommendations from friends and family above all else, customer experience is all-important. For banks looking to delight their customers, providing excellent experiences on mobile and desktop and making people’s lives easier is perhaps the best form of marketing there is."

According to this, the Central Bank of China has ordered the country's commercial banks and payment companies to close Bitcoin trading accounts until 15 April 2014, the Wall Street Journal reports.

"According to the source, these rules have a direct impact on more than a dozen Bitcoin exchanges, and are a further consolidation of regulations the financial institution put in place in 2013. Authorities have closely monitored Bitcoin's expansion, as it has been regarded as inflicting financial stability and because it has attracted speculative retail investors looking for ways to make profits. In 2013, China recorded a huge increase in demand for Bitcoin and this has led to a growth in global prices and also attracted the attention of regulators."

"In December 2013, the People's Bank of China ordered financial institutions to stop dealing with Bitcoin. Later that month, it made clear that third-party payment processors could not help exchanges collect money from users."

"According to sources familiar with the latest directive, cited by the Wall Street Journal, the People's Bank of China has no intention to ban the currency trading in China, and mentions that the move is aimed at enforcing what was already said in the December 2013 document. More specifically, the document stipulates that Bitcoin is not a currency with "real meaning" and does not have the same legal status as a currency, but that the public is free to buy and sell Bitcoin online provided that they accept the risk."

Graham Duerden has joined us.  Graham is the MD of Greif UK Ltd., based in Ellesmere Port.  He not only brings considerable senior management experience but also a very significant financial grant from his parent company, as well as the offer of invaluable volunteering resources from the Greif UK team.  We are so looking forward to working with Graham and his team.

Victoria Jones has joined us.  Vicki is a partner with Knights Solicitors Llp, who proclaim that they are "not afraid to be different".  We love that!!  Vicki has been involved with us from day one as a trustee of our founding charity, Bridge Enterprises.  Now she is fully engaged!!  Thank you so much, Vicki, for joining BCF.

Paul Norman is on our top team.  As Relationship Director, Corporate Banking, with Santander, Paul brings great experience of financing AND a fabulous network of local movers and shakers.  Paul has already pitched into fund raising activities for BCF.  We are truly blessed to have him on the team.

According to this, UK’s online platforms are considering various means by which trade with Central and Eastern Europe can be expanded - i.e "local ecommerce website aims at informing UK companies about business opportunities in Romania, while another initiative is focused on selling UK food online in Poland".

"The British Business Portal networking platform provides information on several sectors of the Romanian economy, such as business opportunities, events, requests for partnerships, know-how business management and on scope legislation."

"Executive chairman at the British Romanian Chamber of Commerce, Raymond Breden, states that the Eastern European country has potential for business with lower costs in resources and facilities, its need to develop and its size and resources. There are currently more than 4,000 UK companies operating in Romania. Trade between the two countries topped EUR 3.28 billion in 2013, which is a growth of 11.9%, as compared to 2012."

"In Poland, for example, Heart of England Fine Foods, an organization for producers, growers and processors of specialty food and drink from several UK counties, has joined forces with the UK Trade & Investment team in Warsaw and some Polish business leaders with focus on boosting the profile and sale of produce from the heart of England to Eastern Europe."

"They also launched a new ecommerce B2B website, featuring products from 41 companies across the Midlands. As of now, there are 41 companies which will have their products exhibited on the B2B website for Polish buyers, Karen Davies from HEFF tells Shropshirelive.com."

"Ian Livingston, Minister for Trade and Investment, launched two new UK Business Centres in Slovakia and Hungary in March 2014. Business centres were also open in Poland in 2013 and in Romania in late March 2014. Business centres in the Czech Republic and Slovenia are due to open shortly."

"Lord Livingston informs that UK firms have doubled trade exports to Eastern and Central European countries in the last ten years. He also states that by 2020, the main goal is doubling exports to this region and in order to achieve that, support is needed for UK firms on the ground by opening a network of business centres and increasing the number of trade missions to introduce more UK businesses to potential buyers by 2020."

According to this, multi-factor authentication (MFA) market is expected to register USD 10.75 billion by 2020.

"According to data, two-factor authentication model covers almost 90% of the market for multi-factor authentication, wherein banking and finance, travel and immigration, commercial security are the major applications."

"The report describes the various types of biometric and non-biometric technologies such as hardware and software tokens, OTP (One Time Password), and biometric recognition that are being used for different applications. The above-mentioned techniques can be combined to form two, three, four, and five-factor authentication models. Out of these models, two-factor authentication is commonly used in most of the applications. Two-factor authentication is the oldest type of MFA technique and can be seen at banks, ATMs, and at various government offices."

"The same source mentions that three, four, and five-factor authentication models are less used when compared to two-factor authentication. The three-factor authentication methods include smart card with PIN and biometric technology, smart card with two biometric technologies, PIN with two biometric technologies and three biometric authentications. On the other hand, four- and five-factor authentication includes the use of smart card and PIN with more than one type of biometric technology such as face recognition, fingerprint recognition, voice recognition, and so on. Three-factor authentication is mostly used in private access areas like bank lockers, secret data access, defense, travel and immigration. The use of four- and five-factor authentication models is restricted to high cost projects in defense, research, and government-based applications."

"Multi-factor authentication implies user and employee authentication by verifying two or more authentication techniques (Hardware token, One Time Password, Password/PIN and Biometric traits) provided by him/her. MFA has become the most important part of security due to increase in unauthorized access, frauds, border intrusion, and so on. MFA is increasingly getting deployed at all the security checkpoints in airports, commercial complex, retail malls, banking and finance, and so on. MFA provides accurate authentication and negligible margin of duplicity or error."