The Swiss state-owned postal services on Friday announced a deal with the biggest bank in the country, UBS, to provide credit services to clients. The post office had originally wanted to create its own Postbank but this ran into heavy opposition in parliament and the government had to withdraw a proposal to create such a bank.
Read MoreWe tend to get emotional about names. That is why I could be found jumping around my desk this morning saying “Thank you, thank you, Allan Leighton” for publicly acknowledging what most of the country has been saying for months: Consignia, the new name for the Post Office, is a disaster.
Since Mr Leighton is Consignia’s new chairman, his statement took some courage. I hope it marks a turning point in the power of the brand consultants, under whose baleful influence British company names have been changing into a jumble of the pretentious, meaningless or absurd.
Read MoreThe Italian government wants to retain a 51% stake in Alitalia for another two years. Cur ently, the state owns 53 % of the airline. The move has put an end — at least for the time being to the protracted wrangling about the privatisation of the airline, which, in the year 2000, led to Alitalia’s spectacular ‘divorce’ from former partner KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. This move, which has the sanction of the labour unions, always a force to be reckoned with in Italy, is compatible with the longterm aim of putting the airline on a sound financial footing, a prerequisite for a successful privatisation.
Read More15 February 2002 An Post has acquired e.CommerCell, a UK based company which provides top-up services for prepaid mobile telephones. The price is not being disclosed.
Read MoreLast week’s postal union ballot in favour of national strike action threatens to deal a body-blow to many in the direct marketing industry – not least of which will be the embattled Consignia, currently losing up to #1.5m a day.
Yet perhaps the most severely affected will be the financial services community, for whom the months of February and March are the most crucial.
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