Lawrence, NJ (Vocus) December 24, 2009

First Choice Bank announces the appointments of Greg Blair and Jay Destribats, as co-chairs of the community bank’s new Business Development Board.

First Choice Bank’s new Business Development Board’s co-chairs oversee quarterly meetings of 25 members comprised of investors and bank customers. Blair, a partner in Nottingham Insurance and one of the bank’s 15 founders, said the board was created to help promote First Choice Bank within the community and support bank efforts by referring customers and providing lending opportunities.

“Businesses are looking for personalized attention and turning to local banking institutions as opposed to the mammoth banks of the past,” said Blair. “As a result, it’s important to have a local business perspective when dealing with local economic issues.”

Jay Destribats, who is of counsel to the law firm of Destribats, Campbell, DeSantis, Magee and Staub, Esq., and served as chairman of the board of directors for the Yardville National Bank, said he joined the board in order to assist former customers looking for financial advice.

“Upon my retirement from Yardville National Bank, numerous former customers sought my advice as to which banking institution would best suit their banking needs,” said Destribats. “By joining the First Choice Bank Business Development Board I am better able to assist them by referring clients to First Choice Bank and advising the bank of the client’s personal banking needs.”

The First Choice Bank Business Development Board plans to create teams within the board allowing members to work with bank branches to form relationships with the lenders in order to refer quality customers. The hope is to increase the number of customers as well as the number of loans within the community.

“As a local community bank, we see this board as a vehicle to help us further our investment in the community and better serve our customers and local businesses,” said Randy Hanks, president and CEO First Choice Bank.

First Choice Bank aims to serve the banking needs of small and medium sized businesses, their owners and employees, as well as professionals and individuals who work, live and play in central New Jersey. For more information, visit www.firstchoice-bank.com or call (609) 462-2684.

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(PRWEB) July 18, 2007

Kaupthing Bank is now in the 142nd position of the top banks in the world, according to the annual ranking of the international finance magazine “The Banker”. Last year Kaupthing Bank was in 177th position and it has therefore jumped 35 places in just one year.

The rankings are based on the definition of Tier 1 capital as defined by Basel’s Bank for International Settlements (BIS). Some of the banks below Kaupthing on the list include DEPFA Bank in Ireland (152), Bradford & Bingley in the UK (189) and Caixa Catalunya in Spain (196). Bank of America Corp ranks as the top bank in the world, followed by Citigroup in second position and HSBC Holdings in third.

The best 10 banks according to The Banker are:

1 Bank of America Corp

2 Citigroup

3 HSBC Holdings

4 Crédit Agricole Group

5 JP Morgan Chase & Co

6 Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group

7 ICBC

8 Royal Bank of Scotland

9 Bank of China

10 Santander Central Hispano

About Kaupthing Bank

Kaupthing Bank is a northern European bank offering integrated financial services to companies, institutional investors and individuals. These services include corporate banking, investment banking, capital markets services, asset management and comprehensive wealth management for private banking clients. The Bank operates in ten countries, including all the Nordic countries, Luxembourg, Switzerland, the UK and the US. In addition the Bank operates a retail franchise in Iceland, where it is headquartered.

Kaupthing Bank is currently among the seven largest banks in the Nordic region in terms of market capitalization. Through sound organic growth and strategic acquisitions like the UK bank Singer & Friedlander in 2005 and FIH Erhvervsbank in Denmark in 2004, Kaupthing Bank has fortified its position to provide outstanding services to its client base in the UK, the Nordic countries and elsewhere in northern Europe. The Bank has 2,719 employees and total assets of EUR 42.9 billion (as of 31 December 2006).

For further information about Kaupthing visit the bank’s website, www.kaupthing.com.

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(PRWEB) October 13, 2007

Robeco Bank Belgium is a small Belgian bank that was founded in 2002 and focuses mainly on private banking and asset management. The bank has 32 employees and is based in Brussels and Antwerp. Robeco Bank Belgium has 6,800 clients. At the end of August 2007, the part of client’s assets placed as deposits amounted to approximately EUR 300 million. This acquisition will have an insignificant effect on Kaupthing Bank Luxembourg’s operations.

Magnus Gudmundsson, Managing Director of Kaupthing Bank Luxembourg, said, “Robeco Bank Belgium represents a good strategic fit for Kaupthing Bank Luxembourg. This acquisition is a logical step in building up Private Banking offerings in the Benelux countries. By taking over the activities of Robeco Bank we become immediately operational in Belgium and will have a platform there for further growth.”

The transaction is subject to the approval of the Luxembourgish and the Belgian Financial Supervisory Authorities. The acquisition is expected to be closed before year end.

For further information please contact Jónas Sigurgeirsson, Chief Communications Officer, tel +354-444 6112.

About Kaupthing Bank

Kaupthing Bank (www.kaupthing.com) is a Northern European bank offering integrated financial services to companies, institutional investors and high net worth individuals. These services include corporate banking, investment banking, capital markets services, treasury services and asset management and comprehensive wealth management for private banking clients.

The Bank operates in twelve countries, including all the Nordic countries (Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden), Luxembourg, Switzerland, the UK, the US, Dubai and Qatar.

Based on Kaupthing’s market capitalisation of EUR 9.9 billion as of 31 August 2007, the bank is currently the seventh largest bank in the Nordic region. Through strong organic growth and strategic acquisitions, such as the acquisition in Denmark of FIH Erhvervsbank in 2004 and the acquisition of the UK-based bank Singer & Friedlander in 2005, Kaupthing has successfully increased both the product and geographic diversification of its operations. As of 30 June 2007 the bank has 2,970 employees and total assets of EUR 54.3 billion.

For further information about Kaupthing Bank visit the company’s website: www.kaupthing.com

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The IBM Cognos Relationship Pricing for Commercial Banking Blueprint offers commercial banks a performance management framework that enables relationship managers to efficiently model and price both credit and non-credit deal scenarios that are in line with corporate objectives. Managers can analyze proposed deals against a customer’s existing portfolio, giving them complete visibility into the customer’s total projected profitability and corresponding risk, making it easier to identify a deal price that will meet or exceed a bank’s defined earnings hurdle rates, and improve risk-adjusted return on capital.

“In this climate of economic uncertainty, punctuated by the recent sub-prime mortgage crisis, effective pricing of products and services for customers is critical. Competitive pricing, at the relationship level in particular, stimulates organic growth, drives new customer acquisition and cross-selling opportunities, and improves overall profitability and risk management,” said Patricia Hines, senior analyst, wholesale banking, at TowerGroup.

Combining out-of-the-box functionality from IBM Cognos 8 Planning and IBM Cognos 8 Business Intelligence (BI) software – including dashboards, analytical reports and a pre-configured data model – and encompassing banking industry best practices, the IBM Cognos Relationship Pricing for Commercial Banking Blueprint features:

* pricing capabilities for Credit and Treasury services
* deal and relationship profitability analysis capabilities for multiple pricing scenarios
* user-defined dashboards offering relationship managers book of business, profitability and proposal information to facilitate decision-making
* flexible dashboards offering executives high-level, up-to-date revenue, profitability and risk information across all portfolios
* centralized administration and integrated workflow to ensure consistency and accuracy across the loan pricing modeling, analysis and approvals process. This includes a pricing approvals form, displaying all of the deals that require approval and the high-level details of outstanding proposals

“Spreadsheet-based pricing models are ineffective because they cannot deliver holistic customer relationship information and insights which commercial bankers need to effectively price new business. These shortcomings are magnified given banks heightened focus on operational efficiencies and risk mitigation,” said Francis McKeon, banking industry director at Cognos. “The IBM Cognos Relationship Pricing for Commercial Banking Blueprint offers a consistent best practice risk-based pricing model where relationship managers can quickly evaluate new business pricing scenarios, measure their profitability and associated risk impact, then compare it against corporate hurdle rate targets. This assures executives that pricing deals are being developed in line with corporate goals, and can be easily adjusted as strategies change.”

Available immediately to customers, the IBM Cognos Relationship Pricing for Commercial Banking Blueprint is the fifth in a series of Banking Performance Blueprints launched by Cognos since 2006, including solutions for branch performance, corporate and retail banking customer segment performance, and risk-adjusted profitability. Cognos also offers a Performance Blueprint for insurance product profitability.

Cognos is a recognized leader in delivering performance management solutions for the banking industry. Over 1,000 financial services institutions worldwide use IBM Cognos solutions, including nine of the top 10 banks in Europe and all of the top 10 banks in the United States.

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