Halifax Forced To Delay Launch Of Private Bank For The Mass-Affluent

Caroline Maxwell, InvestorsOffshore.com, London

31 January 2001

The UK's Halifax bank has decided to delay the launch of its new private bank, St James's Place Capital Bank, until April 2001. The glitch is a very unwelcome one for the Halifax, which last summer had to delay the launch of its Intelligent Finance stand-alone Internet bank by one month, blaming technical problems, and then delayed again.

St James's Place Capital Bank is also an online venture but the delay to its launch is not caused by technical difficulties this time, says the bank, but rather staff training. The new bank is set to be rolled out using Intelligent Finance's platform, which can hardly inspire confidence.

The decicison by Halifax to put the launch of St James's Place Capital Bank on hold serves as a reminder that wealth management services can be far from straightforward and beset by problems. The Halifax bank is not the first to run into trouble. The most high-profile of banks, Merrill Lynch and HSBC, saw numerous delays to their online offering last year, and have introduced it in a piecemeal fashion rather than in a single blaze of glory. Banks seem to be all too keen to cater for the rising numbers of "mass affluent" investors, yet there a lot to be said for slow, careful plannning rather than jumping on the bandwagon too hastily.

So whilst April is being bandied about as the month when St James's Place Capital Bank will be finally launched, it would be wise for investors not to hold their breath, and no doubt its competitors will be looking to cash in on the delay.

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