Is ICICI an Indian Bank… do xenophobic overtones hurt its custom? Blog Discussion

Fudge1977

With the push to "buy British", maybe you could just highlight British owned banks when referencing them.

I'm buying british where I can do which isn't xenophobic or whatever, it just keeps people in jobs which is good for our economy. Yes, it can cost me more sometimes but I guess it's just a moral dilemma....

td_007

Give me any bank providing decent rates of interest AND the 50K guarantee and I will go for it. No problems with easily rejecting British banks or otherwise who look to squeeze the customers to maximize their own profits.
If people are led by xenophobia then they are the loosers not just with banks, but also with talent, capacity, capability etc. etc.

esuhl

Fudge1977 wrote: »

With the push to "buy British", maybe you could just highlight British owned banks when referencing them.

I'm buying british where I can do which isn't xenophobic or whatever, it just keeps people in jobs which is good for our economy.

I haven't heard of any push to buy British, but (assuming everything else is equal) wouldn't it be better to support the Indian economy where there is more wide-spread poverty than in the relatively affluent UK?

And why do you choose to "buy British", rather than buying London-ish, or English or European?

Just curious... :-)

Fudge1977

esuhl wrote: »

I haven't heard of any push to buy British,

There's been stuff on the tv for months about buying locally and buying British. If you buy something produced in Britain then there's ultimately a British job on the line in the production stage. If more people have jobs, more people have money to spend etc etc.

So, If our money is in Bristish-owned institutions then that's supporting people employed in this country (in branches etc).

esuhl wrote: »

wouldn't it be better to support the Indian economy where there is more wide-spread poverty than in the relatively affluent UK?

Nothing to disagree with. Donate to a charity.

esuhl wrote: »

And why do you choose to "buy British", rather than buying London-ish, or English or European?

Just curious... :-)

Don't know what you are on about but see above.

DJFearRoss

i'm off Indian origin myself and even I would think twice.
Yes, I understand the Protection, but Banks in the UK are bad enough, trust me, trying to resolve disputes and problems with Indian Banks would be 100 times as worse.

I'm surprised at the question myself, for once British people are choosing British products over foreign products. You should be proud.

MSE_Martin

Fudge1977 wrote: »

With the push to "buy British", maybe you could just highlight British owned banks when referencing them.

I'm buying british where I can do which isn't xenophobic or whatever, it just keeps people in jobs which is good for our economy. Yes, it can cost me more sometimes but I guess it's just a moral dilemma....

But what is a British Bank?

Is Abbey or A&L or Bradford & Bingley - owned by santander
Is HSBC - floated in the UK but ultimately the "Hong Kong Shanghai Banking Corporation" so Chinese
Is the Egg card - owned by Citibank
Is Clydesdale Bank - part of the National Australian Banking Corporation

The notion of national identity is a tough one for international financial companies.

In many ways I am minded to only refer to a banks nationality when it does not have the full UK protection - otherwise distinctions are in many ways arbitrary.

Martin

mikki-b

Well said Martin. My thoughts exactly.
Its not like none of the 'British' banks haven't gone belly up recently.
I have money in ICICI, not hordes, but them I have savings spread all over, to get good rates where I can but not having all money tied up in one place.
I did have money in Icesave as well, and in future I would consider putting money in any bank as long as the UK protection scheme covered it and there were no other major factors at that time.
Well it comes to other goods and services I do try to buy local and certainly british well I can.

RobertoMoir

esuhl wrote: »

I haven't heard of any push to buy British, but (assuming everything else is equal) wouldn't it be better to support the Indian economy where there is more wide-spread poverty than in the relatively affluent UK?

Well if someone is British and proud of their country, why not buy British where it makes sense for them? It's just just another way of supporting your own economy, which I think does make sense to some degree.

As for fighting poverty, I believe in that too, I try to donate to charity 12 times a year, roughly once a month though sometimes I donate to two or three things in one month then skip a few months to make up for it. At the end of the day though, as you mention poverty, Charity begins at home and all that. I donate to causes worldwide, not just ones in the UK, but I'm very well aware that there are plenty of cases of poverty in the UK that are deserving of help.

I'm not just talking about the "by the time I paid for me fags and booze there's barely enough child support left to feed the kids" brigade, I'm talking about real genuine cases of hardship, people sleeping rough, people who really don't know where their kids next meal is coming from, etc. It's present in the UK. When I used to work as a bailiff I saw it and it broke my heart at times to see just how much some people struggled, and perhaps it wouldn't harm us to spend a little more time attending to the beam in our eyes, as a country, before tending to the mote in the eyes of others.

esuhl wrote: »

And why do you choose to "buy British", rather than buying London-ish, or English or European?

Just curious... :-)

I think there's a difference between "buying British" and "not buying anything from foreigners because I hate foreigners". It isn't, or need not at least, be a racist thing, which often seems to be the implication when people talk about taking pride in this country.

I do try to support local business where I can, too. There comes a point where it's just too expensive, but I am prepared to pay a slight premium for the convenience and service of buying locally, whether very locally to my town or locally to my country on the global scale.

As for English vs. British, can't speak for others but my mother was English and my father was Scottish... I've got no problem with being proud of both parts of my heritage or with seeing myself as "British".

IGC

I think mentining ICICI's Indian origins is and was unnecessary, but the concerns about its finances wasn't as you went on to qualify it by pointing out the UK protection.

BTW I've banked with ICICI for a year or so and haven't had any probs - good interest rates, clear statements, what appears to be more secure logging in (using a virtual keyboard) than (e.g.) my Halifax accounts, and polite efficient staff when I had a query.

Mee

I've had accounts with ICICI for three years now and never once has there been a problem. E-mail queries have been dealt with quickly and courteously which is more than I can say about some 'UK' and Republic of Ireland banks.