Logo Quiz of the Day : 416

Hint:Think of a number and it will have a banknote for it. :)
Answer: The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe
The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe is the central bank of Zimbabwe.

Logo Quiz of the Day : 415

Hint: Prints Won.
Answer: The Bank of Korea
The Bank of Korea (BOK) is the central bank of South Korea.

Logo Quiz of the Day : 414

Hint: Gives an Nobel Prize.
Answer: Sveriges Riksbank
Sveriges Riksbank, or simply Riksbanken, is the central bank of Sweden and the world's oldest central bank. It is sometimes called the Swedish National Bank or the Bank of Sweden.

Following its third centennial in 1968, the Bank instituted the annual Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, which is awarded with the Nobel Prizes at the Prize Award Ceremony in Stockholm, on December 10, the anniversary of Nobel's death.

In July 2009 Sweden's Riksbank was the first central bank to use a negative interest rate, lowering its deposit rate to −0.25%, a policy advocated by deputy governor Lars E. O. Svensson to counter economic slowdown due to the financial crises of 2008. This is the interest (or in this case, "penalty") commercial banks get for depositing capital at the Riksbank over night. The lending rate, i.e. the interest commercial banks have to pay for lending money over night, is positive 0.75 percent.

Logo Quiz of the Day : 413

Hint: Almost failed the stress test.
Answer: Deutsche Postbank AG
Deutsche Postbank AG is a leading German retail bank with headquarters in Bonn. Postbank was formed from the demerger of the postal savings division of Deutsche Bundespost in 1990. It became a wholly-owned subsidiary  of Deutsche Post in 1999, and was partially spun out  on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in 2004. Deutsche Post retained a controlling stake of 50% plus one share until September 2008, when 30% of this was sold to Deutsche Bank for €2.8 billion. Deutsche Bank has first option on a bid for the remainder of Deutsche Post's holding.

Logo Quiz of the Day : 412

Hint: Failed stress test.
Hint: The Agricultural Bank of Greece
The Agricultural Bank of Greece is a commercial bank based in Athens, Greece. The bank was founded in 1929. The bank proclaimed that it would focus on the Balkan bank market, with the business activities of supporting of the agricultural sector. ATEbank held a strong position at Athens Stock Exchange. The Bank's development of business activities called for a new name and corporate image as ATEbank.

Logo Quiz of the Day : 411

Hint: Failed the 'Stress Test'.
Answer: The Hypo Real Estate Holding AG
The Hypo Real Estate Holding AG is a holding company based in Munich, Germany  which comprises a number of real estate financing banks. The company's activities span three sectors of the real estate market: commercial property, infrastructure and public finance, and capital markets and asset management. Hypo Real Estate is the second largest commercial property lender in Germany.

The bank originated in 2003 from the real estate financing business of HypoVereinsbank. It employs about 2,000 people and was one of the 30 members of the DAX stock index of the largest German companies between December 2005 and December 2008, before the shares were demoted to the MDAX. Its shares were further demoted to the SDAX in September 2009. In 2007 it acquired public finance company Depfa Bank. The company remains a legal entity as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Hypo Real Estate Group.

The firm was bailed out by the Bundesbank and other German banks in October 2008 in the midst of the global financial crisis, before approving a complete nationalisation a year later.

Logo Quiz of the Day : 410

Hint: Think gaming.
Answer: Nintendo 64
The Nintendo 64, often abbreviated as N64, is Nintendo's third home video game console for the international market. Named for its 64-bit CPU, it was released in June 1996. It is Nintendo's last home console to use Game Paks to store games (Nintendo switched to a MiniDVD-based format for the Nintendo GameCube, then to standard DVD-sized discs for the Wii); handhelds in the Game Boy line, however, continued to use Game Paks. It was discontinued in 2001 in Japan, North America and PAL regions by the launch of the GameCube.

The N64 was released with two launch games, Super Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64, and a third in Japan, Saikyō Habu Shōgi. The N64's suggested retail price was US$199 at its launch and it was later marketed with the slogan "Get N, or get Out!". The N64 sold 32.93 million units worldwide. The console was released in at least eight variants with different colors and sizes. An assortment of limited edition controllers were sold or used as contest prizes during the N64's lifespan.

Logo Quiz of the Day : 409

Hint: Bank in Brazil.
Answer: Banco Bradesco
Banco Bradesco (branded as Bradesco) is one of the Big Four banks in Brazil, the others being Banco do Brasil, Itaú Unibanco and Santander Brasil. Bradesco was the largest private bank in Brazil until Banco Itaú and Unibanco merged in 2009. Bradesco is headquartered in Osasco, has 3,455 branches and 38,772 Automatic Teller Machines. Bradesco offers Internet Banking, insurance, pension  plans, annuities, credit card services (including football club affinity cards for soccer fans) for customers, and savings bonds. The bank also provides personal and commercial loans, as well as leasing services. Internationally, Bradesco has branches in New York, Grand Cayman and Nassau, and banking or financial subsidiaries or affiliates in Nassau, Luxembourg, Buenos Aires, Grand Cayman and Tokyo

Logo Quiz of the Day : 408

Hint: Bank in Canada.
Answer: The Royal Bank of Canada
The Royal Bank of Canada is the largest financial institution in Canada, which is measured by deposits, revenues, and market capitalization. The bank serves seventeen million clients and has 80,100 employees worldwide. The company's primary corporate offices are located in Toronto, Ontario, while it is officially headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. The bank was founded in 1864 in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

In Canada, the bank is branded as RBC Royal Bank in English and RBC Banque Royale in French and serves approximately ten million clients through its network of 1,197 branches. RBC Bank is the US retail banking subsidiary with 439 branches across six states in the Southeast, which serve more than a million customers. RBC also has 127 branches across seventeen countries in the Caribbean, which serve more than 1.6 million clients. RBC Capital Markets is RBC's worldwide investment and corporate banking subsidiary, while the investment brokerage firm is known as RBC Dominion Securities. Investment banking services are also provided through RBC Bank and the focus is on middle market clients.

RBC is listed as the largest Canadian company by revenue and market capitalization by The Globe and Mail and is ranked at number 53 on the Forbes Global 2000 listing. The company has operations in Canada, the United States, and 48 other countries.

Logo Quiz of the Day : 407

Hint: Bank in USA.
Answer: Wells Fargo & Co.
Wells Fargo & Co. is a diversified financial services company with operations around the world. Wells Fargo is the fourth largest bank in the US by assets and the third largest bank by market cap. Wells Fargo is the second largest bank in deposits, home mortgage servicing, and debit card. In 2007 it was the only bank in the United States to be rated AAA by S&P, though its rating has since been lowered to AA- in light of the financial crisis of 2007–2010.

Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Charlotte, North Carolina will be the headquarters for the company's East Coast banking operations, (its bank, Wells Fargo Bank, N.A., is legally chartered in Sioux Falls, South Dakota), Wells Fargo is a result of an acquisition of California-based Wells Fargo & Co. by Minneapolis-based Norwest Corporation in 1998. The new company chose to keep the name Wells Fargo, to capitalize on the 150-year history of the nationally-recognized Wells Fargo name and its trademark stagecoach. After the merger, the company maintained its headquarters in San Francisco and charter in Sioux Falls.

Wells Fargo is one of the Big Four banks of the United States with Bank of America, Citigroup and JP Morgan Chase

Logo Quiz of the Day : 406

Hint: Financial services group in the Nordic and Baltic region
Answer: Nordea Bank AB
Nordea Bank AB is a Nordic financial  services group operating in Northern Europe, based in Stockholm. It is the result of the successive mergers and acquisitions of the Swedish, Finnish, Danish  and Norwegian  banks of Nordbanken, Merita Bank, Unibank and Kreditkassen (Christiania Bank) that took place between 1997 and 2000. The Baltic countries and Poland are today considered part of the home market, Latvia already having a branch of Nordea from 2006. The largest share holder of Nordea is Sampo  the Finnish insurance company with around 20% of the shares. Nordea is listed in Stockholm Stock Exchange, Helsinki Stock Exchange and Copenhagen Stock Exchange.

Logo Quiz of the Day : 405

Hint: Mints money, literally.
Answer: Clydesdale Bank
Clydesdale Bank is a commercial bank in Scotland, a subsidiary of the National Australia Bank (NAB) Group. In Scotland, Clydesdale Bank is the third largest clearing bank, although it also retains a branch network in London  and the north of England. In 2001, Yorkshire Bank (previously the NABG's subsidiary in England) became a part of Clydesdale Bank, although it continues to trade under its own name.

Clydesdale Bank is one of three Scottish commercial banks which have the right to issue their own banknotes.

Logo Quiz of the Day : 404

Hint: Bank in UK.
Answer: Yorkshire Bank
Yorkshire Bank is a commercial bank in England and Wales, a division of Clydesdale Bank, which in turn is a subsidiary of National Australia Bank. It mostly operates in the North of England, especially in Yorkshire.
The bank was established on 1 May 1859 by Colonel Edward Akroyd of Halifax. Based in Leeds it was known as the West Riding Penny Savings Bank. It had originally been planned as a provident society but the status of savings bank was eventually chosen.

Logo Quiz of the Day : 403

Hint: Credit card company in US.
Answer: The Discover Card
The Discover Card is a major credit card, issued primarily in the United States. It was originally introduced by Sears in 1985, and was part of Dean Witter, and then Morgan Stanley, until 2007, when Discover Financial Services became an independent company. Novus, a major processing center, used to be partners with the company as well. The Novus logo has since been retired and now the Discover Network logo has replaced it.
Most cards with the Discover brand are issued by Discover Bank. Discover Card transactions are processed through the Discover Network payment network.

Logo Quiz of the Day : 402

Hint: Credit card company.
Answer: Solo
Solo is a debit card in the United Kingdom. It is a sister to the Maestro debit card. Solo was launched on the 1st of July 1997 by the Switch Card Scheme for use on deposit accounts, as well as by customers who do not qualify for a Maestro (formerly Switch) card on current accounts.

Solo was formerly issued as a multifunction cash card by NatWest and The Royal Bank of Scotland to customers over the age of 11 and by HSBC Bank (formerly Midland Bank) to customers over the age of 13; however, the RBS Group and HSBC both now issue Visa Debit cards in place of Solo.

Logo Quiz of the Day : 401

 

Hint: Credit card company in 'The Land of Rising Sun'
Answer: Japan Credit Bureau
Japan Credit Bureau, usually abbreviated as JCB, is a credit card company based in Tokyo, Japan. Its English name is JCB Co., Ltd.

Founded in 1961, JCB established dominance over the Japanese credit card market when it purchased Osaka Credit Bureau in 1968, and its cards are now issued in 20 different countries. Fifty-nine million JCB cardmembers worldwide use their cards to purchase over US$62.7 billion of goods and services annually in 190 countries worldwide. JCB also operates a network of membership lounges targeting Japanese, Chinese, and Korean travelers in Europe, Asia, and North America.

Since 1981, JCB has been aggressively expanding its business overseas. Currently JCB cards are issued in 20 countries, in most of which JCB is affiliated with financial institutions to license them to issue JCB-branded cards. All international operations are conducted through its 100% subsidiary, JCB International Credit Card Co., Ltd.

In the United States, JCB is not as well known or as widely accepted as other credit cards such as Visa, MasterCard, Discover, or American Express. Instead it is primarily accepted by tourism-related businesses such as airlines, car rental companies, Apple retail stores, and hotels.

Logo Quiz of the Day : 400

Hint: Investment Bank
Answer: The European Investment Bank
The European Investment Bank is the European Union's long-term lending institution established in 1958 under the Treaty of Rome. A policy-driven bank, the EIB supports the EU’s priority objectives, especially European integration and the development of economically weak regions. Recently, the Bank has also been actively supporting European R&D projects as part of EU's objective of building the world's leading knowledge-based economy.

The EIB is an international financial institution, a publicly owned bank. Its owners are the Member States of the European Union, who subscribe to the Bank's capital - EUR 164 billion. As shareholders the Member States are represented on the Bank's main independent decision-making bodies - the Board of Governors and the Board of Directors. Since the year 2000 the Bank itself became a member of the EIB Group (including its venture capital arm - the European Investment Fund).

Logo Quiz of the Day : 399

Hint:  First credit card.
Answer: Diners Club International
Diners Club International, founded as Diners Club, is a charge card company formed in 1950 by Frank X. McNamara, Ralph Schneider and Matty Simmons. When it first emerged, it became the first independent credit card company in the world.

Logo Quiz of the Day : 398

Hint: Credit card branch of a big bank.
Answer: Barclaycard
Barclaycard is a global credit card and loan  provider owned by Barclays plc in the UK. The Barclaycard was the first credit card introduced in the UK, coming into service in 1966. It enjoyed a monopoly  until the introduction of the Access card in 1972.

Barclaycard later became part of the VISA network. Nowadays, Barclays offers both MasterCard and VISA versions. Barclaycard claims it is Europe's leading issuer of credit cards with 10.4 million customers in the UK and 10.8 million outside the UK. Barclaycard's main offices are in Northampton, along with several floors at Barclays' corporate HQ, One Churchill Place in Canary Wharf, London.

Logo Quiz of the Day : 397

Hint: Go get it.
Answer: Visa PLUS
PLUS (also known as Visa PLUS) is an interbank network that covers all VISA credit, debit, and prepaid cards, as well as ATM cards issued by various banks worldwide. Currently, there are one million PLUS-linked ATMs in 170 countries worldwide.

PLUS cards can be linked in the following ways: as a standalone network, linked with a local interbank network and/or linked with any Visa product displaying the Visa flag on the front (Visa, Visa Debit, Visa Delta and Visa Electron). Currently, there are 144 million proprietary PLUS cards, not including a number of cards which have PLUS as a secondary network.

PLUS is widely used as a local interbank network most common in the United States where networks such as STAR, NYCE and Pulse also compete. It is also used in Canada, though it is significantly smaller than Interac there, and in places such as India and Indonesia where there are many interbank networks. The main competitor of PLUS is Cirrus, which is offered by Visa rival MasterCard.

Logo Quiz of the Day : 396

Hint: Was one of the Big Four banks in UK.
Answer: Midland Bank Plc
Midland Bank Plc was one of the Big Four banking groups in the United Kingdom for most of the 20th century. It is now part of HSBC. The bank was founded as the Birmingham and Midland Bank in Union Street, Birmingham, England in August 1836. It expanded in the Midlands, absorbing many local banks, and merged with the Central Bank of London Ltd in 1891, becoming the London City and Midland Bank. After a period of nationwide expansion, including the acquisition of many smaller banks, the name Midland Bank Ltd was adopted in 1923. By 1934 it was the largest deposit bank in the world. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index but in 1992 it was taken over by HSBC Holdings plc.

Logo Quiz of the Day : 395

Hint: For things that money can buy.
Answer: MasterCard Worldwide
MasterCard Worldwide is an American multinational corporation with its headquarters in the MasterCard International Global Headquarters in Harrison, New York, United States. Throughout the world, its principal business is to process payments between the banks of merchants and the banks of purchasers that use its "MasterCard" brand debit and credit cards to make purchases. MasterCard Worldwide has been a publicly traded company since 2006. Prior to its initial public offering, MasterCard Worldwide was a membership organization owned by the 25,000+ financial institutions that issue its card.

MasterCard, originally known as MasterCharge, was created by several California banks as a competitor to the BankAmericard issued by Bank of America, which later became the Visa credit card issued by Visa Inc. The original banks behind MasterCharge were United California Bank (later First Interstate Bank and subsequently merged into Wells Fargo Bank), Wells Fargo, Crocker National Bank (also subsequently merged into Wells Fargo), and the Bank of California (subsequently merged into the Union Bank of California).

Logo Quiz of the Day : 394

Hint: Fortune 500 company.
Answer: PNC Financial Services Group
PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. is a U.S.-based financial services corporation, with assets (as of December 31, 2009) of approximately $269.9 billion. PNC operations include a regional banking franchise operating primarily in fifteen states  and the District of Columbia, specialized financial businesses serving companies and government  entities, and leading asset management and processing businesses. PNC is the sixth largest bank by deposits in the United States and is the third largest bank off-premise ATM provider.

Logo Quiz of the Day : 393

Hint: Bank in USA
Answer: SunTrust Banks
SunTrust Banks, Inc. is an American  bank holding company. The largest subsidiary is SunTrust Bank. It had $172.7 billion in assets as of September 30, 2009. SunTrust Bank's most direct corporate parent was established in 1891 in Atlanta, Georgia, where its headquarters remain.

Logo Quiz of the Day : 392

Hint: 5th largest bank in Canada.
Answer: The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (in French, Banque Canadienne Impériale de Commerce, and commonly CIBC in either language) is one of Canada's chartered banks, fifth largest by deposits. The bank is headquartered at Commerce Court in Toronto, Ontario.

CIBC also operates in the United States, the Caribbean, Asia and the United Kingdom, and serves more than eleven million clients and has more than 40,000 employees worldwide. The company ranks at number 170 on the Forbes Global 2000 listing.

Logo Quiz of the Day : 391

Hint: 6th largest bank in Canada.
Answer: National Bank of Canada
National Bank of Canada is the 6th largest bank and 7th largest financial institution in Canada. The bank's headquarters are in Montreal, Quebec. There are 446 branches, the vast majority of which are in Quebec, Ontario  and New Brunswick, and 2.35 million personal clients. The bank also has representative offices or branches in Havana, Hong Kong, London, Paris, Nassau, New York City, and a subsidiary of 2 branches in Florida named Natbank.

The bank is mainly used by French-speaking Canadians, with the majority of bank branches being centred in the province of Quebec.

Logo Quiz of the Day : 390

Hint: Italy-based, pan-European banking organization.
Answer: UniCredit SpA
UniCredit SpA is an Italy-based, pan-European banking organization, with over 40 million customers and operations in 22 countries. UniCredit's core markets are Italy, Austria and Southern Germany, and it also has substantial operations in Central & Eastern Europe. The UniCredit Group has investment banking divisions in London, Milan and Munich.

Logo Quiz of the Day : 389

Hint: Victim of the credit crisis from Queen's land.
Answer: Bradford & Bingley
Bradford & Bingley plc is a British bank with headquarters in the West Yorkshire town of Bingley. In 2008, partly due to the credit crunch, the bank was nationalised and in effect split into two parts; the mortgage book remained with the now nationalised Bradford & Bingley plc, and the deposits and branch network (and a licence to use the B&B name for those aspects) was sold to Abbey National plc, itself owned by the Spanish bank Grupo Santander. Since 11 January 2010 the branch network has been rebranded Santander  and the Bradford & Bingley name now solely relates to the nationalised section of the bank.
The bank was formed in December 2000 by demutualisation of the Bradford & Bingley Building Society following a vote of the building society's members, who swapped their nominal share of the building society for at least 250 shares of the newly formed bank.

New puzzle game.

I have created a new Slide/Slider/Sliding Puzzle game for my blog. The game goes like this: the initial image is cut in square-like pieces; the bottom right piece is removed and the pieces are scrambled. Now swap the pieces around until you reconstruct the initial image!

To play the game click here: Logo Quiz Puzzle Game

Please ensure that you play the game in Internet Explorer (IE) because I have tested the game only on IE and yet to test this game on other browsers.

Updates:  I have tweaked the game and now it runs fine on Firefox too.

Let me know how you liked the game

Logo Quiz of the Day : 388

Hint: Logo is not used since takeover but the name is.
Answer: Abbey National plc
Abbey National plc which for the last few years of its existence traded under the brand name Abbey, a name by which it was commonly known for many years, was a United Kingdom-based bank and former building society. It was a wholly-owned subsidiary of Grupo Santander of Spain from 2004. Abbey was rebranded as Santander on 11 January 2010 along with Bradford & Bingley's savings business with the business becoming Santander UK plc.

Logo Quiz of the Day : 387

Hint: Watch County cricket for the answer.
Answer: National Westminster Bank Plc
National Westminster Bank Plc, commonly known as NatWest, is a retail bank in the United Kingdom that has been part of The Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc since 2000. It was established in 1968 by the merger of National Provincial Bank (established 1833 as National Provincial Bank of England) and Westminster Bank (established 1834 as London County and Westminster Bank). Traditionally considered one of the Big Four clearing banks, NatWest has a large network of 1,600 branches and 3,400 cash machines across Great Britain and offers 24-hour Actionline telephone and online banking services. In Northern Ireland it operates through its Ulster Bank subsidiary.

Logo Quiz of the Day : 386

Hint: Banking in the southern hemisphere.
Answer: Westpac
Westpac, is a multinational Financial services company and became the largest bank in Australia  (by market capitalisation) after it took over St.George Bank, and the second-largest bank in New Zealand. The bank is one of the Australian 'big four' banks, joining NAB, ANZ, and the Commonwealth Bank.

As of the merger with St.George in December 2008 the bank has 10 million customers, Australia's largest branch network with almost 1200 branches and an ATM network with more than 2800 ATMs. The bank is Australia's second largest provider of home lending and Australia's second largest provider of wealth platforms by funds under Administration. The bank is Australia's second largest business banking lender and Australia's second largest bank by assets.

Westpac was recognised by the Dow Jones Sustainability Index as the most sustainable bank in the world for five years running, until ANZ who shared the title in 2007 was solely awarded in 2008.