Carrick of the Globe and Mail reviews the Forrester report. Its not entirely clear to me how he got to "unimpressive", however there is no doubt that Banks' still have room to do more with online banking to meet the potential of the channel. Of course, they have been balancing other priorities as they build out this new channel, however this report looks only at this channel.
Key areas that the report zeroed in on for improvement were:
- security guarantee
- greater breadth of functionality
- improved integration between the various parts of the site, including public, and secure sites.
globeandmail.com : TD's Web banking site named best in Canada
ROB CARRICK Globe and Mail Update * E-mail Rob Carrick * | Read Bio * | Latest Columns TD Canada Trust's on-line banking service has been singled out as the best of an unimpressive bunch in Canada by a U.S. market research firm.
Forrester Research looked at the websites of seven major Canadian banks and found that not a single one of them ranked significantly above minimum standards. Five banks met or exceeded minimum standards and one was below this level.
Toronto-Dominion Bank's TD Canada Trust division scored 74 out of 100, which was by far the highest ranking. Second-ranked Bank of Nova Scotia received a score of 66, Royal Bank of Canada got a 65, Bank of Montreal and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce both rated a 64 and National Bank of Canada received a mark of 59.
Relevance to Bankwatch:
Avoid the "arms race" approach to online banking. We tried that in the 90's and it failed. Focus on what your customers are telling you about all your channels (branches, ATM's, telephone, and online banking) and get the mix right. Don't forget that online is the channel of the future, but you have to ensure the other channels are at least "ticking over" nicely.
Bankwatch 