After the post on RBC p2p, a colleague pointed out this piece on the TD experience in FaceBook.  While the article characterises this as ‘not plain sailing’ I say the opposite.  This is the new plain sailing so its time to adapt and get used to it. 

TD and TBC are leading the charge in Canada – who is next?

The Better Banking Blog: Social networking rule no. 1: expect criticism

After asking the audience if Australia has Facebook (yes Brian, we have the Internet here too), Haier went on to discuss the reaction to the site from employees who were left wondering how best to respond to questions and criticism.

“Because these chats are going on instantaneously you have in some cases people criticising the bank, and in some cases asking a questions” said Haier.

“We had employees saying ‘Please tell us what we can tell them, help us..’
So within 48 hours we had to put a group on to monitor what’s going on and provide feedback – we didn’t anticipate that.”

Relevance to Bankwatch:
I predict that RBC and TD will adjust their strategic planning as a result of these seemingly small initiatives.  Thats why I characterise this as open source banking.  It is open, transparent, free, and built by a collective of interested parties.  That characterisation is the antithesis of Banks.  Hence it must be integrated into the strategic plan, with implications across all parameters, ie. personnel, technology, and business processes.