Shar’s experience is a classic example of how the whole loyalty model is broken.  Step by step the Airlines [just to pick on them] are eliminating and discounting benefits associated with loyalty.  Then you have situations like this, that frankly have no cost to fix, except a personality transplant for “Linda” and her ilk at American Airlines and others.  Forrester’s Marketing Blog: Customer Experience Matters More Than Points In Building Loyalty I *want* to do business with the firms who treat me like a person. Who try to recognize the things I care about. Frankly, I find my miles with … Continue reading The declining value of loyalty plans

In what I believe is a first, KeyPoint Credit Union, based in Silicon Valley introduces a new mobile service via FaceBook.  In effect, this uses FB as a single sign on vehicle. Finextra: KeyPoint CU introduces account access via Facebook KeyPoint CU – which serves technology companies including Apple and Google – is the first financial institution to launch account access via Facebook. The application provides customers with secure, one-click access to online bank account information. The CU says all account information data is encrypted with a minimum of 128 bits and no user data is stored on the Facebook … Continue reading KeyPoint CU introduces account access via Facebook

A while back I blogged about Billeo, and was impressed.  At that time, I went off on a bit of a tangent, but I remain of the view that someone independent such as Billeo, with the right smarts, can carve off a capability that Banks cannot, because of their single Bank proprietary view. Note they have a online shopping assistant and a password assistant, as part of their feature set now.  This is beginning to look more and more like an electronic wallet … one to watch. http://www.billeo.com SANTA CLARA, Calif. – November 14, 2007 – Billeo, Inc. today announced … Continue reading Billeo raises an additional $7M | electronic wallet capabilities

The sub-prime crisis continues to fascinate me, and while off topic from normal programming, it is critical to the survival of banks, so bear with me on these periodic tangential posts.  Here Frederic S. Mishkin of the US Federal Reserve (Central Bank) speaks about the role of the Fed in the current crisis.  The speech starts of stilted but well, then rambles.  FRB: Speech–Financial Instability and the Federal Reserve as a Liquidity Provider–October 26, 2007 Asymmetric Information and Financial Instability We can better understand how financial instability can arise if we recognize the problem of asymmetric information–when one party to … Continue reading A classic example of the problem in financial markets

There are no bad ideas when experimenting, and this from Card issuer Advanta is one of those. Interestingly they are getting some uptake with the concept. Listing all ideas – Ideablob: where ideas grow What would you do with $10,000 towards your business idea? My thoughts are: its important to begin somewhere, try and learn, so this is in that category they are NOT trying to sell anything; thats a big plus for a Bank. Learn the space, and sales will follow once customers can see you are for real the follow through is another competition next month … not … Continue reading Advanta tries something different, with ‘Submit your Idea’

The always thorough NetBanker comes out with their annual planning guide, this for 2008.  I have been following NetBanker since 1996 and its well worth the subscription for those involved in Bank strategy, and Online Banking development.  This teaser from the document ought to get you going.  You need the full report to get the complete context. So, does the inevitable [eventual] demise of the branch matter for your business planning in 2008? That’s hard to say. But, look at the answers to the question posed byCashEdge last month to a group of online banking customers. Three quarters said they … Continue reading 2008 Planning Guide | NetBanker

I find Rapleaf to be quite insidious.  It all began with an email from Vivek [who is Vivek?] asking me …. “How the heck does Rapleaf know if someone is a 28 year old male teacher from Nebraska? Or maybe a 42 year old “soccer mom” from Orlando, Fl. Whatever one’s demographics are, we’re able to find it from publicly available information on the web.” Thats spammy enough to disregard, but here is the punchline: You can now scroll over the info on your profile stats and we’ll highlight where we pull this info from. We call this the “hover … Continue reading How not to gain peoples confidence | Rapleaf

Fascinating post on the value of brands, and importantly how that value is developed. I highlighted the Lou Dobbs section, yet that doesn’t do justice to this thoughtful post. Irving Wladawsky-Berger: The Complex Chemistry between Brands and Customers – Some Personal Experiences As we know, Lou Dobbs has emerged as one of the major spokesmen rallying against illegal immigration. He has embraced what I consider to be a polarizing, red meat style in his tirades against immigrants, blaming them for all kinds of societal ills, some perhaps justified, others not. Clearly Lou Dobbs is entitled to his opinions, as I … Continue reading Brands | Baseball teams, CNN and emotional connection

This post is brilliant.  Thanks James.  Everyone MUST read it, and I rarely say that.  It speaks volumes to the scalability of Banks, (and Credit Unions), and the conundrum of placing a large percentage of responsibility of customer loyalty squarely on the shoulders of, no disrepect, the lowest paid, least trained, yet often most experienced as in this case, employees. Lloyds TSB – Review – Please Don’t Hate Us Too Much I am unable to comment on the economics, product design and profits of large financial institutions, I’m not that clever (if I was I wouldn’t still be a cashier … Continue reading Our side of the counter | a must read for every Bank exec

Alex and the smart folks at Arvetica do a great job of capturing comments from thought leaders in Private Banking.  I met Alex and his colleagues at LIFT earlier this year, and they are doing good stuff. This particular interview rang a chord for me, with comments that can be applied to any Bank model. private banking innovation : Blog Archive : Karl-Matthäus Schmidt, CEO of quirin bank Presents their Innovative Private Banking Business Model The business model of quirin bank can be described in one sentence: we are the first bank in Germany that can honestly and truly call … Continue reading Interview – Karl-Matthäus Schmidt | Private Banking Innovation