This report doesn’t surprise, but it will catch Banks off guard.  Bank technology strategists, and security practitioners hate IM, and it is not really on any Banks radar, that I am aware of. Instant messaging is the fastest-growing communications medium of all time, according to a September study from the Radicati Group (Palo Alto, Calif.). IM is spreading like wildfire in the business world because of its ability to provide real-time communications, the market research firm says. The study shows strong growth in IM use worldwide, with the number of IM accounts growing from 995 million in 2006 to more than … Continue reading Instant Messaging is the fastest growing medium of all time

 A Bank merger of enormous proportions in the asset management field.  $17 trillion in assets serviced, and over 1 trillion in directly managed assets! The new company, which will be called Bank of New York Mellon Corp., will be the world’s leading asset serviced with $16.6 trillion in assets under custody and corporate trustee with $8 trillion in assets under trusteeship. It will rank among the top 10 global asset managers with more than $1.1 trillion in assets under management. Source: The Cincinnati Post – Merger creates banking behemoth Bank of New York Co. has agreed to take over Mellon … Continue reading Merger creates banking behemoth – Bank of New York and Mellon Bank

 Here is a snapshot of the review at Financial Marketing on this new release that came out earlier this week.  Its worth clicking through and reading the whole review, especially if you are in the online banking/ site design business.  This is a classic case demonstrating lack of alignment between stakeholders. In typical style Jim highlights the fact that a company like CashEdge who have been around long enough need to know this is quite unacceptable, and will not do justice to the business requirement.  Flushing Savings Bank, should take another look at this. In fact, the application is a … Continue reading NetBanker 2.0: The iGoBanking/CashEdge new account application needs improvement

Thanks to Michael for this list.  Apart form the high level of activity the one that leapt out at me, is the Auto manufacturers Banks.  VW is here, and Toyota Bank coming soon!  Has anyone else heard about those? mBank – the first one virtual bank in Poland (XI 2000), http://www.mbank.com.pl, 1,26 million customers – it has about 50 multimedia kiosks (You can leave your documents; use ATM; etc) http://www.mbank.com.pl/eng/ – in english. It is going to be a Mobile virtual network operator soon! Inteligo the second largest online bank. http://www.inteligo.pl         Demo: http://www.inteligo.pl/infosite/demo/index.html VW Bank direct – http://www.vwbankdirect.pl – a very small … Continue reading Polish online banks (branchless Bank update)

 This is one of those macro trends that sneaks up on people, because the decision makers are not so well represented in the demographic experiencing the change.  Banks have to be cognizant of the sweeping shift taking place, and the views of Gen X/Y will drive the consumer landscape over the next 20 years. LONDON (Reuters) – The rise of high-speed Internet and the explosion in online video content is fuelling a widespread decline in the number of people watching television according to a worldwide study by Ofcom. On average around one-third of consumers with broadband access watch less television … Continue reading Young favor Internet over TV – Yahoo! News

A colleague asked me about online only Banks, and I thought I would stick my response here, and seek any updates from readers. There are very few online only banks, and online only is often a misnomer, because they have call centres. Here are the ones I am aware of to date. this list is being updated as I receive information about worldwide online banks – again the definition being Branchless – meaning no reliance on branches. Global ING Direct – global site US iGoBanking ETrade Bank http://www.netbank.com http://www.mybankingdirect.com hsbcdirect UK Egg First Direct RaboDirect (Ireland and Belgium) Poland http://www.mbank.com.pl … Continue reading Online only Banks (branchless Banks)

Thanks to Dave for pointing out in the comments that Voca and CheckFree brought out their joint initiative in UK March 2004.  This presentation (pdf) presented by Carole Melson reviews the details.  This initiative will provide EBPP (Electronic Bill Presentment, and Payment).  This provides a digital replica of the bill online, simple one click payment of that bill, and storage of the bill along with record of bills paid. A Joint Venture between Voca and CheckFree providing bank-centric Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment consolidation in the UK A ‘one-stop shop’ for bill management * The authenticated online bank customer can … Continue reading What is OneVu?

The press release title is a bit of a stretch to suggest ‘revolutionised’ but the feature sounds like it has potential.  Lloyds TSB has revolutionised its online banking facilities by adding a new bill manager feature, allowing customers to view, pay and store their household bills online. Source: Lloyds TSB online banking ‘revolutionised’ – Money News But what a let down when I visited lloydstsb.com to check this out.  No mention on their site, and I gave up with the demo when it tried to install the Microsoft Virtual Java machine.  So I will have to speculate – this is a … Continue reading Lloyds TSB online banking ‘revolutionised’ – Money News

Jim makes a good catch here that Wells have a cryptic note on their home page indicating they will be re-designing their home page. There may be very good technical and/or marketing reasons for the iterative process, but they should be explained. Source: NetBanker 2.0: Wells Fargo to redesign its homepage Wells are right to talk to their customers about it, but they could engage them on so many more and better levels than “We’re redesigning our homepage. You may see a different homepage for a few months while we refine the design.” Things they could think about: beta expalin … Continue reading NetBanker 2.0: Wells Fargo to redesign its homepage