Payments News has a review of TowerGroup’s Cross-Industry practice 2007 report.  It identifies three macro trends impacting Financial Services.  These are interesting choices, that are different that the usual ones (except for 1). Reinventing Financial Services: The financial services industry has been slow to reinvent itself in the face of an increasingly networked world. Without reinvention, institutions risk being disintermediated by nontraditional industries as new, previously unlikely competitors find their way into financial services. Rather than continuing to make tactical changes in response to shifts in the marketplace, successful firms will be those that consider how to reinvent the financial … Continue reading Payments News | Three Major Strategic Shifts For Financial Services

 Some interesting stats about Indian banking, that surprised me at first. SURBHI GOEL TIMES NEWS NETWORK[ FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 24, 2006 02:31:25 AM] Standing in a queue, waiting for the teller to give your withdrawal money or moving from one counter to another to deposit cash is a tale of the good old days. Now ‘Your Bank’ has reached you at your fingertip. Core banking systems and e-banking have enabled customers to interact and transact with banks seamlessly. Globally, about 10% of the customers regularly do online banking. In India, less than 1% of the millions of customers are using Internet … Continue reading Banks on people.connect via Net route- The Economic Times

Yet another reason to tap into Gen Y – profitability.  Customers who feel they have a personal relationship with their bank are rare breeds for large banks, and that is translating into a significant impact on profitability, according to a study released at the BAI Retail Delivery Expo on Nov. 15. A new category of banking customers – service seekers – is ready and willing for a banking relationship, making the group a target audience for large banks, according to the study, “The Relationship Experience” from BAI, in conjunction with Accenture, SAP, NewGround, Unisys and ARGO Resource Data Corp. Source: Bank Systems … Continue reading Bank Systems & Technology : Converting to a Relationship: Banks Need to Tap Young Service Seekers to Add More Loyal Customers

Baseline provide the top 30 trends for 07, conveniently categorised under: Strategy, Management, Security, and Technology (Courtesy of James at EDM) When it comes to IT, change may very well be the only thing CIOs can depend on in 2007. That’s what the editors at CIO Insight found when we took each of the 13 surveys we conducted in 2006 and put them under the microscope to project next year’s 30 major trends. Source: The 30 Most Important IT Trends for 2007 The general theme here is something of a Simpsons ‘Duh!’ but at least the message is now becoming … Continue reading The 30 Most Important IT Trends for 2007

Metavante client Banks will be able to reap the benefit of this association.  It means bank clients can choose from their DDA account, or their credit card to make a bill payment.  While it sounds simple this is not inconsequential to build, so this is a true value add.  Metavante and Yodlee announced at the 2006 Retail Delivery Show a joint agreement in which Metavante will integrate Yodlee’s debit and credit card payment functionality with Metavante’s electronic bill payment solution Source: Bank Systems & Technology : Metavante and Yodlee Partner to Beef Up Online Bill Pay   Technorati tags: online+banking Continue reading Bank Systems & Technology : Metavante and Yodlee Partner to Beef Up Online Bill Pay

Wiki’s drive 99% of the population crazy.  Yet if you want to know or understand about something, Wikipedia is addictive.  Whether you want to know the definition of chaos, the difference between Shia and Sunni, or what is an Apricot, Wikipedia has it. Yet, the whole concept seems to be working. Wikis have popped up all over the Web, almost overnight and without any established process or central guidance in place. Maybe, people are more disciplined than we give them credit for. Maybe, it’s what people can collectively do as a Web-based community that should make us take notice. As … Continue reading IT Business | As a CIO, you may want to reconsider how you collect data and knowledge

This quote from Gary Hamel at BAI is brilliant in its simplicity and unfortunately truth. (Courtesy of Jim at NetBanker) The biggest profit center at banks is customer ignorance, which banks have mistaken for customer loyalty.” — Gary Hamel, speaking to 1000+ bankers at BAI’s Retail Delivery Conference, Nov. 15, 2006 Source: NetBanker 2.0: Bank-account switching tools from Intuit and uSwitch take center stage His focus was internet based switching tools.  The importance of switching tools Hamel believes financial services loyalty will disappear once customers find out how easy it is to move their accounts to pick up a 100 basis … Continue reading NetBanker 2.0: Bank-account switching tools from Intuit and uSwitch take center stage

There are lots of examples of Google Map integrations, but this one is a standout.  It would work well for Banks once they get the database filled out.  This would be a great addition to a Branch Locator. Here is a link for a Toronto Bank that happens to stand out well in the pictures.  Its a beta … when you get there an annoying automated help appears – just close it.  http://www.virtualcity.ca/?location=051854193 Move the little black X around, and watch the photos change.    Technorati tags: branch, branch+locator, google+maps, mashup Continue reading Virtualcity.ca – A Google Maps mashup that would work for Banks

While a statement of the obvious, this Forrester piece is indicative of the next generation that Banks need to be thinking about.  ATM’s & Online Banking will not be enough.  A complete reconfiguration of Call Centres will be required, as well as the channel technology support. Family plans and prepaid options have succeeded in driving mobile phones to an increasing number of young US consumers 79% of online 12- to 21-year-old US consumers tell us that they have their own phone today. Given a choice, these young consumers prefer to use their mobile phone and do so to the exclusion … Continue reading How US Youth Use Mobile -They Value Mobile Highly, Spend Liberally, And Go Well Beyond Voice