This really go me thinking about how do do this and do it right.  What are the guiding principles that ought to guide such a venture if the opportunity arose to do it from scratch and do it right ? Some guiding principles that leapt out at me: Laser like focus on customers.  Listen to them, talk to them, and above all, do not lecture them.  This will always drive the right answer, and provide strong guidance to the other principles.  There can be no deviation from this one, because switching costs are much less in the direct environment, and … Continue reading In interesting question: how to start a direct bank from scratch

Aneace correctly points out a consequential trend in card fraud, that is going to impact travellers plans. Chip card implementation is complex, and the fact that cards will be combo, chip and mag stripe merely increases the complexity. Aneace’s Blog: The pains of travelling and paying in a world moving to EMV The explosion in ATM/debit card fraud shows how fraud can move to the US from other parts of the world, like the UK, where card issuers are adopting the more secure EMV chip card standard. Some US banks have responded by putting a temporary hold on all ATM … Continue reading The pains of travelling and paying in a world moving to EMV

An interesting perspective from Triodos.  The concept of ethical business is gaining traction, and has high appeal value to Gen Y’ers. Treehugger: Triodos: Banking on Positive Change This was no ordinary AGM, but then Triodos is no ordinary bank. I was treated to an organic lunch and a talk by British environmentalist George Monbiot who questioned the sustainability of ANY bank, ethical or not. His reasoning was that lending with interest inevitably leads to economic growth, and economic growth was ultimately unsustainable. Technorati Tags: green+banking Continue reading No ordinary Bank – Triodos

Google Finance fails to gather any momentum yet against Yahoo.  The comment I found useful here is the stickiness of Yahoo Finance, based on the time taken to set up preferences, making a shift to another portal a lot of work. Google Finance Struggles for Users – –Tancer said the key reason Google Finance is lagging behind its competitors is that personal finance Web sites like Yahoo Finance are sticky. “They allow users to personalize their stock and news preferences,” he said. “It is hard for users to enter all the information again, and that is going to be the … Continue reading Finance sites can be “sticky”

This simple story and the refutes from the UK Banks serves to valaidate the need to implement a suite of fraud systems, from software based pattern recognition, through to chip cards. This story is a clear example of why Banks need to implement PassMark/ Digital Envoy type solutions to provide customer recognition in support of chip, and not rely solely on chip for online authentication. Update:   Dave Birch provided an update in the comment, that I support, regarding online authentication: "This is incorrect. If you use even an SDA card for online authentication (eg, using token authentication) then the authenticating … Continue reading A case for multiple fraud protection systems

This post if slightly off topic, and more on a general blogging and internet issue – tagging.

Over the last three months, I thought I would listen to the top bloggers, and get right into tagging, just to see what all the fuss is about. I have been diligently tagging my posts in Technorati since then. One of the most popular tags in my posts, given the subject matter, is online banking. The results in Technorati, are nothing short of useless; in fact worse than useless.

Perhaps because I have picked a popular topic, but the degree of spam blogging that Technorati seem to be incapable of eliminating, makes the "online+banking" tag worthless. I have posted the first page from Technorati below. The first post is from the excellent Payment News. Every other link on that page is spam. These are blogs set up by SEO types to get their brand to the top. Well good for Bank of America today, but the credibility of what Technorati is intended to provide is so shot, that no consumers will come to this tag to find you anyway.

This is the email equivalent of spam, and could kill tags unless someone figures it out. Technorati ned to find a way to incorporate intelligence and personal sorting so that I can locate what I want, and my neighbour can find what they want, and so on.

For now, Technorati is the worst of old style marketing.

 Update (22.jun.2006):

Over at Seth's Blog he points out the same issue at FURL.
Continue reading “The early demise of tagging”

While the growth has been rapid, it is still catching many traditional bankers flat-footed, when this statistic is announced. There is something insidious about watching these stats; I recall when we sat at single digit internet use, and banking online wasn't even a statistic. Then it moved into double digits, and late in the 90's decent stats began to appear about the percentage that were banking online. But even then, the typical comments, were "passing fad", or they are "early adopters". Both comments were intended to clarify that the mainstream would never forsake the branch. Pew Internet: Online Banking 2006 … Continue reading 43% of internet users, or about 63 million American adults, bank online

An interesting piece on tactics used by some banks to combat price tables.  This is a temporary solution at best.  What forward looking Bank would rely on technology service denial in order to protect itself.  This is reactionary marketing at its absolute worst. Relevance to Bankwatch:Why not to use less effort to block tables, and refocus that effort on creating tools on your own site to assist customers to compare, contrast, and choose. Banks fight back against price comparison websites – Financial Services – Breaking Business and Technology News at silicon.com Financial services companies are blocking price comparison websites from … Continue reading Banks need to refocus energy on customers best interest

This is an interesting tool, thats been a long time coming.  I read over at Finextra that Wachovia “has leveraged iRise to enhance usability with its latest suite of online banking products”. iRise – The Leader in Application Definition Is It Live Or Is It iRise? iRise simulations are so close to the final applications that people  can’t tell the difference between the two. SunTrust recently unveiled their new banking  application—a critical element in retaining acquired customers through a merger with NCF  Bank—that was simulated first. In addition to look & feel, the user experience between the  simulation and the … Continue reading iRise: Build the Right SoftwareTM

This programme at Wells Fargo, is a great example of customer advocacy. Wells Fargo :: Wells Fargo Introduces Program to Help Borrowers Build Credit, Reach Financial Security WASHINGTON, June 8 /PRNewswire/ — Wells Fargo announced today it will roll out by year-end a three-part program to help improve the financial well-being of its customers who close on a new nonprime home mortgage loan. The program, “Steps to Success,” will include education, tools and banking products designed to put customers on the path to financial stability. “We believe helping borrowers get on a path to financial success is the heart of … Continue reading Wells Fargo Introduces Program to Help Borrowers Build Credit, Reach Financial Security