Charlene talks here about applying the power of social networks and extrapolates that into the world of business. My business, banking, is the very antithesis of these concepts today, yet I believe banks that consider them in the future, in their product & channel development, will win. Banks can no longer sit behind desks in big buildings and expect customers to flock inside. Banking was a captive market, but that is shifting rapidly, and internet is the driver. Charlene Li’s Blog: Forrester’s Social Computing report “Easy connections brought about by cheap devices, modular content, and shared computing resources are having … Continue reading Social networks – a business paradigm shift ?

Lets have fun – compare 5 banks:

Wells Fargo (US)
Bank of America (US)
Barclays (UK)
Bank of Montreal (Canada)
Bankinter (Spain)
Santander (Chile)

I picked Spain because they are renowned for their internet banking. South America is similar but for different reasons. The hyperinflation has driven consumers to expect instant access to better manage their affairs. So here is our line-up – lets take a consumer look, and pardon my ignorance of Spanish and Portugese, although my American isn't that great either.

Read below the fold for home page assessment, and how I got to the following Bankwatch relevance.

Relevance to Bankwatch:

1. OLB log in has to be on the home page.
2. grab the users attention intelligently – refer Santander (but lose the TV crook)
3. Talk to your primary audience, make the rest secondary – prioritise
4. The home page isn't a site map – its a road map
5. A sophisticated suite of functions is critical

Continue reading “Banks that get “it” – comparison”

Postive report from Accenture.

The survey also highlighted a significant transformation in retail bankers’ strategic focus, with a majority (56 percent) of the respondents saying that their focus is shifting from cost reduction to growth. When asked to identify their top priorities, the greatest number of respondents — 87 percent — selected “increasing revenues,” followed by 69 percent who selected “reducing costs.”

When asked to identify the strongest motives behind the drive for revenues, the two cited most often were investor expectations of profitable growth and the need to achieve cost-efficient scale, selected by 89 percent and 73 percent of respondents, respectively.

Relevance to Bankwatch:

The shift from cost reduction to revenue growth. Its generally accepted that costs have been squeezed as much as they can be for now. The shift to online banking and self service is stabilising now, and the displacement of tellers has occurred. The next wins are process improvements, and revenue growth.

The survey also highlighted a significant transformation in retail bankers’ strategic focus, with a majority (56 percent) of the respondents saying that their focus is shifting from cost reduction to growth.

Retail Banks Globally Very Optimistic About Growth Prospects, Accenture Study Finds; Banks’ Focus Shifting from Cost Reduction to Growth

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–March 13, 2006– Many Say They Expect To Grow Faster Than the Overall Retail Banking Sector in Their Home Markets.Four out of five retail banks project annual growth of more than 5 percent over the next few years, in many cases outpacing projected growth for the retail banking segment in their home markets, according to results of an Accenture (NYSE:ACN) study released today. The study is based on a survey of more than 100 retail-bank executives in the United States, Europe and Asia/Pacific designed to shed light on their strategies for achieving growth in the coming years and to analyze how they will differentiate themselves in an ever-more-competitive retail banking market.

Continue reading “Retail Banks Globally Very Optimistic About Growth Prospects, Accenture Study Finds; Banks’ Focus Shifting from Cost Reduction to Growth”

Sightly off topic, but further to the earlier post on corporate blogging, based on Jeremiah’s blog, this description from his blog sums up a core group of very smart people, that I am proud to work with. Web Strategy by Jeremiah: Business Blogging is not a fad, now to focus on ‘HOW’ Then there’s the regular corporate folks who wear plastic badges on zip string attached to their belts, sit in cubicles and are issued Dell D600 laptops. We fill out expense reports, try to figure out how to measure ROI, marshal internal resources where none existed, wrestle with IT … Continue reading ouch – that’s me!

This is quote simply the most articulate description of a model for blogging in general, and specifically corporate blogging, that I have read.  (Thanks to the new “kinder gentler” Scoble for the link.)  It points us towards a future that scares the hell out of every corporation today …. a future that will allow corporations to listen and talk with customers, otherwise known as real conversations.  If it scares corporations generally, it makes Banks dissolve into a puddle of sweat – talk to customers you say;  good grief that’s what we do in the controlled environment of a branch office.  … Continue reading How to be a Corporate Blog Evangelist

Fairly detailed update on the competition between UK Grocery stores in the banking space. Profits from Tesco financial arm are quoted at £202m which places them on a level approaching a smaller Canadian bank for example. From my own observation, they (Tesco) do a good job at integrating the financial products with their own at the checkout. It feels natural, and seamless to the consumer, unlike the North American model with banks established within grocery stores. Those do not have the same natural integration, which explains the sporadic success they have there. At this level, the UK groceries are sufficiently … Continue reading Check out deals on supermarket savings

We were at the Agency the other day, working on a campaign, and the classic quote came from the general manager of the agency. “the creative deck for the print stuff was two pages;   the creative deck for the web site is 40 pages” Implicit in this statement is a different way to approach bank marketing.  The reason it came up, apart from the obvious number of pages, is the granular thinking in consumer terms only rises to the surface when you begin to consider how millions of people will react to the web pages you place in front … Continue reading Marketing 101 for Banks – time for new approach

Nice catchy headline here from Silicon.com but in the small print they make the real point that while locations are important, it is even more a priority critical to re-invent the operation of those locations, as well as getting the right balance of branch footprint.

Internet can’t kill bank branch, says Halifax – Financial Services – Breaking Business and Technology News at silicon.com

Rumours of the death of the bank branch at the hands of internet banking have been “greatly exaggerated”, according to Halifax.

They make the key point here.  The linked article goes on to talk about some future technologies in the branch of the future.  Its worth understanding why this is required, because that helps us define which technology solutions are required.  Refer to background piece below on the changes in the banking channel environment over the last 5 years..

But, as around half of a bank’s customers will visit the branch at least once per month, some banks are also investing heavily in new technology in their branches to improve customer service.

Continue reading “Rumours of death of the branch have been greatly exaggerated (Halifax)”

HBOS employ branch footprint increase to address market share.  At £1 million per branch, these must be pretty spiffy branches they are considering here. Banking, finance, insurance The Times Times Online Sunday Times HBOS, Britain’s fourth-biggest bank, yesterday pledged to spend £100 million opening 100 Halifax branches over the next five years in the South of England, as part of its drive to increase its market share. The group said that the move, which represents the biggest network expansion by the Halifax since the 1970s, creating an estimated 1,500 jobs, would help it to achieve its target market share of … Continue reading HBOS to spend £100m on new branch openings (over 5 years)

Article from Mapinfo, on the BAI blog, discussing the the science of branch location selection. It reads more as an ad than anything else, but some good tips in there. I say ad, because it doesn’t address “why” branches and their location are important.

Banking Strategies Blog : The Laws of Customer Attraction

BY LYNN ELLEN QUEEN MAPINFO CORP.Relying on more “science” in branch location decisions can yield sharper analyses of (customer) demand and (branch) supply, minimizing costly mistakes.

| SYNOPSIS | A new branch office can cost $1 million to $3 million, reflecting premium pricing during this spike in de novo branching. Banks are encouraged to employ a more sophisticated analysis – one that includes more granular levels of detail – to choose the sites most appropriate for their overall retail strategy.

Identifying locations for new branches has always been part science, part art. Bankers over the years have developed many models for analyzing the demographics of a particular area. The models are then supplemented with local market knowledge or “gut instinct,” i.e., does this strip center or corner parcel feel right?

Continue reading “Vendor article on the science of branch location: “The Laws of Customer Attraction””