This article from Financetech is well worth the read.  I find this quote incredible “Manuel Barbero, BearingPoint: SOA enables faster, cheaper application integration. It exists thanks to the adoption of Web-related technologies and constructs that make applications talk to one another in a standardized manner”. Faster & cheaper?  I would like to know the bank that is seeing that result.  No question its the right thing, but its a slow painstaking process, as the costs of development are continually held up against the requirement for revenue.  This is consultantspeak at its worst. The emergence of service-oriented architecture and grid computing … Continue reading Faster & cheaper – huh!

I have been working on this matter for a while and its causing me more grief than I expected. There is no such thing as secure email unfortunately despite the best efforts from Yahoo, Yahoo and AOL, and others. But when it comes to Banks securing their customer correspondence there is only one general way, and that’s using a web browser, 128 bit encryption, and some type of browser based form.

Even the alternative vendors, and despite the hyperbole, that’s all they can offer too. So you can build or buy, and you will get secure correspondence using web forms, but you will NOT get secure email. Continue reading “The fiction that is secure email”

Nice job here summarising The Cluetrain Manifesto. Presentation Zen: Lessons from the Cluetrain: Imperatives for presenters we're living in the era of "the cluetrain.One of the central ideas in the book is this: markets are conversations Traditional ways of mass-media marketing need to adapt or get out of the way Continue reading Summary – Cluetrain Manifesto

From Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. Talks about the early pains, but the traction thats now evident. TEN he shakeout of Internet-only banks was not at all an isolated phenomenon, but part of a broader picture of the dot-com boom/bust cycle. Featured links:* Technology Innovation and Market Turbulence: A Dotcom Example Download file Continue reading Online banking comes of age

I reprint below with links deleted, a job posting from Monster.com. This looks ostensibly like a legitimate employment listing but read on.

UPDATE:  I have rearranged the name of the company used in this fraudulent email, because I am being inundated with search hits.  I assume this is law enforcement looking for these guys, but its skewing my stats.  incidentally if this is law enforcement, its pretty heavy handed, and surely the bad guys aren’t that stupid, or are they!

This is from a crime syndicate, and they are recruiting individuals to launder the results of phishing. Here is how it works: Once you are hired you open an account at, in this case the Royal Bank of Canada. They (the bad guys) who have stolen consumers online banking credentials, send money using email money transfer to you. You then withdraw the cash, and immediately wire it using Western Union to the bad guys, probably somewhere in Eastern Europe.

The bad guys were able to steal customers credentials using software embedded into their computer (key loggers) which was downloaded at the same time as porn, music or while visiting some questionable site. The other common way they get consumers credentials, is using phishing emails, where they pretend to be Citibank, or Paypal etc, and ask you to log in to re-activate your account. At that time the consumer is simply sending their username and password to the bad guys.

They prey on low income people, or people who need fast cash, particularly students. If you hear of anyone with such a job alert them to this illegal activity immediately.

Moral: Always be aware of where you are on the internet, be suspicious of every email with a hyperlink, be suspicious of any download site, and think twice about those jokes and attachments from your friends with the “joke of the week”.

PS .. turns out a search shows up a company called S1_a1_f1_e1_M1_e1_d1 Inc in San Diego. They appear legitimate, and I am sure will have no association with the email below, ostensible from Europe.

Continue reading “The mechanics of online banking fraud – an example”

Global Finance – top internet banks in the world. Continue reading Top world internet banks – 2003

Banks Websites Report and Ranking – January 2006 : E-consultancy.com Banks Websites Report and Ranking – January 2006Release Date: 26 January 2006 Overview of findings Top of the league and best site overall was Skipton Building Society (www.skipton.co.uk). At the bottom of the table, representing the poorest site overall was Investec Bank (UK) Limited (www.investec.com/unitedkingdom). For a copy of the full report, at no charge please email banks_0106@sitemorse.com Website Function 8 sites were error free this month. • http://www.britannia.co.uk • http://www.firstdirect.com • http://www.islamic-bank.com • http://www.laiki.com/web [The Cyprus Popular Bank Public Company] • http://www.leedsbuildingsociety.co.uk • http://www.lloydstsb.com • http://www.mmbs.co.uk • http://www.tesco.com/finance Website … Continue reading UK Banks Websites Report and Ranking on accessibility – January 2006

The UK’s top on-line banks do better than airlines and newspapers in meeting the basic website accessibility needs of their disabled customers, but still only one of ten tested, NatWest, reached a minimum standard, according to a survey released today by national computing and disability charity, AbilityNet.

Continue reading “On-line banks score one out of ten for accessible websites”

The big hurdle Bank’s have to get over is the dichotomy between finite investment dollars based on Stock Market expectations, and customer driven channel investment.

The answer has to lie in choices, so its understandable that in this predicament, bankers will fall back on what they know, hence the theme I see of branch vs internet.

However open standards, and integrated architecture models ought to provide the capability to do both. Internet has one enormous advantage over previous technologies in that it can be built once, and used/ exposed in multiple channels. Continue reading “Integrated channel management”

Myth: Branch is core for Relationship Management Reality: Bank employee is core for Relationship Management Explanation: Customers do not have relationships with a physical building. This may have been the case to a certain extent 50 years ago, but today, customers value the person who owns their problem and ensure their satisfaction. Today customers are perfectly willing to take on self service activities, because its convenient, and provides a measure of control. Thats why they like and use online banking, and ATM’s. But relationship management is a person, and customers just want access to that person through the channel of … Continue reading Myths and realities about the Branch