Anything that claims it can launched in 1 week gets my vote!  Yodlee says the technology is suitable for all financial institutions in the US, Canada, and the UK that offer Web banking services and banks using the system could launch a mobile banking pilot in less than a week. Source: Finextra: Yodlee releases mobile banking package Yodlee continue to impressively march along with real value add applications, and they will do well.   Technorati tags: yodlee, online+banking Continue reading Finextra: Yodlee releases mobile banking package

Today is the 10th anniversary of mbanx starting direct banking.  mbanx (a division of Bank of Montreal) was the first direct banking operation in the world, and followed closely by many, such as Wingspan (BancOne), and ING.  There has been a host of learning about what to do, and how to get the right pace of execution since then. Some links: mbanx/clive (online chat) Harvard Business Review bmo City of Toronto Intuit joint marketing arrangment CBA Canadian Business empire club 7-24 Solutions     Technorati tags: direct+banking, mbanx Continue reading 10 years since mbanx started it all

 Tara talks here about the discussion at BarCampBerlin on the topic of Community, and what makes it effective.  I found this simple statement highly revealing in its simplicity, and clarity. …  demonstrate with this example why community doesn’t happen separately from product or environment. Source: ::HorsePigCow:: marketing uncommon: Discussion: When community doesn’t happen (from BarCampBerlin) She goes on to compare processes followed by two separate developer groups, one of which was less effective, and apparently somewhat demoralising, whereas the better one, Microformats, has had rampant success in one year. I thought I was going to write here about social networks but … Continue reading ::HorsePigCow:: marketing uncommon: Discussion: When community doesn’t happen

HSBC has opened an Internet-only bank in Taiwan that offers higher interest rates on deposits, hoping to lure new customers to the no-branch model. Since the bank opened in late September, 80% of the customers opening accounts are new to HSBC. About half of all customers are between the ages of 25 and 35, but they only account for 30% of the deposits. Roughly 13% of the accounts belong to customers over the age of 45, and they account for more than half of the deposits. Source: BankNet 360 – HSBC Launches Internet-Only Bank in Taiwan   Technorati tags: hsbc, … Continue reading BankNet 360 – HSBC Launches Internet-Only Bank in Taiwan

 This is a very cool application, and great use of texting/ mobile technology in a useful way.  We need to build this at the Bank! Need to find an ATM machine?  A new cell phone service from MasterCard provides cardholders with a mobile, location-based search and directory service so they can request to have the location of the nearest ATM sent to their cellular phone via an SMS text message.  …. The voice-activated ATM Locator application is provided by Convergys Corporation, which built the application for MasterCard. Hosted on Convergys’ SpeechPort ‘platform, incoming calls are received and processed. … It … Continue reading Bank Systems & Technology| Texting Service Locates ATM’s

This useful post notes that less than half of projects are considered successful. Running a bank is all about projects, so these characteristics are worth remembering as we move ahead, and understanding which of these characteristics require improvement. Leadership The survey revealed that 70% of the respondents did not feel that their senior management team served as a positive role model very often. Also, when asked how effective team leaders were at helping meet team goals, 42.5% rated their team leaders a 3 or less on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being very effective and 1 being … Continue reading Canadian Management Centre’s Training Blog: Survey Finds Four Factors Key to Team Success

 All the big banks in the Middle East have a head of Islamic Banking.  The have officers and front line staff handling this now.

Islamic Banking is not a Utopia anymore as was thought to be. When scholars first talked about this idea in the 1940’s, people in the West laughed at the idea of Banking without Interest.

It was inconceivable at that time since most of the Muslim countries were reeling under colonial rule; as such there were no takers for this idea. It was only in the later part of the 20th century that scholars attempted at giving a practical shape to the idea of interest-free financial mechanism.

Source: The concept of Islamic Banking (GreaterKashmir.com)

When will we see a British, North American, or European Bank offer such services?  There are significant numbers of Muslims in all the Northern Hemisphere countries now, and its an interesting call as to whether we should embrace this style of banking in an effort to provide differentiation.

Inconceivable you might say!  Well consider the significant populations of muslims within those areas.  Is there an offer that might differentiate a bank amongst the muslim populations in non middle east countries? I wonder if any will have the nerve to try that.

History, including some basics on Islamic Banking

Continue reading “The concept of Islamic Banking: one that should not be ignored”