This is an impressive about face from Bank of America, and I commend them. It was only one year ago at the Forrester Research Financial Forum in NY, that I heard senior BofA people state they would listen to online criticism, but not participate because of the risks. A small toe in the water, but its a start. Bucking tradition, firms increasingly let customers vent on corporate sites – The Boston Globe “We felt that in the offline world customers communicate with other customers about our products and services, so why not allow them to do it in the online … Continue reading Hats of to BofA for fostering the conversation

The credit crunch for consumers in North America is on for real now according to these statistics. FT.com / In depth – US banks continue to tighten lending Moreover, banks continued to tighten credit standards on mortgages across the board, reducing the availability of funds to finance purchases of homes. About 62 per cent said they tightened standards on prime loans, while 76 per cent tightened standards on “non-traditional loans”. A historically high proportion of banks said they were tightening terms on credit cards and other consumer loans, while many also pointed to reduced involvement in the student loan business. Continue reading US banks continue to tighten lending

I just came across this site today, after an email conversation with Christopher.  It is a rich site, with lots of detailed information and statistics about American banking.  They have weaved the content together with some cool tools, including, search, RSS, and their blog.  The data is kept in Google Base.  Worth a look, for those in the industry. iBanknet | About Our Vision … The Internet is changing fundamentally the way people discover, share and work with information. At iBanknet, we believe in an evolving internet with increasingly identifiable, accurate, and accessible content. iBanknet is shaping the future by … Continue reading iBanknet | easily accessible data on banks

This ‘unusual’ (Fortune Magazines characterisation) move to help out BofA comes one week after BofA bailed out Countrywide Mortgage.  Its most odd, and at best a serious omission for either the Fed, or BofA not to at least comment on the overall approach to managing the crisis.  Is it a strategy to help the big banks, in return for them to pass on help to the ones in trouble?  This set of events certainly makes me suspect that.  How is it determined which Banks get the advantage? Clearly there is an architected set of events going on to mitigate the … Continue reading Is Bank of America getting an unfair advantage from the Fed in the current crisis?

Ed at Wells noted that Wells has entered MySpace with a new avatar, Cassie Hill.  This is brilliant stuff, and pushing the bounds of any traditional banker.  This requires that traditional views be suspended, and let the new experience work its own destiny.  Customers, prospects, and users will take this somewhere, and that experiment is worth its weight in gold, when we think in terms of 2010 – 2015. In Eds words: The profile is for Cassie Hill, our Stagecoach Island ambassador avatar.  If you’re not familiar with Stagecoach Island, it’s a virtual world (originally started in Second Life, since … Continue reading Wells Fargo enters MySpace

Thanks to a tip in my comments from Bankit (no link) I did a search for Cashedge OAO and the result blew me away.  It listed all the recent entrants in this space (Flushing, Huntington, Compass etc).  Take look for yourself! Turns out on viewing their source code, that Cashedge OAO shows in the URL and/ or the source code.  This is unbelievable …. how can these Banks let that happen!  Have they never heard of differentiation!  Here are two examples, from HSBC, and IGO Flushing respectively. https://quickaccount.us.hsbc.com/jsp/oao/relc/cashedge/oao_index.jsp?homeid=99992052 src=”/jsp/oao/relc/cashedge/oao_session_timer.jsp?homeid=99992070″ On a deeper level … the commoditisation, and lack of creativity amongst … Continue reading Cashedge OAO is the tool of choice for high internet savings Banks