I enjoy James’ posts. He doesn’t post often, and when he does I frequently find myself being challenged. Anyhow this thread originated here, a few weeks ago, and re-emerged here. The topic highlighted was the potential to reduce customer expectations in order to make them easier to exceed (I paraphrase). The example provided was Ryan Air, who provide a basic service, a flight, and everything else is extra. However the overall price remains cheap, while the service turns out not feel cheap. James compares this matter to the arms race that Banks find themselves participating in, just to keep their … Continue reading Niching, as a way to break out of the Banking “arms race”

Interesting dichotomy outlined in this Star story, which has a different and more complete version in the paper version somehow. Beginning Nov. 1, more than 800 TD Canada Trust branches will open Monday to Saturday at 8:00 a.m. providing at least 62 hours of financial services to customers. In addition, more than 900 branches will stay open till 4 p.m. every Saturday. Source: The Star The paper version goes on to compare this TD approach to BMO and Scotiabank, both of whom are using loyalty plans (Airmiles, and movie points respectively) to retain customers. These are measures that will have … Continue reading Canadian Banks fight for customer loyalty

My sense is that eMarketer is wrong in this conclusion, and reflects how we thought about things 10 years ago. For example, the way this survey is articulated does not take into account the reality of people with a laptop while in front of the TV. This is more prevalent than many might think. During that period, what is the answer as to the “what are you doing” question. There is no binary answer to that question. And yes it is a zero sum game. Last time I checked, we all have 24 hours in the day. This is not … Continue reading eMarketer survey displaying 1997 thinking

The environment is clearly becoming highly popular amongst politicians and business, and some great and innovative approaches are being seen. But when I read this announcement today, some of the quotes struck me as self serving, and potentially not as altruistic as they sound. We’ll be doing a much greater due diligence in terms of loans that we’re making and business that we’re doing in terms of the environmental risk that’s involved. Source: Toronto Star So I can just imagine the new tick sheet being circulated to all commercial lenders across the country to assess new loans from a green … Continue reading TD Bank announces environmental framework but leaves unanswered questions

This report leapt of the screen at me! First their mandate: The Group was asked by the Commission to cover three scenarios of customer mobility: (1) “national switching”: switching from one bank to another within the same Member State; (2) “cross-border switching”: switching from a bank in one Member State to a bank in another Member State; (3) “cross-border opening”: opening of a bank account in another Member State, with or without physical presence. The comments start to read very much as regulations for the telecommunications companies. The consultation follows the publication of a report compiled by an ‘expert group … Continue reading EC consults on obstacles that customers face when switching bank accounts | Account Number portability as a catalyst for change

I had just finished studying the report on Social Personal Finance from Netbanker, when this came across my radar. Barcelona, June 5th, 2007 – IBM today announced that it has signed an agreement with Banco Sabadell, one of Spain’s biggest banking groups, to jointly develop Web 2.0 technologies for the financial sector. The two companies will create an Innovation task force to be staffed with employees from both organizations. Both companies will collaborate on adapting Web 2.0 technologies ranging from social networking software, Internet collaboration, blogs, RSS feeds and Web services for use in the financial services industry. Source: Labs … Continue reading Banco Sabadell and IBM to Jointly Innovate in Web 2.0 for Financial Services