Social Lending3 Comments

Smava starts p2p lending in Germany

Colin Henderson

  Here is some background on a P2P lending startup in Germany.  The features are familiar, with one odd feature that the minimum bid is 500 Euros.  This is unusually high compared to the others in this space, and that will be interesting to see how that works out.  Possibly tied to that point, its not apparent there is any lender fee.   That would mean the revenue model would be based on borrower fees only. Startup Smava.de starts offering p2p lending in Germany. Anybody can lend or request a loan online. Borrowers, after registering will by checked for identity and credit … Continue reading Smava starts p2p lending in Germany

AI4 Comments

Demographics and why Cathy Graeber is right about 76% of population banking online in 2011

Colin Henderson

After stating yesterday that I agreed with Cathy that over 3/4 of the population would be banking online, I thought the least I could do is back that up with some stats.  I believe in demographics, and that it often explains things in a way that’s almost fateful.  Aging is one thing we can’t change. This is based on Canadian stats.  For each age band, I took the middle of the band and plotted the year those people were born.  This tells us that by 2011, people up to age 40 have at a minimum known internet since at least … Continue reading Demographics and why Cathy Graeber is right about 76% of population banking online in 2011

AI1 Comment

Demographics and why Cathy Graeber is right about 76% of population banking online in 2011

Colin Henderson

After stating yesterday that I agreed with Cathy that over 3/4 of the population would be banking online, I thought the least I could do is back that up with some stats.  I believe in demographics, and that it often explains things in a way that’s almost fateful.  Aging is one thing we can’t change. This is based on Canadian stats.  For each age band, I took the middle of the band and plotted the year those people were born.  This tells us that by 2011, people up to age 40 have at a minimum known internet since at least … Continue reading Demographics and why Cathy Graeber is right about 76% of population banking online in 2011

AI

ABN Amro – the vultures hover

Colin Henderson

 The mystery deepens with ABN.  Turns out several Banks are looking at it, including Citi, who may be interested in the whole thing, or Lasalle in Chicago. Citigroup is not alone in considering an offer for ABN Amro. European banks such as BBVA and Santander, of Spain, BNP Paribas, of France, and ING, of the Netherlands, are understood to have made informal approaches to ABN Amro in the weeks before it entered exclusive talks with Barclays. Royal Bank of Scotland, Britain’s second-biggest bank, is also thought to be monitoring developments. Source: Citigroup prepares to ambush ABN talks-Business-Industry Sectors-Banking & Finance-TimesOnline … Continue reading ABN Amro – the vultures hover

AI1 Comment

Forrester Research online banking prediction, means Banks have a loyalty problem

Colin Henderson

 Aggressive forecast from Forrester here.  Hat tip Netbanker.  Go there for their analysis. Online banking adoption continues its upward trajectory, as evidenced by a 27% growth rate in 2005. Expect this trajectory to continue during the next five years: By 2011, Forrester expects online banking adoption to grow by 55%, to roughly 72 million households. In 2011, 76% of online households will bank online. The largest adoption growth will come from the Gen Y segment, and in 2011, 85% of Gen Yers will bank online. Source: Forrester Research: US Online Banking: Five-Year Forecast I think this is perfectly rational.  By … Continue reading Forrester Research online banking prediction, means Banks have a loyalty problem

Uncategorized

Econbrowser: Bubble, bubble, toil, and trouble

Colin Henderson

Some insightful comments on the US Sub-prime problem, from the incredibly rational blog, Econbrowser.  But, as Felix Salmon observed, if anything the opposite appears to be the case: the states that are now experiencing the highest mortgage delinquency rates are the ones where the previous real estate appreciation had been the most modest Source: Econbrowser: Bubble, bubble, toil, and trouble I’d go further and note that this analysis suggests that the problems lie in the poorer states, or at least those states that have a relatively high representation of lower income.   Technorati tags: sub+prime+mortgages, US Continue reading Econbrowser: Bubble, bubble, toil, and trouble

Social networks1 Comment

Flickr – lessons in community development

Colin Henderson

This is a great object lesson in community development by experts at Flickr. We very carefully built the community on Flickr, person by person. The team and I greeted every single person who arrived, introduced them around, hung out in the chatrooms. It was a very hands-on process, building the community. And in the beginning Flickr was built side-by-side with feedback from the community: We were posting over 50 times a day in the forums. After you hit, say 10,000 members, or so, hopefully you’ve created a strong enough culture that people are greeting each other. It really is kind … Continue reading Flickr – lessons in community development

Profitability

£2500 per seat per month – the price of customer service…

Colin Henderson

 Some good stats from contactcentrelink.com.  They above estimate per seat includes salary, technology, and support.  That number does not surprise me in the slightest, and in fact might be low.  In Canada we used a rule of thumb of $75 – $100K per seat. What is more worrisome is the effectiveness of the investment, which they describe here.  40% of agents time is involved in non-customer facing activity.  This is is partly because of follow up on customer questions, but he next question, is whether expensive and highly trained call centre folks are the right ones to be be performing those … Continue reading £2500 per seat per month – the price of customer service…

Uncategorized

Sneak preview on ING in Second Life

Colin Henderson

 Marcel who is pretty hooked into Banks and Second Life in Europe talks about plans for Friday, and more on ING’s OurVirtualHolland. Friday evening March 23 (hs 21.00 CET) it’s party time! The first plots of OurVirtualHolland will be granted to the proposal submitters. Many interesting and surprising proposals have been submitted: Restaurants, café’s, employment-agencies, tourists guides, traditional clothing, garden-design, dating in SecondLife, virtual mobile phones, birth-cards, a radio station; it’s all there. Source: Second Life · Sneak preview on ING’s venture in Second Life · Shaping Thoughts   Technorati tags: ING, Shaping+Thoughts, Second+Life Continue reading Sneak preview on ING in Second Life

VRM2 Comments

The perversity of online advertising

Colin Henderson

 I certainly don’t pretend to be any kind of expert in this area.  Seth makes a point here which, while I know it to be true, makes me shake my head. There are very few sites built on Amazon affiliate revenue alone, mostly because the affiliate deals don’t convert often enough to make them worth what’s paid. Source: Seth’s Blog: Inventory and Risk His argument is that marketers will not quickly shift from PPC (Pay per click) to PPA (Pay per Action) because the “A” in action happens too infrequently!  Hello …. this means that the “C” in click is … Continue reading The perversity of online advertising