Wesabe brings financial services in to the e-commerce space


 I couldn’t agree more with Ron on this point.  Wesabe is a real innovator in the financial services space.  I believe Banks (generally) are not in e-commerce.  They have merely automated branch transactions/ paved the cowpath. The promise if Wesabe is to harness the power of the web, in ways that Amazon, and eBay have done (more here).  While social media proponents talk about the community-building aspects of this new movement, the Cranky in me says that it’s still about me. Letting my voice be heard, validating my opinion. Wesabe holds out the promise to help consumers validate their financial decisions … Continue reading Wesabe brings financial services in to the e-commerce space

Finextra: Bank of America adds online money management tools


 Bank of America continues the rapid trend into budgeting/ money management tools within online banking. The new money management features give customers the ability to: Use expense categorization and budgeting tools to get more control over spending and help for future savings.  Sort transactions by account, category or date. Search for specific transactions across multiple accounts. Source: Finextra: Bank of America adds online money management tools   Technorati tags: bank+of+america, money+management Continue reading Finextra: Bank of America adds online money management tools

P2P loans going unfunded is a temporary situation


 James note this stat, that 70% of P2P loans go unfunded, courtesy of the excellent Deutsche Bank research. That’s quite a different play to Prosper and Zopa. In those cases, a large percentage of loans go unfunded. According to Deutsche Bank, as many as 70% of total loan requests don’t lead to a transaction. Source: BankerVision: Forget anonymity in peer-to-peer lending First off, I would note from my own observation that many loans while not funded first time around are funded on 2nd and 3rd attempts.  This is symptomatic of this growing service, as both borrowers and lenders get used to … Continue reading P2P loans going unfunded is a temporary situation

A new dilemma – ‘Social fatigue’


apophenia makes a great point and defines the prediction on social networks well.  Users will tire of large-scale, portal-style social network sites like MySpace and Facebook in 2007″ but the framing of it as “social network fatigue” reveals the inherent problem in this prediction. Users aren’t going to tire of their friends but they will tire of problematic social spaces that make hanging out with friends difficult. Source: apophenia: some thoughts on 2007 (advertising, bullying, and mobile) I see this as a healthy shift.  I personally don’t buy social networks as a business model per se.  That’s like suggesting operating a … Continue reading A new dilemma – ‘Social fatigue’

The Garland Group | Web 2.0 and Banks


Brad is a pretty switched on guy, and this presentation is a great primer for anyone who needs to get caught up on what Web 2.0 means right now.    Here are the PDF slides of the presentation for download. If you think this might be of benefit to someone else, please feel free to pass it on. Source: The Garland Group Blog He covers off all the latest entrants, including Prosper, Zopa, and Wesabe. Great overview.   Technorati tags: banking+innovation, bank+blogs, Garland+group Continue reading The Garland Group | Web 2.0 and Banks

The Boardcast – UFirst, Plattsburg goes live with a real blog!


 The UFirst Credit Union Board have started a blog, and its a great start.  Its timely, relevant, and is up to date.  Comments are being commented on quickly, (rule #1), and in this case, by the authors within an hour.  UFirst is located in Plattsburg new York, and as far as I can tell has one office.  So this is a classic local bank, and blogs are an idea forum to speak to the local people, from your local CU.  (Hat tip Netbanker) The Boardcast The latest news and announcements from the UFirst Federal Credit Union Board of Directors. Source: The … Continue reading The Boardcast – UFirst, Plattsburg goes live with a real blog!

ING Canada implements secure email for business partners


 ING will use this for a selected group of partners, with whom its easier to implement the Outlook plug in, as well as the associated training. ING Canada is rolling out a secure e-mail system that uses identity-based encryption to send secure e-mail to independent insurance brokers and other business partners. Source: IT Business   Technorati tags: secure+email, ING+Canada Continue reading ING Canada implements secure email for business partners

How people make decisions


 Dave never ceases to amaze me with his detailed and thoughtful posts.  This one is on decision making.  indigenous peoples tend to make decisions more holistically, rather than biasing their decisions in favour of intellectual knowledge alone. They are more tentative in their judgements and try to allow more time for all knowledge, including that which is subconscious, to be considered and integrated. They will place great weight on the judgements of those they trust, but ultimately each individual will be trusted (given the authority) and expected (given the responsibility) to make any decision that affects them alone, without having … Continue reading How people make decisions

Whats next in information architecture after ‘data’ – trust management


 Brad from Union Squares, produces one of those seminal posts asking the right questions, that I see aligned with how social networks are evolving.  Hat tip A VC. The progression to date has been up the stack in a classic architecture diagram, data is on top of that stack, and nothing sits on top of the data. I disagree. The genius of Craigslist is in its governance system. It is its lightweight governance system that allows 21 people to administer 300 sites in 35 countries. I believe that the basis of competition in web services will shift from the data … Continue reading Whats next in information architecture after ‘data’ – trust management

Citigroup to Acquire Egg Banking plc from Prudential PLC: Financial News – Yahoo! Finance


 News that has been expected arrived today, with the sale of Egg. Citigroup (NYSE: C – News) today announced it has reached an agreement to acquire 100% ownership of Egg Banking plc (Egg), the world’s largest pure online bank and one of the UK’s leading online financial services providers, from Prudential PLC for GBP 575 million, or approximately $1.127 billion*, in cash, subject to adjustments at closing. The transaction is expected to be accretive in its first year. The purchase includes over three million Egg customers, and products and services including online payment and account aggregation services, credit cards, personal … Continue reading Citigroup to Acquire Egg Banking plc from Prudential PLC: Financial News – Yahoo! Finance