Payments

The e-payment Market Will Consolidate with 3-4 Players Controlling the Market

Colin Henderson

Booz Allen Hamilton predict that the payment online market will coalesce around two or three players. E-Payments To Become Mega-Market Paypal has gained more than a hundred million customers in only a few years since its launch in 1999 and handles more than US$17bn annually. Booz Allen predicts that Google Checkout will take even less time to establish itself as a major player. However, with enormous growth expected in this market there is likely to be room for a further one or two players. So that would be Google, Paypal, and perhaps one other.  More importantly is the threat to … Continue reading The e-payment Market Will Consolidate with 3-4 Players Controlling the Market

AI

Survey: Online banking services more vital to gays

Colin Henderson

Understanding niche markets is critical for banks in my estimation.  The other day I posted about women.  Here is another niche, gays, who have high income, propensity to spend,  borrow and save.  Ideal bank customers. Survey: Online banking services more vital to gays | Chicago Tribune Gay men and lesbians are significantly more interested in Internet banking and are more confident investors than heterosexuals, a new study shows. When deciding where to conduct business, 60 percent of gays say it’s very important that a financial institution provide service through the Internet, compared with only 50 percent of heterosexuals, according to … Continue reading Survey: Online banking services more vital to gays

Open Source Banking

Update on Zopa

Colin Henderson

Michael Clarke, “This is Money” provides an informative update on Zopa.

Create your own bank | This is Money

Zopa is the world’s first online lending and borrowing exchange for individuals, where the banks are shut out. Launched in March last year, the service now boasts 80,000 members, many with strange usernames such as Milkmongoose and Cowgirljo.

The concept behind Zopa – Zone Of Possible Agreement – is simple. It matches individuals that want to borrow money with those that are prepared to lend money at a rate which both parties are happy to accept. The service gives borrowers the opportunity to obtain money at much lower rates than what they would secure from the High Street.

For example, loans can be below 5%, compared to the lowest rate of 5.6% available on the commercial market.

They make money by charging borrowers.

Zopa makes money charging borrowers a one off 0.5% fee which is added to their loan. Lenders pay an annual fee of 0.5% of the amount they are lending.

Continue reading “Update on Zopa”

Payments1 Comment

Dexit is finished

Colin Henderson

Dexit called together their staff this week, in one of those meetings reminiscent of the dot com days.  Nearly half the staff were laid off.  It seems they are serious about selling or amalgamation.  Significant reductions in their terminal acquiring base.  It seems all this years revenue was from one customer – Bell Canada. T.DXT – News Releases July 20, 2006 Dexit Announces Plan to Optimize Operations and Review Strategic Options Toronto – July 20, 2006 – Dexit Inc. (TSX: DXT) announced today that it has  formed a Special Committee of the Board, in response to overtures from several potential … Continue reading Dexit is finished

AI6 Comments

The 1% rule of internet

Colin Henderson

I like this rule.  I like it because its intuitive, and makes sense of the way things really are.  It stops the generalisation which frequently kills internet ideas and models’ credibility. Guardian Unlimited Technology | Technology | What is the 1% rule? It’s an emerging rule of thumb that suggests that if you get a group of 100 people online then one will create content, 10 will “interact” with it (commenting or offering improvements) and the other 89 will just view it. Some examples quoted: youtube – 65K uploads/ 100 million downloadswikipedia – 1.8% write 70% of the articlesyahoo groups … Continue reading The 1% rule of internet

Innovation1 Comment

Account alerts software providers

Colin Henderson

A search on this topic, brought out the following providers in this space.  No particular order.  Also some Forrester links for Forrester subscribers.  If anyone is aware of others vendors in this space, please free to add in the comments. Infosys Finacle With Finacle alerts, financial institutions can instantly notify customers and internal users  whenever an important business event occurs, through the medium of his choice: email,  mobile phone, pager, fax or voice. For example, a customer could choose to be notified  by SMS when an important payment clears or if an account balance exceeds a specified  threshold. Similarly, alerts … Continue reading Account alerts software providers

Payments

Cool payment technology that makes contactless much more attractive for merchants

Colin Henderson

Aneace is dead on with his argument that the payment experience needs to be enhanced with customer focussed benefits tied to the transaction, to make the purchase experience more compelling.  Aneace’s Blog: Cool payment technology that makes contactless much more attractive for merchants I have no idea why a merchant would want to accept basic, “old way to pay” contactless cards that are not of much benefit, unless someone pays him to upgrade his POS terminals (which is what has been happening for the most part) and if interchange fees are dramatically cut. Giving merchants a simple way to target … Continue reading Cool payment technology that makes contactless much more attractive for merchants

AI

The age of customerism and producerism

Colin Henderson

Long rambling post, summarising the “Dell Hell” issue, and boiling it down to whether a company works for the consumer, or Wall St.  Conclusion:  while Wall St watches your results, its customers that pay the bills. BuzzMachine » Blog Archive » The age of customerism and producerism Companies used to be able to get away with making crappy products and offering crappy services because they were able to mass market people into submission and because consumers didn’t have a way to make their unhappiness widely known. Thanks to the proliferation of content (both “professional” and “consumer-generated”) and content channels, mass … Continue reading The age of customerism and producerism

Innovation, Web/Tech1 Comment

Banking on women

Colin Henderson

Courtesy of Customer World a novel new concept, from Austria.  Customer World: Only for women Bank Austria’s first bank for women was recently opened by Raiffeisen in the ski resort town of Gastein. The concept was developed in association with Emotion Banking, which conducted extensive studies about women and finances, and how they interact with banks. Emotion Banking came to the conclusion that women approach finances differently than men do, and that a dedicated bank for women would better serve Raiffeisen’s female customers. The current set-up includes an inviting lounge-like interior, that includes a play area to keep children occupied. … Continue reading Banking on women

Open Source Banking, Web/Tech

It’s impossible for someone to introduce anything proprietary that would weaken Google

Colin Henderson

This is a great statement about strategy, the power of internet, and open source activities.  It is thought provoking, and I believe there are lessons for banks in product development, and in online banking development. O’Reilly Radar > A Week in the Valley: GData we just want so many developers using straightforward HTTP and XML that it’s impossible for someone to introduce anything proprietary that would weaken Google Here is the entire paragraph.  This approach is replicable to any business including banks.  Elsewhere in the post, Nat compares to Microsoft, who would build something purportedly open, but would still patent … Continue reading It’s impossible for someone to introduce anything proprietary that would weaken Google