Blog - Page 1149 of 1191

Royal Bank of Canada Launches New Blog Supporting its "Next Great Innovator Challenge"

By Jim Bruene Posted on November 3, 2006
Categories: Bank 2.0, Blogs, Strategies

Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) launched a blog Tuesday, becoming the second largest North American bank in the so-called blogosphere. Wells Fargo was the first (see coverage here). Thanks to Colin at BankWatch for the tip.

The RBC blog is part of a larger effort, The RBC Next Great Innovator Challenge, a marketing campaign aimed at rewarding innovation among Canadian college students (see main page below, note the Second Life-like avatar on the right).

The team of college students that develops the most innovative idea in the area of "teens and financial services," in 2,500 words or less, wins CDN$20,000. The top five teams will present their ideas to RDC management. Runnerups receive CDN$1,500 to $10,000 (total prize pool is CDN$40,000). Registration closed Oct. 31, with final presentations scheduled for early 2007.

Analysis
From a marketing perspective, there is much to like about this effort that:

Positions the bank as innovative and striving to be even more innovative
Generates a tremendous amount of positive press, both at the outset of the program and later as finalists are selected, then as winners are announced
Drives traffic to its website
Brings in new student accounts (it is no coincidence that the program launched during back-to-school time)
Impresses the parents by rewarding creative teamwork by their kids
Provides a large number of ideas that RBC can use in future bank products and student banking efforts
Identifies potential future employees among the contestants
Impresses Canadian businesses with the bank's support of young entrepreneurs

It's surprising that the bank didn't start a blog until the content closed, but better late than never. The blog will still serve as a great way to continue the momentum as the contest moves through the selection process. We'll take a closer look after it's been running for a few weeks.

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Bank-Anywhere.com Launches Branch Locator Mashup

By Jim Bruene Posted on November 3, 2006
Categories: Bank 2.0, Channel Integration, Website Usability & Design

For some time now, branch/ATM locators have been standard feature on banking websites. They began in the late 1990s as crude lists providing an address and maybe a phone number.

Today, locator tools are more robust, with branch hours, maps, pictures, and more. Still, many provide a simple listing instead of the locations pinpointed on a map.

For example, here's the output from a search at Sovereign Bank for all branches and ATMs in zip code 10019 (click on inset for closeup).

The list is well laid out, but you must wade through it to find the closest branch, then drill down through the links to find more details and a map.

Compare that to the tool at Bank-Anywhere.com <bank-anywhere.com>, a mashup of Google Maps and the FDIC branch location database <www.fdic.gov>. Here's a list of all banks in my zip code 98115. Clicking on the bank icon or the list on the right side triggers a pop-up callout with additional info.

Branch-Anywhere is in public beta after a Sept. 15 launch (see its blog). The company behind it is Dash Space, a Vancouver, BC-based developer with such a low profile they don't appear on Google searches. They did respond promptly to our email questions (email here).

Analysis
Financial institutions should consider using a similar approach on their websites and either program the function themselves, or outsource it to Bank-Anywhere.com or others. It is important for this logical link to make a good first impression with potential customers of your bank. The Ajax-based map not only looks more sophisticated and up-to-date, but also is easier to use.

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PayPal Email: Simple Steps to Protect Against Fraud and ID Theft

By Jim Bruene Posted on November 1, 2006
Categories: Email Samples, PayPal, Security & Privacy

Despite calls for banks to stop marketing via email (see here) to help reduce fraud, PayPal, probably the most phished brand in the world, shows that the technique can still be effective.

It requires a professional layout, good personalization, and behind-the-scenes fraud monitoring to nip phishing attempts in the bud.

Here's the latest from PayPal. Note the 30-second credit card button (bottom left) and personalized greeting at the top of the message.

Classification

Type: Marketing email with educational focus

Product: Payments with credit card cross-sell

Customer Type: Active customer

Personalization: Hello <yourname> at top of message

Header

Date received: Wed 11/1/2006 9:38 AM
From: PayPal [paypal@email.paypal.com]
To: Jim Bruene
Subject: Simple Steps to Protect Against Fraud and ID Theft

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Prosper Books its 4,000th Loan

By Jim Bruene Posted on October 31, 2006
Categories: Loans & Credit, Prosper

Nine-month old Prosper announced its results to date (press release here):

$20 million in loans originated
4,000 loans booked ($5,000 average)
100,000 registered users

It's a good start for the person-to-person lender, running about 25% to 30% ahead of our projections made when the company launched (see Online Banking Report #127).

However, they are a long way away from profitability, booking just $200,000 in loan fees during the first nine months, plus less than $50,000 in servicing fees and some pocket change in late fees, which are shared with lenders.

The company may need to consider hosting advertisements to prop up the bottom line. With high CPMs in the loan and personal finance market, Prosper could potentially make more on advertising than it does on the loan originations.

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Bank of America’s $250+ Premium: Richest Ever?

By Jim Bruene Posted on October 30, 2006
Categories: Bank of America, Deposits, Checking, Savings, CDs

Bank of America is offering $250 for new customers willing to open a checking and savings account. And customers willing to play the "Keep the Change" debit-card game could easily rack up another $20 to $50 or more in freebies with the bank's three-month, 100% match (bonus averages $0.50 per debit card transaction). See our previous coverage here.

Wow! Even adjusting for inflation, that's about 10x the free toaster deal of the 1960s. Here's the link (screenshot below).

There is only one "catch" to the offer. It applies only to consumers outside the bank's sprawling branch network; however, we were able to see the offer no matter what state we entered into the initial screen.

But as long as you live in Nebraska, North Dakota, or other non-BofA states, it's very easy to earn the $250. Just drop $100 in savings and $25 in checking and the bank will triple your outlay. There's no direct deposit or online bill payment requirement, the norm for most online offers. However, the MyAccess checking account is only free if direct deposit is used, otherwise it costs $5.95/mo.

Credit for first posting the offer goes to SlickDeals.net. We saw it first at BankDeals.

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Podcasts and RSS Feeds from City National Bank

By Jim Bruene Posted on October 29, 2006
Categories: Bank 2.0, City National Bank (CA), Podcasting, RSS

We are starting to see RSS feeds used at public financial institutions, primarily to keep shareholders up-to-date on new filings and press releases.

Consumer feeds are still relatively rare, but are growing quickly. By this time next year, we predict as many as half of all major U.S. banks and credit unions will be producing feeds as part of their online marketing mix.*

One bank in front of the curve is Beverly Hills-based City National Bank <www.cnb.com>. The bank has seven RSS feeds and three podcasts (see below). They've even added an RSS feed button on the bottom of most website pages (see End Notes). The podcasts are just read-throughs of the articles. That's OK, but the bank should let customers know not to bother subscribing to both.

Newsfeeds
The newsfeeds are geared primarily towards business users (2 feeds) and shareholders (3 feeds), but there's also a Personal Finance feed and a Market Perspectives feed. The bank has published three Personal Finance articles so far: the first on Aug. 16; another two weeks later on Aug. 30; then, after a two-month hiatus, a third one today.

Podcasts
The bank is also podcasting more thoroughly than we've seen before, with not one but two monthly podcasts: personal finance and international business. The company also produces a weekly market perspectives podcast (see list below). Users can subscribe to the audio reports via a newsfeed (RSS) or directly into Apple's iTunes using the appropriate button.

*Preliminary forecast. See the final forecast numbers in our upcoming report, Online Banking Report #135, Web 2.0-itizing your Bank (to be published in early November).

End Notes (click on link below for more screenshots)

City National homepage includes links to newsfeeds (lower left)
Note also: link to remote deposit capture service (mid-page)

RSS page loads whenever clicking on an RSS link from another City National page (see RSS button in lower-right corner)

City National podcast directory (note the integrated iTunes button)

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Prosper Markets to Savers at Google

By Jim Bruene Posted on October 27, 2006
Categories: Deposits, Checking, Savings, CDs, Direct Banking, Prosper, Search Engine Marketing

If you thought it was tough competing with the direct banks and their 5% savings products, now you have a legitimate company advertising rates of 8% or more. Of course, this is no FDIC-insured product; it's the interest rate paid to lenders at Prosper's person-to-person loan marketplace.

The person-to-person lender was bidding aggressively today at Google on both "high yield savings" and "online banking." The ads typically made the fourth position in the right-hand column, putting them "above the fold" (see inset).

The company is testing three different ads, all focused on rate levels substantially higher than the 5% to 5.5% advertised by the competition. Prosper is testing a straight up "8%" ad, an "8% to 12%" ad, and an "8% to 29%" one (see below).

The ads lead to one of two landing pages. Here's the slick one that looks more "bankerish":

Or the more "Web 2.0" version that no one will confuse with a bank ad. There is even a small eBay logo visible in the screenshot (used by one of the participants seeking to bankroll an eBay store), a smart touch for a company that is positioning itself as "the eBay of lending."

All-in-all, it's a good effort put forth by Prosper, which can only succeed if it attracts enough money into the marketplace.

For more information on Prosper, Zopa, and the entire person-to-person market, see Online Banking Report #127.

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Mortgagebot Offers Custom Mortgage Rates Widget

By Jim Bruene Posted on October 26, 2006
Categories: Bank 2.0, Desktop Presence, Mortgage, Refi & Home Equity, Mortgagebot

Mortgagebot LLC, the online mortgage spinoff from M&I, has introduced an online widget for its clients (see Fairwinds CU version inset). The widget allows users to keep current mortgage rates visible on their desktop.

Typically, it would appeal primarily to someone currently in the market for a mortgage or refi where an 1/8 difference in rate can add up to thousands over the life of the loan.

So far, seven of Mortgagebot's 600 clients have posted the widget at Yahoo's widget center; however, many more offer the service through their websites.

The first widget posted on Yahoo was uploaded Aug. 28 for Northwest Savings Bank and has been downloaded 711 times. In total, the Mortgagebot widget has been downloaded 2,200 times.

Northwest Savings Bank (national), 711 downloads since Aug. 28
Fairwinds Credit Union (Florida), 215 downloads since Sept. 27
Vista Federal Credit Union (California), 330 downloads since Sept. 27
Gateway Community Bank (Iowa, Nebraska), 275 downloads since Oct. 2
Northwest Bank (national), 351 downloads
since Oct. 3
Macon Bank (North Carolina), 216 downloads
since Oct. 12
Riverside Bank of Florida, 127 downloads
since Oct. 12

For more information on creating a desktop presence, read Online Banking Report #85, Grabbing Desktop Mindshare. Also see our previous coverage here.

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FFIEC Multi-Factor Scorecard: 30 Banks and Credit Unions Disclose Security Solutions

By Jim Bruene Posted on October 26, 2006
Categories: Security & Privacy

There seems to be a new announcement every day about a bank or credit union intent on stalling this or that security solution to comply with the FFIEC's year-end guidelines (see previous coverage here).

However, if you drill-down through the press releases, usually initiated by vendors, details are sketchy. In fact, according to the Glenbrook Partners in-house security wizard, Linda Elliot, only 26 U.S. financial institutions have disclosed specific security solutions from a total of 13 vendors. Her most recent scorecard, as published in the consulting company's Payments News, is here.

We added another three credit unions to bring the total to 29:

Banks (22)

American Bank (RSA)
AMSouth Bank (vendor not disclosed)
Associated Bancorp (Corillian)
Bank of America (RSA/Passmark) our post
Barclay’s (RSA)
Citibank (Consumer: Entrust; Business: VASCO DigiPass)
E*Trade (RSA SecurID)
Farmer's and Merchant's Bank of Long Beach (RSA/Passmark)
Frost Bank (RSA/Passmark)
ING Direct (RSA)
M&T Bank (Corillian, Cydelity)
Nevada State Bank (RSA/Passmark)
North Fork Bank / All Points Capital (Arcot)
Northern Trust (Verisign)
Silicon Valley Bank (Bharosa)
Stonebridge Bank (RSA)
The Bankers Bank (Digital Persona)
United Bankers' Bank (Digital Persona)
U.S. Bank (Entrust)
Washington Mutual (RSA)
Wells Fargo (Bharosa, Quova, Actimize, RSA SecureID,
Symantec)
Zions Bank (RSA/Passmark) our post

Credit Unions (7)

Automotive Federal Credit Union (BioPassword)
North Island Credit Union (RSA/Passmark) our post
Schools Financial Credit Union (RSA/Passmark)

our post

Desert Schools FCU (Bharosa)
FORUM Credit Union (BioPassword)
Parda Federal Credit Union (BioPassword)
Stanford Federal Credit Union (RSA/Passmark) our post

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Blog Sighting: Toronto Electrical Utilities Credit Union

By Jim Bruene Posted on October 24, 2006
Categories: Bank 2.0, Blogs

Toronto Electrical Utilities Credit Union <teucu.com>, the ninth North American financial institution blog, and third in Canada, debuted Aug. 15 at <teucu.ca/blog>. The other eight are listed here.

The CU has done a reasonably good job keeping the blog alive with 11 posts in its first two months. The posts have been all business, ranging from notice of an ATM service interruption to a discussion of loan options.

The CU allows comments, and so far 13 have been posted. None were particularly interesting, mostly "thanks for the info." That will change as users understand what blog comments are for (i.e., furthering the "conversation" or adding some informational value).

The blog runs on Google's free Blogger platform (see screenshot below). It's an OK start, but the CU should invest a few hundred dollars in upgrading the template as soon as possible.

TEUCU publicizes the blog in a prominent spot on its homepage (see inset).

Thanks to the guys at Trabian for the scoop.

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TrueCredit Email: "Credit is Scary"

By Jim Bruene Posted on October 24, 2006
Categories: Credit Reports & ID Theft Protection, Email Marketing, Email Samples

I'm a sucker for holiday-themed messages. There's something about a big, well-timed graphic that makes an email stand out from the crowd.

Here's the latest from TrueCredit, a prolific emailer to ex-customers such as myself. I usually hear from them every week or two.

Date: Tue 24 Oct 2006 9:27 AM
From: TrueCredit [truecredit@email.truecredit.com]
Subject: Autumn Special: James's 3 credit scores

Personalization used: My first name in the subject and message body

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South Carolina Federal Credit Union Fails to Simplify its Homepage

By Jim Bruene Posted on October 24, 2006
Categories: Website Usability & Design

It's not often that a press release leads directly to a Netbanker post, but here's an example. We received an announcement last week that South Carolina Federal Credit Union <scfederal.org> was launching a complete rebranding under the "life simplified" theme (press release here).

We eagerly headed to its homepage, expecting to find a site that did for banking what Google did for search. In other words, a website that instantly lays out the critical tasks for online banking customers.

What we found was good, and light years ahead of its old homepage (see End Notes below), but it was not revolutionary. The homepage design follows most best-practices including the left-hand log-in area, tabular main navigation, and site search and other utilities in the upper right.

The first navigation tab is Convenience. That's an unusual choice that could help the CU differentiate its member benefits. However, the laundry list of electronic and online banking features cited have been industry standards since 1997.

Website visitors are not going to walk away thinking "that credit union really saved me time." If anything, the homepage is somewhat cluttered with 80 hyperlinks, many in small type, plus another dozen or so in two lefthand, drop-down boxes. Five choices are simple (see Google above). Eighty are not.

The credit union missed a great chance to build a website that clearly directs users towards what they most want from their credit union: online access, customer service, and research.

Grades
Homepage design: A- (a bit cluttered)
Navigation: B (too many choices)
Homepage fit with "life simplified" branding effort: C-

End Notes (click on the link below to see the old homepage)

Previous homepage (from Google cache, Oct. 3)

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