Online Banking Report

New Online Banking Report Published: Growing Deposits in the Digital Age

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Deposits, Checking, Savings, CDs, Online Banking Report, Strategies

image Every banker talks about the importance of core deposits, but in most years it’s hardly front-page news: 2008 changed that.

As demonstrated by the shocking downfall of WaMu, Wachovia, and others, a stable deposit base is crucial to your profitability, your brand, and even your viability as an organization.

As a result, deposit product marketing is on the forefront of many bank and credit union marketing plans for 2009 and beyond. With that in mind, we offer the latest issue from Online Banking Report:

Growing Deposits in the Digital Age:
Seventeen smart strategies for gathering core deposits while building your brand

The report includes 72 pages of ideas, tactics, and strategies to expand retail deposits in 2009 and beyond. It was written by guest author Jeffry Pilcher, a branding and marketing guru who recently launched his own brand consultancy, ICONiQ. Pilcher joins OBR Editor Jim Bruene in looking at seventeen promising deposit-building strategies. Many are tried-and-true techniques, such as sweepstakes and rewards, updated with a digital touch. While others, such as bidding on deposits at auction at MoneyAisle, are pure Internet-enabled inventions.

Online Banking Report subscribers may download the report (here) free of charge. Others may purchase (here).

The seventeen strategies explored in Growing Deposits in the Digital Age:

  • Customizable accounts
  • Debit savings rewards
  • DIY online-only accounts
  • Deposit auctions
  • Gen-Y checking
  • Green banking
  • High-yield/big rate
  • Instant online depositing
  • Mobile savings apps & online widgets
  • Online savings buzz
  • Rewards checking
  • Savings automation & incentives
  • Social savings contests
  • Socially conscious banking
  • Sweepstakes & giveaways
  • Social “friends & family” savings

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New Online Banking Report Published: 2009 Planning Guide

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Business Planning, Marketing, Online Banking Report, Planning, Strategic Planning, Strategies

image With the financial crisis still in full swing, it's not easy to concentrate on the 2009 plan. But focus you must.

You can bet that companies emerging from this mess as winners are working overtime right now, plotting how they will grab your market share next year. Yes, budgets will be down, but thanks to the Web and social media, there are more cost-effective opportunities than ever to get your message out.

With that in mind, we offer the latest issue from Online Banking Report, our 14th annual Planning Guide for Online & Mobile Banking (see note 1).  

It includes 72 pages of ideas, tips and tools to help you generate new ideas, plans, and strategies for 2009 and beyond. Subscribers, Online Banking Report subscribers, may download it (here) free of charge. Others may purchase (here).

While more than 500 online banking product and marketing ideas are published in the report, we hand-selected 20 projects for the 2009 hot list (in alpha order):

  • Activity ticker
  • Balance conversions
  • Credit score/report zone
  • Flat-fee mortgage
  • Green banking
  • High-yield deposit accounts
  • Home equity center
  • iPhone/Android native app
  • Long-term archives
  • Micro/small-business services
  • Peer-to-peer loan facilitation
  • Personal finance functionality 
  • Premium/VIP online services
  • Prepaid/gift cards
  • Problem mortgage resource center
  • Retirement center
  • Service standards/guarantees
  • Social media/blogging
  • Usage-based contests/rewards
  • Widgets

Note:
1. The Netbanker blog (established 2004) and Online Banking Report (established 1994), are written and published by the same company.

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Online Banking Report Looks at New Security Technologies that Promise More Peace of Mind

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Authentium, Best of the Web, ING Direct, Online Banking Report, Security & Privacy, Trusteer

image With bad news pouring down from all corners of the financial services world, it’s a difficult time to be a bank marketer no matter what condition your financial institution is in (see note 1).

imageBut besides sending reassuring emails to your customers, highlighting your strong balance sheet on your website (see inset), and for the few with blogs, dropping the occasional rosy post into the RSS or Twitter feed (note 2), what’s a banker to do?

When fear is rampant, little things can make a difference. Your customers have long been nervous about banking online. Most aren’t afraid enough not to use it, but lingering doubt remains.

Now might be a great time to follow the lead of ING Direct, Firstrade, and Muriel Siebert and introduce a software solution that provides extra security for online banking. While it won’t make a Fannie Mae shareholder any happier, it’s reassuring in these times that at least there are no crooks stealing your username and password.

obr_bestofwebOnline Banking Report publishes Security 4.0 (note 3)
In the latest Online Banking Report, we look at several promising software solutions that allow even malware-infested users to connect safely to their bank. Both solutions earned OBR Best of the Web designations (note 4): 

  • Rapport from Trusteer, now being distributed by ING Direct in the United States and Canada (previous post here)
  • SafeCentral from Authentium, being distributed by Firstrade and in testing at several major banks (Finovate Startup demo video here)

Online Banking Report: Security 4.0 Tabl of Contents Sep 2008We also take a closer look at Bank of America’s SafePass (previous post here), which is an easy way for customers to add an extra security layer to their login, although it won’t prevent certain malware to hijack the session. See the inset for the complete Table of Contents.

Online Banking Report subscribers may download it now here. Others may download abstract here, or purchase here. Cost is US$495. 

Notes:
1. But be thankful if your financial institution is not in the headlines right now. I’m in the hometown of WaMu and the headlines this morning were not pretty.
2. Blog post from Verity CU on 16 Sept.; Twitter update from First Federal today   
3. Our fourth full Online Banking Report on security/privacy; previous reports were #119, #93/94, and #48. 
4. OBR Best of the Web awards are given periodically to pioneering online banking features. It is not an endorsement of the company or product, just recognition for what we believe is an important development. Trusteer and Authentium were the 71st and 72nd recipients of the designation since we began awarding them in 1997.

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New Online Banking Report: New Models for Lead Generation

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Best of the Web, Credit Karma, FiLife, MoneyAisle, Online Banking Report

imageOur parent publication, Online Banking Report, has published a new report: New Models for Lead Generation: How auctions, community recommendations, product placements, and specialized search provide alternatives to Google AdWords.

Not only is this the longest report title in our history, it’s the first time we’ve looked specifically at lead gen sites (click on the Table of Contents right, to download the abstract).

obr_bestofwebThe report was inspired by MoneyAisle, an auction-based retail deposit market, that debuted June 9. Although a few kinks need to be worked out, we are impressed by its work and are awarding it the second OBR Best of the Web this year (see note 1 and Credit Karma below).

But auctions were not the only new lead-gen model we looked at. Others included:

The report, which includes a 10-year forecast for auction and personal finance community involvement, is available as part of an annual Online Banking Report subscription or it can be purchased individually for $495 here.

Next month: New security technologies your customers are going to love, or not.

Screenshot: Credit Karma offer page: Countrywide’s high-yield savings offer is rated positively by 53% of Credit Karma users and earns a composite score of 63% which also factors in clickthrough rates and exclusivity, see box in upper right (9 July 2008)

image

Note:
1. The first winner in 2008 was SmartyPig (here). Best of the Web awards are given for new products/features that “raise the bar” for online banking. It is neither an endorsement of the company, nor the product itself. See previous coverage here.

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New Online Banking Report Published: Social Investing Communities

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Investment Products, Online Banking Report, Social Media, Social Networks

imageThe latest research from our Online Banking Report division is now available. It’s a double issue (#152/153) released today entitled:

Online Investing Communities: Will social networking revolutionize saving & investing?

We believe social networking will eventually play a large role in online investing, and evidently we are not alone. We found 54 companies involved in investment-information exchange and only six of those have monthly traffic of 100,000 or more.

So, while we like the idea, it will take awhile to catch on. Only about 25% of the U.S. population owns individual stocks, and only a small subset of those make a trade every year. Furthermore, the prime social networking demographics, those younger than 35, are less likely to own or follow stocks. As a result, we project that it will be well into the next decade before adoption passes the 10% mark.

In preparing the report, we asked 400 U.S. online users their thoughts about the idea of sharing investment info in a social network setting setting such as Zecco Share or Motley Fool CAPS (see note 1). While there was a decent amount of interest from the under-30 group, 30% were somewhat or very interested, the overall enthusiasm for the idea among all U.S. adults (21+) was only 22%. See the full report for more research results and the resulting 10-year social investing forecast.

About the report
Subscribers may download the report here as part of their annual subscription plan. Others may purchase it here. The printed version will be mailed to subscribers later this week. 

For more information read the abstract here.

Note:
1. We asked U.S. online users for their opinions about social networking for investment information (fielded April 18-19, 2008, n = 401). The top-level results are including in the report. For more detail, All-Access subscribers may download a complete summary PDF document of all questions and answers or download an Excel file of the raw data. In addition, All-Access subscribers may use our online research tools to run their own cross-tabs and filters on the dataset. The dataset will be available next week through subscriber accounts at OnlineBankingReport.com.

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New Issue of Online Banking Report Published Today

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Online Banking Report, Search Engine Marketing

obr_cover_oct07We just finished the latest from our Online Banking Report, entitled Searching for Customers 3.0 (see note 1). The report takes a fresh look at search engine marketing for financial institutions including local search, financial keyword selection, how to leverage social media such as blogs to improve your organic results, and more.

It’s 36 pages long with 11,000 words and 28 tables. The report includes overall search marketing trends and metrics. We also dive deep into the most popular financial search terms and to help you uncover new ideas for your own search marketing tactics.

Online Banking Report subscribers may download the report here. All other may purchase it for US$245 (single user) here. The abstract is available here.

Note:

1. The “3.0” in the report title means it’s the third time we’ve covered this subject during the 13-year history of Online Banking Report. We also looked at search in April 2003 (OBR 95) and June 2001 (OBR 69) when Google AdWords was just getting rolling.

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New Online Banking Report Available: 2008 to 2017 Forecast

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Market Research & Metrics, Online Banking Report

image The latest Online Banking Report: 2008 to 2017 Online Banking & Bill Pay Forecast, is now available. It was mailed yesterday to subscribers. It's also available online here. There's no charge for current subscribers; others may access it immediately for a charge of US$395.

The report includes our latest 10-year online banking and bill pay forecast. This year we bumped our long-term usage forecast by 10% to 15% due to a more robust outlook for adoption, especially from mobile-only users (see note 1). For example, we are now projecting 64 million U.S. households banking and/or paying bills online by 2012 compared to last year's forecast predicting 56 million in the same period.

We're still not quite as bullish as Forrester, who's calling for 72 million online banking households by 2011 (post here), but we've closed the gap (note 2). 

In addition to the forecast, we summarized the top ten innovations of the past year. Thanks for the input from all the readers who answered our call for nominations in late December. We'll publish the list here in a few weeks, after subscribers have a chance to see it first.

Note:

  1. While we show mobile usage as a separate line item in the forecast, mobile-only banking users are included in the overall online banking forecast. 
  2. By comparison, our forecast for 2011 is 62 million. 

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New Online Banking Report Published: Person-to-Person Lending 2.0

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Lending Club, Loans & Credit, Online Banking Report, P2P Lending, Prosper, Virgin Money, Zopa

For much of the past four or five weeks I've been researching and testing person-to-person lending sites. I've become a lender and have gone through the borrowing process at all three major U.S. P2P lending exchanges: Prosper, Zopa, and Lending Club. Plus I set up friends and family with loans at Virgin Money USA and LoanBack.

It was all part of the research process for the latest Online Banking Report entitled, Person-to-Person Lending 2.0: Disruptive service or market niche? That report is now available at our main website (here).*  

I had originally intended on publishing it in early December. But as I was trying to wrap things up, Zopa launched its new U.S unit. So I stopped the presses and added an analysis of its unique model. Then as I was finishing that, Lending Club made a significant change last week, becoming a national lender instead of state-sanctioned one. That too is now in the report. 

Here's a summary of the major fourth quarter activity in the person-to-person lending sector:

  • Oct. 2: Prosper overhauled a number of its lending tools, which were announced at our FINOVATE conference Oct. 2 (video here) 
  • Oct. 6: Virgin Money (formerly CircleLending) launched its revamped friends-and-family service with a splashy debut in Boston with Virgin founder Richard Branson leading the parade (coverage here)
  • Dec. 3: Zopa launched its U.S. version, an entirely new way of looking at the P2P space (coverage here)
  • Dec. 13: Lending Club went national in a unique partnership with WebBank

________________________________________________

*Subscribers may download the report free of charge.
Others may purchase it as an individual report.

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New Online Banking Report Published: 2008 Planning Guide

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Online Banking Report, Strategic Planning, Strategies

Link to Online Banking Report 2008 Planning Guide Over at Online Banking Report, we just posted the latest report, our 13th annual Online Banking Planning Guide (2008 version). It includes 60 pages of ideas, tips and tools to help you generate new ideas, plans, and strategies for 2008 and beyond. Subscribers, you may download it now (here) as part of your subscription. Others may purchase (here).

While there are more than 500 online banking product and marketing ideas in the report, we hand-selected 15 to put on the hot list for next year:

  • Alt-mortgage zone
  • Balance transfers
  • Fraud monitoring
  • Green banking
  • High-yield savings
  • Home equity center
  • Long-term archives
  • Microbusiness services
  • P2P loan servicing
  • Personal finance
  • Premium/VIP online banking option
  • Prepaid cards
  • Problem mortgage help
  • Web 2.0
  • Widgets

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New Online Banking Report Now Available: A Look at Online Delivery of Credit Report Monitoring Services

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Credit Reports & ID Theft Protection, Online Banking Report

Online Banking ReportJust a quick note to let you know that the latest Online Banking Report has just been uploaded to our website. It’s title: Online Credit Monitoring Services: The robust business case for financial institution distribution. I’ll post some conclusions from the report later, but you can read the abstract here. 

Subscribers, you can download it now (here) free of charge. Everyone else, it’s US$595 on its own, or for “just” $500 more you get the new report plus a stack of others, including our report on Social Personal Finance, Mobile Banking, Mobile Payments, the latest online banking forecast and more. 

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MySpace Meets Quicken: What’s Happening in Social Personal Finance

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Best of the Web, Buxfer, Online Banking Report, Wesabe

Link to Online Banking Report

Last week, I promised to provide more details on the conclusions in our latest Online Banking Report, Social Personal Finance: Will social networking revolutionize personal finance? It was mailed to subscribers last Friday, so it should be making its way through inter-office mail as we speak (or download here). 

Here are the major themes/conclusions from the report:

  1. Social networks are the new main street; so banks that want to be where their customers are should NOT ignore social networks.
  2. There are many ways to bring social networking concepts into mainstream banking sites, for instance blogs and forums allow conversations to take place with both customers and employees participating.
  3. The leaders in the space now are startups such as Wesabe and Lending Club. But what they gain in social networking savvy, they more than give back in lack of trust. So financial institutions are still incredibly relevant in social personal finance.
  4. In the future, social networks may become so trusted that they can function as a virtual credit union, bringing together members to provide each other with financial services (e.g., P2P lending) or using their clout to negotiate deep discounts with financial providers (e.g., affinity credit cards).

 Social personal finance innovators profiled in the report include:

  • Buxfer — Named OBR Best of the Web in the report for several pioneering features, including login via third-party APIs, transaction input via email, file appending, Google gadget, and budget alerts
  • Wesabe — Also named OBR Best of the Web for its integration of personal spending records with the wider community

We also looked at Mint, Geezeo, Lending Club, Wells Fargo, and Intuit's new Personal FinanceWorks and Small Business FinanceWorks.

—-

For more information on the report see the landing page here or download the abstract here. And for Colin Henderson's take at The Bankwatch, go here.

 

 

 

 

 

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New Online Banking Report Now Available: Social Personal Finance

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Online Banking Report, P2P Lending, Personal Financial Management, Social Networks

Link to Online Banking Report Wow, I can breath again. I just loaded the latest Online Banking Report on to our website, Social Personal Finance: Will social networking revolutionize personal finance? I'll post a summary later. Subscribers, you can download it now (here) free of charge. Everyone else, it's US$395 on its own, or for "just" $700 more you get the new report plus a stack of others, including our report on Web 2.0-ing your Bank, Mobile Banking, Mobile Payments, the latest online banking forecast and more.

Thanks to Scott at Payments News and Colin at The Bankwatch, who've already given the report a mention. And thanks to the Bryan Donovan and the folks at Compete, who provided a new online financial services data snapshot that I know you are going to find extremely valuable. More on that tomorrow.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled blog.  

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