Banking 2.0 V-News: Focus on Wells Fargo

From my opinion, Wells Fargo is "The" perfect example of how a bank should leverage the web 2.0. Tim Collins, SVP Experiential Marketing, and Ed Terpening, VP Social Media, surely have two of the most exciting jobs in the banking industry!

Back in 2005, Wells Fargo became one of the most innovative banks online when they became the first major bank to have a presence on Second Life.

vSafe: online storage facility
Last week, Wells Fargo announced the launch of v-Safe, another innovative service available online.
 
The service will allow customers to securely store documents such as financial statements, loan and tax documents, wills, passports and birth, marriage and death certificates in an electronically secure centralised location.

In the UK, BT successfully launched its BT Digital Vault service. And O2 is currently extensively promoting its O2 Bluebook service.
WF's goal is surely to increase stickiness, customer retention. Will they also manage to somehow increase the share of wallet of their users?

According to you, is it the role of telcos or banks to help us store our valuable documents?

I welcome another innovative initiative from Wells Fargo, but shouldn't banks focus first on increasing the level of security of online banking? Many customers are still not comfortable with banking online... Are they ready to trust their bank and store non-financial documents online? Won't they see that as another way for banks to profile them?
 
Related articles on Visible Banking
* Wells Fargo 2.0
* Wells Fargo co-Founds "the Blog Council"
* Interview Erik Hauser, Creative Director @ Swivel Media
* CenterStage: Wells Fargo First Consumer-Generated Marketing Program

News on finextra: Wells Fargo's online initiatives
Please note that the list is not exhaustive.

* Wells Fargo unveils online storage service - 20/03/08
* The Blog Council is born with Wells Fargo as co-founder - 10/12/07
* Wells Fargo introduces online workstation for commercial customers - 18/10/07
* Why Wells Fargo left Second Life - 13/06/07
* Wells' Web makeover woos punters and analysts- 25/05/07
* Wells Fargo introduces Webcast series for small businesses - 26/04/07
* Wells Fargo: Adventures in the blogosphere - 30/03/07

European Tech Tour - Web & Communities Summit: a great web 2.0 event

The European Tech Tour Web and Communities Summit was a great success.

Attending the event was an exceptional opportunity to network with the top European VCs, the top 25 start-ups and their CEO/Founder, the top executive search firms, and the media (press & prominent bloggers).

I have only heard a extremely positive feedback from all the finalists and the delegates.

Congratulations to the organizers: Sven Lingjaerde, Founder & President at European Tech Tour Association, and Yann Mauchamp, Executive Director Web & Communities Summit 2007, and to their team members: Simone Theiss, Meryll Moreau, Pamir Gelenbe and Stephane Ville to name a few.

The 25 finalists
I met with most of the CEOs, and they were all very enthusiastic about the Summit.


Depending on the stage of their company, their expectations & goals varied quite a bit.


But they all agreed that the Summit was a superb opportunity to:
* raise your profile and gain more exposure in the industry
* identify potential investors (and more likely, being identified by VCs)
* network with other entrepreneurs
 
The 25 start-ups which have made the final are:
Amiando, Bragster, coComment, CyberSports, Dailymotion, delilui, Double Trump International, Flashgames247.com, Goojet, Handmade Mobile, MyThings, NEO, Polar Rose, Qype, Refresh Mobile, Seatwave,  sMeet, TestFreaks, Truphone, Wazap, WeFi, Wikio, WooMe, Xcerion, Zyb Technologies.

Sectors: dating, internet content - video, online ticketing, e-commerce, online advertising, online games, mobile internet, mobile telecom, social networking, virtual worlds.

Congratulations to the teams behind those innovative startups!

Interviews
A special thank to Meryll Moreau who give me a hand and helped me schedule the video interviews.

I think we have done extremely well, with 17 video interviews shot in just one day:
* Wikio - Pierre Chappaz, Founder & CEO (ex-Founder of Kelkoo)
* Dailymotion - Mark Zaleski, Chairman
* CyberSports - Malcolm Clark, CEO
* Seatwave - Joe Cohen, CEO
* smeet - Marc Fleischmann, CEO
* TestFreaks - Kristofer Arwin, CEO (ex-Founder of Pricerunner)
* Flirtomatic - Mark Curtis, CEO
* cocomment - Matt Colebourne, CEO
* Goojet - Marc Rougier, CEO
* Amiando - Felix Haas, CEO
* mippin - Scott Beaumont, co-Founder
* neo - A.Nabergoj, CEO, and M.Pangerc, CTO
* WeFi - Amit Shaked, VP
* Bragster - Bertrand Bodson and Wil Vernaeve, co-Founders
* DiLeLui.com - Jerome Boudot, CEO, and Celine Salomon, co-Founder
* navx - Jean Cherbonnier, CEO
* YouFig - Allon Mason, co-Founder
 
Great networking
I met over 65 people one-to-one from the following companies:
24 access, Accel Partners, Amastrust, amiando, Atlas venture, ballou>>pr, Bragster, Brown Rudnick, BusinessWeek, Calibre One, Clipperton Finance, ClusterBridge, cocomment, CyberSports, Dailymotion, dilelui.com, eBay, Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, endeavourvision, European Respiratory Society, European Tech Tour, EuroUS Ventures, Flirtomatic.com, Forsyth Group, goojet, GPXS, Heads!, Holtzbrinck Ventures, Invision, IQ Capital Partners LLP, iris capital, LegitiName, LeShop.ch, Logitech, Lund XY, mippin, navx, neo, OpenWays, Partech International, Perey, Profession web.ch, Reuters, Sesame Partners, smeet, Swisscom, SwissCyber, Test Freaks, Weber Shandwick, WeFi, Wellington Partners, Wikio, World Economic Forum, Xcerion, youfig, zyb.

Photos

Thanks again to Yann and Sven for inviting me to cover the summit.

adtech London 07: interview with Mark Rogers, CEO of Market Sentinel

I met Mark Rogers after the session about Monitoring Consumer Conversations Online. Market Sentinel helped Avis, the leading car rental company in the UK, to launch their blog WeTryHarder in January 2007. 

Avi's main goal for the blog is to engage with its customers and provide the best customer service.

There is a similarity with the heavily regulated banking industry, and the risk of brand damage. Indeed, the car rental industry has been subject to bad press in the last couple of years. Xavier Vallee, Head of Marketing at Avis UK, proudly admitted that Avis put themselves in the line of fire.

Avis wanted to give their customers the chance to express themselves, they wanted to create a dialog. Xavier and his team make sure they respond to every comment, positive and negative.
Being sincere, honest and showing that you listen can help you not only win back an angry customer but turn to a brand ambassador.
 
Avis approach, with the help of Market Sentinel, is excellent: not only they make sure to respond to every comment on their blog (they have over 300 comments to date) but they also engage with influential industry bloggers, and they proactively browse forums. They surely got inspired by Dell or Sony.

Avis even won an award with their blog: SOCAP Award for innovation in Customer Service.

Mark's advice on how to implement a successful blogging strategy
A blog is an excellent medium to engage with your customers, as long as you make sure you respond to your customer comments.
But how do you show you understand your customers? How can you respond? How can you measure success?

adtech London 07: interview with Catherine Ossemerct, Head of Media-Channels at Fortis Merchant & Private Banking

I got in touch with Catherine back in July. We have exchanged our thoughts on social networking and the innovative platform Fortis launched back in February 2007, Join2Grow.biz.

Join2Grow is a social network for European Entrepreneurs. I invite you to check my first post on Join2Grow and my post on phase 2.

By the way, on Tuesday 26th September, they released the phase 3: the platform now offers a forum feature to its members.

Presentation of Join2Grow
During our conversation, Catherine explains Fortis strategy and goals for Join2Grow and she gives a few statistics about the website which counts now over 2,000 members.

Please remember that they target a very specific audience: the number of members is limited and so is the risk of brand damage due to bad comments and User Generated Content.

adtech London 07: interview with Fergus Hampton, CEO of Millward Brown Precis

Before executing a Web 2.0 project, it is important to clarify your objectives. What is your goal? Does it really make sens to launch a blog, a social network, or an island in Second Life?

Voices in Business - The Banking 2.0 Podcast

Voices in Business invite leading expert voices to be interviewed about the challenges and opportunities their industry sectors face.

Voices in Business cover various (trendy) industry sectors: Payments Podcast, MiFID Podcast, B2B Marketing Podcast, Banking 2.0 Podcast, Faster FS Podcast and Customer First Podcast (08 August 07)

Please note that all the interviews (audio podcasts) are available for free on the industry blogs.
 
About The Banking 2.0 Podcast
The Banking 2.0 Podcast is an audio series from Voices In Business, investigating how the proliferation of Web 2.0 tools and technologies is changing how Banks interact and communicate with customers, regulators and other stakeholders.

I invite you to listen to the first two interviews available so far:
* Nick Sandall, Head of Retail Banking at Deloitte - Branch Banking
* Wichert van Engelen, Director, Innovation at ING Retail Bank - Second Life

Well done Mike!



Also, I advise you to listen to another very good interview available on the B2B Marketing Podcast:
* Ingrid Van Den Hoogen, Senior Vice President, Brand, Global Communications & Integrated Marketing at Sun Microsystems - Web 2.0 & Second Life

first direct interactive

firstdirect interactive: video review on Visible Banking
In February/March 2007, fd launched their fd interactive platform which goal is to enhance the way they communicate with their clients; they want to create a community.

It is an excellent initiative, but even though they use some web 2.0 features such as video & audio podcasts and a RSS feed, the content of the site is still not user generated.

Please find below my video review of the platform.



first direct launched in 1989. It rapidly became the most recommended bank in the uk. It is a direct bank which belongs to the HSBC Group. It was the very first bank in the uk "to open" 24/7.
 
first direct's history of innovations
first direct (fd) is one of the most innovative banks in the UK. They were the first bank to launch a text banking service and they even tried a 3G/UMTS video banking service back in October 2006.

* October 1989 - launched as UK's first telephone bank
* May 1999 - launched the UK's first text banking service
* November 1999 - launched internet banking
* July 2001 - launched its offset mortgage
* April 2004 - launched internet banking plus, aggregation service
* August 2006 - launched webchat service
* October 2006 - tested video banking service with 3
* February 2007 - launched their fd interactive plaftorm


first direct interactive: 7 main categories
There are 7 main sections, from fd podcasts to fd decide.
Some sections cross reference each other such as fd energy & fd virtual forest which both direct to fd podcasts.


I was surprised by how much exposure fd give to their interactive service on their homepage. Based on my experience in online sales at Lloyds TSB, product visibility is critical. Indeed, the homepage, the logon and the logoff pages are the most valuable non-restricted areas of the website to drive sales. first direct allocate up to two tiles to promote its interactive service.

fd podcasts
To date (July 2007), they uploaded 12 podcasts between 28/08/06 and 04/06/07.


* 4 audio podcasts were produced by the Financial Times
* 2 video podcasts

* It is an average of only 1 podcast per month. Unfortunately, you can't leave a comment nor rate the podcasts. You can't see how many people listened or downloaded them.
* Like on YouTube, I would love to be able to recommend the podcasts to a friend. It lacks of "community features".

fd ask
This is a regular FAQ service. There are 4 sections:
* changes to internet banking
* charging information
* mortgages
* behind the scenes

* I don't see the need for flash here. It is simply a list of FAQ with answers. There is usually no call to action, it is simply informative.
* Please note that mortgages is the only product with a dedicated category (and check fd decide!).
* It is just an anecdote, but it is not up-to-date. In the "changes to internet banking" section, there is still a question entitled "why can't I access internet banking with Safari". Whereas fd are proud to advertise on the homepage their new compatibility with Safari...

fd clarity
Providing a few video interviews of satisfied customers is a good idea. I would rather listen to someone I can trust (someone like me or a wellknown expert) than visit a purely "brochureware" website.

 
But how am I supposed to choose from all the friendly faces? The most good looking man or woman?... They should at least add a title or give more information when your cursor is on the pictures: profile, product holding, customer since X years, switcher, credit cards customer?
I selected Jennifer, a first direct customer for 8 years...

* In the text only version of fd interactive, you have access to the list of testimonials per topic (personal loans, credit cards, mortgages, high interest, credit cards, account service, mortgages, firstdirectory, customer services and current account)
* I doubt there is no script: if you listen closely to Jennifer, you will hear "in terms of them not being a high street bank, that's not an issue"...

fd virtual forest
cf my video review.
It is a clever way to communicate a positive image of the company and urge their customers to register to internet banking and their e-statements service.
Online, most sales are coming from the internet banking customers...

fd magic bus
cf my video review.




fd energy
cf my video review.



 
fd decide
One of the most interesting services on fd interactive. It is a kind of "deep dive" approach.

Mortgages are traditionally products which are complex, it is a lot of money and a significant commitment for customers. They usually want to talk to a professional. But more and more banks are providing at least a partial online application process. In their search for value, and as part of their integrated channels strategy, banks want to convert more and more customers online.

Qo is a kind of virtual assistant/advisor or advanced product selector which guides the customers: it identifies the 2 most suitable products, it guides you to the right pages on the website and it provides the right telephone numbers.

After the first question (remortgaging or new mortgage), it is a 6 step process. Qo asks you a set of fairly generic questions. During the process, it gives you some info and advice.
 
Well done first direct. It is another very interesting experiment, even tough I didn't find it that useful. It merely lists the allegedly two most suitable products, and it directs you to the mortgages category page.
You still need to better understand the products, and I wouldn't start the online application process before speaking with an expert.

I can only assume what first direct goal was with this service. I would love to find out:
* How many people start the fd decide process?
* Of those, how many answer all the questions?
* What was the uplift in terms of start of online application or volume of calls to a dedicated number?
* What is the next level for fd decide?

Key stats about first direct (July 2007)
* first direct has 1.2 million customers
* 885,000 of them use internet banking
* 390,000 customers use SMS text message banking.
* 43% of first direct's sales are via e-channels
* 80% of customer contact with first direct is electronic
 
Find more about firstdirect.

Wells Fargo 2.0

My goal with this post was to list and comment the key online initiatives & features Wells Fargo launched in the last couple of years.
Please note my list is surely not exhaustive.

I started to keep track of Wells Fargo (WF) a few month ago, at the Online_Banking_Summit_2007 in Charlotte, North Carolina. I was one of the key speakers and my panel was on banking and web 2.0.

Among my fellow speakers and the attendees, there were a few people from Wells Fargo. I am glad I had the chance to meet Richard Weeks, Senior Vice President - Business Internet Services, and his colleagues David and Barry.

Best of breed: Innovation, customer experience and web 2.0
As far as I am concerned, WF is the most innovative bank online: they use many web 2.0 features and provide one of the best customer experience on the web.

They even have a VP, social media: Ed Terpening.
Check Ed's interview.
Ed, what a great job you have!

Wells Fargo online banking services won many awards in the last couple of years: Global Finance Magazine (2005), Global Finance Magazine (2006), NetBanker (2006).

Please find below a list of articles published in 2002, 2004 and 2005 demonstrating Wells Fargo's core strategy to integrate all channels and to provide the best possible online customer experience:
* Wells Fargo: All ATMs Now Web-Enabled, All Banking Stores with Online Stations (2005)
* Wells Fargo Re-Envisions Online Banking for Corporations As It Moves to Bank of the Future Today (2004)
* Wells Fargo Leads Customer Service as First To Market, Offering Real-Time Web Collaboration To Online Commercial Customers (2002)


New Homepage: 50% increase in online application
This is one of the most recent initiatives from Wells Fargo. And it will surely be one of the most successful.

WF recently launched a new homepage designed to better meet the expectations from both visitors and customers.

Video sharing and social networking sites (like YouTube, MySpace, Facebook or Linkedin) became extremely popular and Web 2.0 is all about giving the power to people: nowadays, you can easily generate your own content (articles, audio, video), share your ideas, publish your comments... Your expectations have changed too: you expect companies to listen to you; you want your bank to act as a trusted financial partner.

With this re-design, WF has dramatically improved its customer experience, which will surely translate in better customer acquisition, better customer retention, and more online sales. Well done!

From Paul Penrose, finextra: methodology and early results
The updated Wells Fargo website takes a highly customer focused approach to ease access to most wanted features. The results have been spectacular with a 50% increase in online applications.
(...)
The bank’s Internet Services Group used site stats, survey data and internal search information to pick up on customer requirements and shortcomings in navigation and fed this back into the re-development.

The key features and tools available on the homepage are:
* Direct access to all the key features of Internet Banking,
* ATMs & Stores locator,
* Rich text content (video),
* Open an Account for the key products (you land on the first page of the application process)
* Check today's rates.

WF listened to their clients and online visitors, and they showed they were listening: this is exactly what customers were looking for.

If you want to know more about this re-design, I invite you to check the excellent case study from Forrester Research, published on 23rd May 2007.

In addition to this case study, I found some useful insight in a couple of blogs: finextra, the EDM blog and the Bankwatch.


Wells Fargo 2.0
WF use an impressively long list of available web 2.0 features such as blogging, social networking (presence on MySpace and Second Life), Podcasts, RSS Feeds, Tagging and Video sharing.

I invite you to check out the excellent Wells Fargo posts on the brilliant NetBanker blog.

Please find below some stats on Wells Fargo:
* First U.S. bank with a blog (though Verity Credit Union beat them to it by more than a year)
* First bank with a student loan blog
* First bank with a business banking blog
* First bank in the world with a Second Life presence
* First bank on MySpace at <www.myspace.com/stagecoachisland>
* First bank with 2, 3, and 4 blogs
* First bank with an avatar persona on MySpace
* First bank with a VP Social Media

It is impressive. Indeed, even though research companies such as Gartner in August 2006 advised banks to use web 2.0 features to target the youth market or increase customer retention, most banks are still cautious and are not using web 2.0 technologies.

Blogging
Most banks still refrain from launching a blog for instance. They are concerned with the potential brand damage.

Wells Fargo is extremely involved in blogging with 4 blogs.
"The Student LoanDown" blog is extremely popular among students. They have just celebrated the first anniversary of their first blog, "Guided by history".
 
Personal Finance
In a previous post, I talked about the increasing importance of providing good Personal Finance tools.

Wesabe is one of the most famous communities built around Personal Finance. 

WF provide a comprehensive service to help manage your finance: the My Spending Report service.

With this service, based on tagging, WF customers can:
* Automatically tracks their accounts in one place
* Sorts card and Bill Pay purchases into familiar categories
* Updates information automatically, every business day
* Organizes spending view by month, up to three months
* Download a year or more of your spending history
 
Podcasts
Event though their offer is not as rich and comprehensive as a first direct and its first direct interactive service, WF provide podcasts. It is another web 2.0 box you can tick.


Social networking
Banks have four options with social networking: they can
* launch a new social network from scratch with a brand new platform
* launch a new social network using one of the leading platforms such as Xing
* develop their presence on the most popular social networks such as Facebook or MySpace
* develop their presence in virtual worlds such as Second Life

Wells Fargo has a presence on MySpace (an avatar and a page) and in Second Life.

Mobile Banking
Wells Fargo is also active in Mobile Banking. They recently launched a CEO Mobile Banking service for their business banking customers.
* Wells Fargo Launches CEO Mobile Banking Service - 18 May 2007
* Wells Fargo introduces mobile banking for business customers - 18 May 2007

Site Search
Providing a search feature (or not) is a commonly debated topic in the banking industry. Indeed, it is quite challenging: ideally, you would like to access the info after one of two clicks maximum. Providing a search engine is easy. Providing useful, optimized, results is extremely challenging.

Banks have two key goals: provide the best user experience and sell more online.
The key problem is the lack of patience from the visitors: the more clicks, the bigger the drop off rates... It is a major problem which has a significant impact on the top of the sales funnel.

Usually, media agencies advise banks to encourage their users to browse their website using the navigation bars.

WF provide an elaborated Search feature: you can enter a specific question or a phrase, and the results are categorized in 4 sections: Individuals, Small business, Commercial and about Wells Fargo.



Wells Fargo Online Tour
Wells Fargo offer a good interactive presentation (in flash) to introduce its comprehensive internet banking service.

Hands on banking
This training and resource center is available at handsonbanking.org.

Wells Fargo developed this entertaining and educational program for kids, teens and adults as a commercial-free public service. It can help you improve your knowledge of:
* Budgeting
* The importance of saving
* Bank accounts and services
* Borrowing money and maintaining good credit
* Buying a home
* Investing
* Starting and managing a small business

In the library, you will find some tips categorized by topic and available in pdf format. For instance, I invite you to check WF's high level shopping and spending tips.

My Savings Plans
WF provide another interesting tool to its internet banking users: My Savings Plan. It is a clever way to:
* increase customer satisfaction improving customer experience and customer support,
* urge your clients to register to Internet Banking, save money and apply for WF saving products online.

Resources: Wells Fargo and Web 2.0
Please find below some articles on WF approach to Web 2.0.
* Wells Fargo Taps Web 2.0
* Wells Fargo Experimenting with Web 2.0
* Why Wells Fargo bank is different
* Most Business Tech Pros Wary About Web 2.0 Tools In Business
* Adoption of Web 2.0 Is Taking Off, But Some Firms Are Still Reluctant

Visible Banking News #9

On regular basis (ideally weekly), I will post a list of key news on web 2.0 & Banking.
As usual, please do not hesitate to get back to me with you remarks, or with any article I missed!

NEWS - 04 June 2007 to 10 June 2007

AWARDS
* The Three Factors for a Successful Online Banking Site - 25 April 2007

BLOGGING
* New Mobile Banking Blog from the Publishers of NetBanker/Online Banking Report - 05 June 2007

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
* May I Help You? - 04 June 2007

FRAUD
* Barclays introduces 'PINsentry' - pioneering new security for online banking - 09 June 2007
* Nordea to roll out Todos card readers to e-banking customers - 08 June 2007
* Scottrade offers free McAfee security software - 06 June 2007

LAUNCHES
* Gulf Bank Launches New Homepage - 09 June 2007
* Citibank introduces electronic deposit service - 08 June 2007
* Cingular launches mobile banking with U.S. banks - 06 June 2007

MOBILE BANKING
* Cell Phone Banking Will Bring A Microfinance Revolution - 08 June 2007
* Amplify Credit Union Proves a Good Mobile Banking Demo is Worth a Thousand Words - 08 June 2007
* 10 Ways for Banks to Leverage Apple iPhone Hysteria - 07 June 2007
* Hungama Mobile To Set Up Digital Distribution Network, Mobile Banking - 07 June 2007
* Mobile Web Use Climbing in U.S. - 06 June 2007
* Preliminary paper on mobile banking - 06 June 2007
* CNET Mobile Banking Special - 06 June 2007
* Bank of Stockton First to Launch Text-Based Mobile Banking via ClairMail - 05 June 2007
* BlackBerry Users Slow to Adopt Mobile Banking - 03 June 2007

PERSONAL FINANCE
* NetBanker | Report on Social Personal Finance - 05 June 2007
* New Online Banking Report Now Available: Social Personal Finance - 04 June 2007

PODCASTS
* Scottish Life introduces podcasts for advisers - 04 June 2007

REPORTS
* Online banking profits soar in Spain - 10 June 2008
* Looking for Loyalty Through Online Banking Tools - 08 June 2007
* By 2011, 101 Million Adult Internet Users will be Banking Online - 08 June 2007
* New Online Financial Services Performance Metrics from Compete - 08 June 2007
* Online Banking - Deploying Personal Financial Management Tools to Enhance Loyalty - 05 June 2007

SOCIAL LENDING
* P2P lending Korea - Donjoy - 07 June 2007
* BBC report on Zopa -
* Prosper Borrower Seeks "iMoney for iPhone" - 07 June 2007
* P2P Lending Korea - Popfunding and Moneyauction - 06 June 2007
* Prosper loan figures - 06 June 2007
* Banking Industry votes Social Lending as the future of finance - 04 June 2007

SOCIAL NETWORKING
* Preliminary paper on mobile banking - 06 June 2007

VENDORS
* Boubyan Bank goes live with Sybase’s Internet Banking Solution - 10 June 2007
* U.K.'s Morse to separate, list, develop mobile-banking unit - 08 June 2007
* Mellon Financial to Consolidate Web Banking Systems - 07 June 2008

WEB 2.0
* Banco Sabadell and IBM to Jointly Innovate in Web 2.0 for Financial Services - 05 June 2007

Visible Banking News #4

On regular basis (ideally weekly), I will post a list of key news on online banking & web 2.0.
As usual, please do not hesitate to get back to me with you remarks, or with any article I missed!

NEWS - 23 April to 06 May 2007

AWARDS
* Barclays wins Hitwise Top 10 Award 2006 - 05 May 2007
* Zopa wins a Webby award - 01 May 2007

BLOGGING
* 7 Online Banking Success Stories - 06 May 2007
* Blogs Bring Negative Publicity to Overdraft Charges - 30 April 2007
* New Blog: Comala Connection from Comala Credit Union - 25 April 2007
* iKobo and Nationwide Insurance Use Website Videos, with Very Different Results - 24 April 2007
* Blog sighting: Member Connect from Piedmont Credit Union - 24 April 2007

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
* Australian financial firms failing online - Talisma - 03 May 2007
* Everbank Previews its New Homepage -  26 April 2007
* San Antonio's Broadway Bank is going beyond traditional online banking - 23 April 2007

EVENTS
* Updated Online Banking & Payments Conference Calendar: May through December - 30 April 2007

FIGURES
* 300,000 Citi customers go paperless in plant a tree drive - 24 April 2007
* U.S. Online Banking Population Grew 9.5% In 2006 - 23 April 2007

FINANCE
* Citi completes Egg acquisition - 01 May 2007
* Online ID start-up Garlik secures additional £6 million VC funding - 26 April 2007

FRAUD
* Japan's FSA surveys online banking security in fraud crackdown - 06 May 2006
* Q&A: Jon Fisher, CEO of Bharosa Inc. - 02 May 2007
* Hijacked Brands from Phishing Attacks Level Off - 02 May 2007
* Number of New Phishing Web Sites Declines 40% - 02 May 2007
* Site Functionality Key to Luring Online Laggards - 01 May 2007
* Chinese banks get together to tackle online banking fraud - 01 May 2007
* Fraud watchdog calls on government to extend legislation to virtual money - 01 May 2007
* MarkMonitor to Track "Brandjacking" - 30 April 2007

LAUNCHES
* Fortis and Irish Post Office launch community banking JV - 04 May 2007
* Movistar, Santander Río launch mobile banking service - 04 May 2007
* Royal Bank of Scotland to issue Xiring smart card readers - 02 May 2007
* One-time password generator squeezed onto bank card - 01 May 2007
* Alliance & Leicester launches Premier 21 Account - 28 April 2007
* BoA and WaMu launch 2 interesting products - 26 April 2007

MARKETING
* Citibank pushes online banking - 04 May 2007
* The Bank of the Future | some thoughts on the world of cross-channel sales and marketing - 02 May 2007
* First direct plans computer shutdown to cut emissions and save energy costs - 24 April 2007

MOBILE BANKING
* Salem Five Introduces Wireless Mobile Banking Service - 04 May 2007
* A Brief Introduction to Near Field Communications (NFC) and Mobile Payments - 04 May 2007
* Nokia and Mastercard team up on mobile payments - 03 May 2007
* Banks Go Mobile - 01 May 2007
* Washington DC-based Cardinal Bank Launches WAP Mobile Banking Site - 01 May 2007
* The (Re)Birth of Mobile Banking - 01 May 2007
* What Will Drive Consumers to the Mobile Channel for Banking? - 30 April 2007
* Followup Friday: More on the Bank of America & Verizon Online Billing Co-promotion - 27 April 2007
* Morse to spin-off mobile banking unit Monitise - 24 April 2007

NEWS
* Enrollment Service brings scale to online banking growth - 04 May 2007
* Finally, Someone Explores the Downside of Going Paperless - 04 May 2007

PODCASTS
* Links from ABA's Webinar: Extreme Website Makeovers - 01 May 2007
* ANZ Bank Posts Podcasts in Snazzy Microsite - 30 April 2007
* Wells Fargo introduces Webcast series for small businesses - 26 April 2007

REPORTS
* Jupiter and Compete Reach Opposite Conclusions on Current U.S. Demand for Mobile Banking - 02 May 2007
* The bank in your pocket - 30 April 2007
* CFSI Releases New Research on Mobile Banking and the Underbanked - 30 April 2007
* UK banks failing online account applicants - research report - 24 April 2007
* By Jupiter! Consumers Don't Find Mobile Banking All that Intriguing - 24 April 2007
* JupiterResearch Finds Limited Consumer Interest in Mobile Banking - 23 April 2007

SOCIAL LENDING
* Social lending gains net interest - 04 May 2007
* Zopa claims Windows Live first to make it easier to invite new members - 02 May 2007
* Paaleads.com adds unsecured loan leads from Zopa - 01 May 2007
* Zopa - Money Making Potential? - 26 April 2007

SOCIAL NETWORKING
* The power of social networks and banking is only now becoming clear - 01 May 2007
* Launch Day at Our Virtual Holland! (ING Bank) - 30 April 2007
* Schwab Does Social Networking, Sponsors Gather.com - 25 April 2007

SECOND LIFE
* Europeans most active in Second Life - 05 May 2007

VENDORS
* RC Olmstead to market IPay EBPP technology to credit unions - 04 May 2007
* First South CU licenses Open Solutions e-statement software - 03 May 2007
* Commerce Bank to deploy Deluxe anti-fraud and CRM tools - 03 May 2007
* Xiring gains Apacs certification for online banking authentication tool - 25 April 2007
* BOK Financial signs for Corillian's online banking system - 24 April 2007
* BOK Financial Selects Corillian for Next-Generation Online Banking Services - 24 April 2007

VIDEOS
* You Tube, BoA, EY and other corporate faux pas - 30 April 2007
* UK financial fraud rising - CIFAS - 24 April 2007

WEB 2.0
* Web 2.0 Threats and Risks for Financial Services - 30 April 2007