It looks like the Financial Services industry in Spain is now leading the way in social media in Europe. In the last couple of weeks I posted two articles about the launch of HippoListo.es, the Spanish version of SmartHippo.com, and Caja Navarra's new service cancha24.
Since the launch of their Civic Banking concept back in 2004, Caja Navarra has been the most passionate champion for transparency in banking, constantly innovating and embracing social media to give a voice to their community. Check their community blogs.
In the last 18 months, BBVA has been one of the busiest banks in social media: they launched their own online community, actibva.com, and they engage with their clients via their personal financial management service/community provided by moneyStrands, tucuentas; they launched their virtual campus to attract talent, and demonstrate their commitment to innovate on their planta29 blog.
And even though nothing major has materialized yet from the Banco Sabadell Labs, launched by Banco Sabadell in partnership with IBM, stay tuned! Indeed, their Head of Innovation Pol Navarro is one of the most enthusiastic champions for innovation and he understands social media very well.
And on Friday 13th November, Bankinter launched their Bankinter Labs. It is not their first initiative in the social media space, back in October 2007 the bank opened a branch in whyville.com, a learning-based virtual world for digital kids.
Interviews @ BarCampBank in Madrid I very much look forward to meeting my fellow innovators who lead those initiatives at BarCampBank in Madrid. I already have a few video interviews scheduled. Stay tuned on Visible Banking!
The Bankinter Labs
Bankinter Labs aims to share the ideas we are working in Bankinter to receive your opinion on how we can improve and give better service.
To achieve this, we provide the tools necessary to encourage your participation and collaboration in each project. Bankinter Labs is based in the community, without you this is nonsense. Our commitment is to innovate, create and listen to your measure.
Every day, Bankinter Labs team working to launch new projects, our basic motivation is to be part of one of the most innovative web 2.0 projects. We firmly believe that this laboratory will not be one more, we show what we do, the projects we develop, always with the level of demand that those who trust us planteáis us.
Welcome to Bankinter Labs A different space. Create with us this difference. Help us to grow.
Source: about us page via Google Translate
Prefect Approach to Innovation
I love Bankinter's initiative based on no non-sense / no frills, a very simple yet ok interface... and a presence on the most popular social media sites to increase awareness and drive contribution in a cost effective way!
Finding a budget is one of the key challenges innovation teams are facing in the Finance industry. Releasing such a platform doesn't take neither too much time nor much money. In the current climate, where most financial institutions slashed their innovation budget or simply shut down the Innovation function, this is the right approach.
Kudos to the Bankinter Innovation Team!
5 Projects Listed So Far (on 16th November 2009)
In just a few days after launch, including the weekend, we already see a good level of activity on the site. It looks promising.
Please find below the 5 projects sorted by activity level with a short description (source: Google Translate).
1. 'New ways to visualize your movements': 22 entries / 31 comments / 570 visits
Your movements more graphics, more capable
We all want to better manage our domestic economy, do you have achieved with the new features in the office of movement? Help us find out.
Most important features: Possibility to label each movement, View progress of each category, View time evolution of all movements, View chart of expenditure and income distribution by type, Watch movements between specific dates.
2. 'Top 10 Operations': 9 entries / 16 comments / 452 visits
All our operations favorite to reach.
Each one of us used differently Bankinter and staff. Need help having our operations and queries grouped in one place?
Most important features: Ability to access our favorite operations quickly, Check the connections in previous consultations, Consult more easily performs operations more each.
3. 'Bankinter environment Labs': 7 entries / 14 comments / 299 visits
Environment to test new features, products or services together with customers to define the final format.
We found it interesting to hear your views on the project launches and changes in our website. We offer firsthand the projects where we work, to undertake assessments to help us get to your need as a customer.
Do you think that the tools we put at your disposal are useful for gathering sufficient and collaboration? Do you like our look? Is it easy to interact with us? You think I managed to meet our goals? Any comments on this environment will be welcome.
4. 'Most requested funds': 2 entries / 3 comments / 134 visits
What kind of client funds Bankinter usually hire?
When we invest our money that may be interesting to have information on the funds most valued by our customers in a graphic and visually appealing, have we got?
5. 'Bankinter Network': 2 entries / 3 comments / 86 visits
Can you recommend where to eat today? Prototype Community Information.
We all want to know the best places to eat or shop and we would like to have information about where people are actually going to eat or where to purchase their airline tickets, how they do it and read its recommendations.
This is the first report of recommendations based on actual spending, using data from customer transactions Bankinter. We want to know what you think and what information you'd like to view.
Social Media Presence
I invite you to visit the Bankinter Labs microsite, check their blog, follow them on twitter @BankinterLabs and become a fan of their Facebook group 'Yo formo parte de Bankinter Labs' (why not creating a page instead of a group?).
The stats from today look very promising:
* Twitter account: 96 followers, listed on 4 lsits, created 5 lists, sent 28 tweets
* Facebook group: 71 members of their Faceook group, 1 video
Videos Available on the Bankinterlabs YouTube Channel
The Team have also created an official YouTube channel which counts 2 videos so far.
Bankinter Labs: The launch - 333 views
Bankinter Labs: Top 10 Operations - 85 views
More Innovation Labs in the Visible Banking Directory
I invite you to check my directory of social media initiatives in financial services. I dedicated a section to the Innovation Labs and the platforms for Idea Collection. Other financial institutions listed: Wells Fargo, Fidelity, USAA...
Related Articles on Visible-Banking.com
* Video Interview with Pol Navarro, Head of Channels & Innovation at Banco Sabadell
* Visible Banking Social Media Watch Series (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Blogs)
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