Webank's Crowdsourced iPad Application Launches on the Apple Store

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Yesterday, I noticed an update from Webank's facebook page informing their fans of the availability of their new iPad application on the Apple store.
 


 
The application, designed to manage your Webank account easily on the move, provides a mix of standard and innovative features as well as two levels of access and content:

* 'Consultare' profile - content accessible without a second level password
- Available balance with details about your operations
- Account balance and movements about your saving deposit
- Periodic transfers list
 
* 'Consultare e disporre' profile - content accessible by entering a second level password and your birthday
- Bank transfers and mobile charges (by accessing to your payees list, previously defined on your Webank account)
- Fast transfers from account to saving deposit (and on the contrary)
- Prepaid recharges, payment slips, bank giro and charges for pay-DTT.

All those features are fairly basic and provided by most decent banking iPad applications.

7 Innovative Crowdsourced Features from the Wepad Project
From this version, the application extends its functionality by integrating progressively into the public side (and therefore open to all) some recommendations from Webank's successful WePad Project, a crowdsourcing initiative which ended about 6 months ago.

In addition to managing your Webank account, all the users can:
 
* Organize your commitments ("Calendar")






* Keep track of your activities ("To Do List")
 
* Aggregate your blogs/websites RSS feeds ("RSS Reader")

* Follow Twitter updates by Webank and contact TwitterTeamWebank operators ("Tweet Webank")
 
* See Webank audio/video productions ("Radio Webank / WebankTV")
 
* Stay always up-to-date about economic/financial news through YouTube channels and podcasts selected for you by Webank ("Podcasts / Channels recommended for you")
   
My Take
The Wepad project was truly innovative when it launched back in February, and 'on paper' a great way to build a better banking ipad application.
 
But six months after the project ended, the results of this crowdsourced initiative were still nowhere to be seen.  So it is a pleasure to see the end product.
 
Webank's approach on the ipad is faithful to their corporate values and their aim to not only be innovative but also be different and engage in meaningful conversations over and beyond financial services topics (in that respect, it is very similar to UK's first direct and their content strategy on facebook...).

Your Customized 'Information Diet'
So, unsurprisingly, most of those innovative features are available to anybody, customers and non-customers, and not focused on financial products.  Instead, they are aimed to be useful and help italians better organize themselves and get access to relevant information in a customized way.  

It is important to note that most of the content comes from Webank's other social media assets like their radio or their youtube channel.  I love that Webank has integrated its social media content into the ipad application. Users can personalise their own "information diet" (ad una sostanziale personalizzazione della propria dieta informativa). 
It is a clever way to give more exposure to their content, further maximize their investment in time and resources, and demonstrate how active, different and 'cool' they are.
  
But even though I understand the overall concept which is meant to appeal to the masses and reinforces Webank's unique position in the conservative italian banking industry, I still can't help but wonder why a 'non-customer' web user would choose to use Webank's RSS feed reader over his own reader provided by the likes of google or yahoo!... Any thoughts?
 
And it looks like the Youtube channels will be selected by Webank to 'match your needs'.  I'm keen to find out how that works and how relevant the channel selection is.  In my opinion, it'd be an excellent idea to urge the ipad users to recommend their own favourite channels and tag them by topic of interest.
 
Providing a calendar and a to-do feature sounds like a good idea, but again why would someone used to another software use Webank's app instead?  It'd be interesting to pre-populate the calendar with webank related events (such as webinars, new product launches, new social media announcements, CSR, sponsoring activities...) or suggested events linked to the user interests.  And if the app could leverage geolocalisation...  Of course, nobody wants the number of suggested events to be overwhelming.
 
Good Integration - Customer Care on Twitter
Like the native ipad app recently launched by Citibank in the US, my favourite feature is the integration with Webank's twitter support team.  It looks like Webank's integration is far sleeker than Citi's.  Thumbs up! 
I also salute Webank's perseverence: the structure of the support team with four accounts and the low volume of requests in Italy makes the amount of visibility on their facebook page, and now on their ipad application, even braver.  Well done.
 
Impact on the Business
Finally, how many prospects would decide to open an account with Webank thanks to the level of convenience provided by this one-stop-shop ipad application?  I'm eager to follow the app's performance and the impact it will have on Webank's visibility and its bottom line.

In the meantime, I invite you to find out more information about this ipad app and Webank's social media strategy by watching my interview with Carlo Panella - Head of Sales at Webank.
 
 
The video is packed with key insights on Webank's social media strategy and vision. This is not a tactic. Carlo confirmed how important it is for Webank to be where its customers are, and to provide them with excellent online relationships, equivalent to the face-to-face relationships you could find in a branch.
 
Working Together
We at Visible Banking would be delighted to help you and your team better UNDERSTAND and LEVERAGE social media in a strategic yet pragmatic way. So please don't hesitate to call me, send me an email or DM me (@Visible_Banking) to book a meeting and talk about twitter, facebook, crowdsourcing, customer reviews, social media & social commerce in banking, financial services and insurance.

Related articles on Visible-Banking.com
* All my posts related to Twitter
* All my posts related to Facebook
* Visible Banking Directory: Social Media in Financial Services
* Visible Banking Social Media Watch Series (Twitter, Facebook, Blogs)

Citibank Integrates Customer Support on Twitter into its 1st iPad App for the Mass Market

Earlier this week, Citi launched its new iPad application for the mass market, and this is exciting.

But the US giant wasn't the first bank to leverage the most popular tablet in the world, far from it. So you are wondering what all the fuss about this app is? 
 
The excitement could be explained by three key traits of the app.
 
Rich Customer Experience   
The first innovation comes from Citi's willingness to fully leverage the screen and the features of the iPad to provide their customers with a visually pleasing and interactive experience.
 
In the last 12 months, many banks all over the world launched an iPad app which in reality didn't tap into the potential of the tablet, and relied essentially on online browsing of the mobile site. Here the application has been built for the iPad, so the experience is supposed to be far superior than the experience on Citi's online banking service.
 
Personal Financial Management: PFM
Citi's app also includes a PFM tool to help their customer to better manage their finances on the go. Cool, it is getting better. And according to Sarah Perez from ReadWriteWeb, with this app Citi might even become a serious competitor for the immensely popular Mint.com in the US.
 
Twitter Integration
And last but not least, Citi integrated a feed and gives you access to its customer support team on twitter @AskCiti. Awesome. And to my knowledge, this is totally unique. This is my favourite feature, providing the app offers more than a list of phone numbers and a static twitter feed as suggested in Citi's video...

Please note that back in April 2010, and thanks to Jaime Punishill, Citi's two main twitter accounts became the first accounts from a financial institution with the 'Verified Account' badge. 
 
Key Features
Please find below the full list of features.
 
* See at a glance the activity in your linked Citi® accounts over the past 30 days
* Plan your cash flow with the help of our chart of past and future payments and upcoming transfers
* Use the slider to hone in on a specific period of detailed account activity
* View how you spend your money with our pie chart of top payees
* Learn how people spend their money (filter by location, age group, income bracket or spend type)
* Set up payments and transfers quickly with our streamlined flow
* Follow responses from @AskCiti to customer questions in real time, with our Twitter/tablet mash-up
* Let our locations finder guide you to the nearest Citi ATM or branch
* Learn more about personal finance with our frequently updated content
   
My Take
Please note this is the third iPad application launched by Citi (after the iPad app by their Private Bank and 'Citi Velocity' for their institutional clients).
 
Citi has been one of the pioneers of mobile banking when back in March 2008 they launched Mobile Money Ventures, a joint-venture with SK Telekom. I invite you to watch my video with Steve Kietz, MMV's former CEO. In the last three years, MMV has been busy releasing mobile applications essentially in Asia. Please note that in June 2011, Intuit bought MMV.

By the way, currently Citibank Malaysia is offering 100 iPad 2 to its clients in order to boost usage of online banking, adoption of electronic services such as e-statements and activity with their credit cards.

So this is a good launch and, by the look of it, a solid iPad application. But I can't help but wonder how big the impact of the application will be on Citi's adoption of online banking and its market share in the US.
 
Indeed quite a few US Bank have already released an iPad application or a sophisticated iPhone app with PFM feature such as Chase's Jot or USAA.

And other banks have proven to be even more innovative in the mobile banking space with the likes of the Standard Chartered Breeze team with their innovative wishlist feature, or the fantastically advanced Hana Bank's 'Hana N Money' mobile app.

And in terms of launch, check out how FNB in South Africa smartly managed to create a huge buzz on twitter and a dedicated hashtag which kept trending for a few days...
 
Video
I invite you to watch the video published by Citi on youtube on 22 July 2011. 


Working Together
We at Visible Banking would be delighted to help you and your team better UNDERSTAND and LEVERAGE social media in a strategic yet pragmatic way.
So please don't hesitate to call me, send me an email or DM me (@Visible_Banking) to book a meeting and talk about twitter, facebook, crowdsourcing, customer reviews, social media & social commerce in banking, financial services and insurance.

Related articles on Visible-Banking.com
* All my posts related to Twitter
* All my posts related to Facebook
* Visible Banking Directory: Social Media in Financial Services
* Visible Banking Social Media Watch Series (Twitter, Facebook, Blogs)

Banco Sabadell Turns its Homepage into a Giant iPad

Last night I received a DM from one of my good spanish friends, Pol Navarro - Senior Director, Head of Direct Channels and Innovation at Banco Sabadell: "Hey Chris, did you check the video at our homepage? Opinion? www.bancsabadell.com".
 
So today I checked Banco Sabadell's homepage only to find this:
Rather surprising design for a bank's homepage, isn't it?
 
Straight away, I though about the time, a few years ago, when I was heading up the online sales team at Lloyds TSB Consumer Banking in the UK.
 
Anyone who has been in charge of online marketing or online sales via a bank's prospect site would know how valuable every single inch of the homepage is. I remember internal departments fighting to get some premium presence on this almighty web page reached by millions of people every month.

This layout is a fantastic statement of the growing importance of the remote channels. We all know that most retail banks aim to provide a customer experience as good as the likes of Apple or Amazon. ;) But rare are the banks which would give so much exposure to their remote banking services. Only a highly innovative bank like Banco Sabadell could come up with such a move. Congrats to Pol and his team.
 
I'd like to point out the promotion of the bank's social media presence on facebook, twitter. youtube and flickr. It is easy to have some kind of presence on facebook or twitter. It requires more effort to produce content and engage with your audience. And it is important to give those channels more visibility on your own online and offline assets. 
 
I'm loving the fact that the landing page includes a live twitter feed from one of Banco Sabadell's official twitter accounts @BancoSabadell, their account dedicated to customer support (in our top 10 most followed accounts in Spain). 
 
On that topic, we are now tracking over 50 accounts dedicated to customer support on twitter as part of our Visible Banking Twitter Watch series (1,550+ accounts from 72 countries).

Please note that Banco Sabadell is one of the only banks in the world to provide 24/7 customer support on twitter.

My Take
This is an excellent move from BS. And when you know that the bank's homepage attracts 7 million unique visitors every month... I wonder how big the impact will be on the adoption and usage of their online and mobile banking offerings from their existing clients, and client acquisition.
 
By the way I invite you to read my post from last week about the brilliant mobile app launch from FNB in South Africa. Many South African are thinking of switching to FNB thanks to the overall extremely positive (and visible) comments from their customers and the lack of innovation from the other banks...

And going back to Banco Sabadell, it is not just a marketing / brand move unlike most of the recent activity in the social media and mobile space like this intiative or that one.
 
Pol and his team started to experiment and find engaging ways to leverage the remote channels. Back in 2007, they formalized a collaboration with IBM with the late Banco Sabadell Labs (which because launched too early didn't really materialize), in the last few years they successfully built several online communities on twitter and facebook, they communicate about their press releases essentially via a blogging platform, in March 2011 they launched a helpful PFM service, in April 2011 they leveraged foursquare to give more exposure to the prestigious tennis open tournament hosted by BS in Barcelona...

And in terms of mobile banking, Banco Sabadell and Pol's team have also been pretty busy lately: back in April 2010, they became one of the first European banks to launch dedicated iPhone and iPad apps, and in January 2011 Banco Sabadell became the 1st European bank to add a remote deposit cheque capture functionality to its iPhone and Android apps (USAA has been offering this service since Q3 2009).
 
Currently Banco Sabadell's remote channels are experiencing a all-time peak in terms of usage: the bank says that 80% of customer operations are currently carried out via remote banking. Of this figure, 15% of customers access their accounts via the different mobile phone channels.
 
This is outstanding. So what is your mobile banking strategy? And what is the level of your penetration and usage rates among your customer base?
If I were you, I would think about launching innovative apps not necesserarly offering the standard and basic online banking features, but apps being helpful to your clients and your prospects. On that topic I very much look forward to checking out the brand new iPad app for prospects Webank is about to launch following their successful crowdsourcing experiment "the Wepad project". You want to find out more about this new app, check my video with Carlo Panella, Webank's Head of Sales.
  
Video
Check out the video published by Banco Sabadell two days ago to support this push: "Esto no es banca a distancia, es llevar tu banco contigo."


Working Together
We at Visible Banking would be delighted to help you and your team better UNDERSTAND and LEVERAGE social media in a strategic yet pragmatic way.
So please don't hesitate to call me, send me an email or DM me (@Visible_Banking) to book a meeting and talk about twitter, facebook, crowdsourcing, customer reviews, social media & social commerce in banking, financial services and insurance.

Related articles on Visible-Banking.com
* Interview with Pol Navarro, Direct Channels & Innovation at Banco Sabadell
* All my posts related to Twitter
* All my posts related to Facebook
* Visible Banking Directory: Social Media in Financial Services
* Visible Banking Social Media Watch Series (Twitter, Facebook, Blogs)

FirstRand Bank Will Increase Its Market Share With Its Innovative Mobile Banking Apps & Twitter Activity

Today, FNB launched South Africa's first smartphone and tablet banking application, the FNB app, with a key focus on customer experience.
 
For the time being, the application is only available on iPhone, Android and BlackBerry.



FNB at the Forefront of Innovation & Digital Engagement
Over the years, FNB demonstrated its commitment to being one of the most innovative companies in South Africa, and of course in the banking industry.

Just to list a few initiatives, I invite you to check:
* 'eBucks' their successful reward programme and virtual currency (now on twitter at @eBucks),
* their ecommerce friendly website,
* their presence on facebook with the excellent FNB Premier Banking page targeting the mass affluent market, one of the 13 pages my team is tracking in South Africa as part of our Visible Banking Facebook Watch series (900+ pages and apps in 70+ countries),
* FNB Premier Banking's crowdsourcing experiment, 'Idea Bounty', launched back in 2008,
* their activity on twitter with @RBjacobs, their account dedicated essentially to customer support and one of the 10 accounts my team is tracking in South Africa as part of our Visible Banking Twitter Watch series (over 1,500 accounts in 70+ countries).

And last but not least the level of online visibility and activity from Michael Jordaan the CEO of the bank.

I invite you to follow Mike on twitter @MichaelJordaan.

 
 
Why So Much Buzz About The FNB App?
We all know how important the topics of mobile banking and mobile payments are in Africa with over 100 million of mobile users (35 million in South Africa alone). It is the most efficient way to reach out to rural Africa.

In the last few years, Africa has proved to be one of the most innovative areas of the world in regards to payments with the likes of the cellphone money service M-Pesa, highly popular in Tanzania and Kenya (but not so much in South Africa), or more recently the first commercial NFC service in Tanzania.

So far, the focus has been mainly on sms banking due to the low penetration of smartphones and mobile internet. So, you might wonder why a major bank like FNB would invest in a mobile application now? At a recent Gartner Symposium on Innovation held in Africa, Nick Jones predicted the penetration of smartphones in South Africa is likely to reach 80% by 2014. It all makes sense, don't you think?
 
Please find below the product feature of the FNB App (from their iphone app page):
- Access your banking accounts (view account balances; detailed transaction history)
- Make payments to third parties
- Transfer funds between your accounts
- Other value added services, such as:
- Use Location Based Services to find FNB ATMs or Branches
- Make and receive calls (powered by FNB Connect), including FREE calls to FNB Call Centre’s
- View Forex Rates

Please note that it is not FNB's first iPhone app. Back in May 2011, the bank launched 'the Connect App' which allows their customers to Call, SMS, Facebook and MXit chat for FREE and let you apply for bank accounts and find branches or ATM's using maps.
 
Fantastic Buzz on Twitter
Yesterday I spotted a couple of exciting tweets from @RBJacobs and @MichaelJordaan, including the one below.









The bank has done an excellent job leveraging twitter to create some buzz and generate a lot of conversations on the app. They are using two main hashtags #FNBApp and #switchtoFNB aiming to drive massive bank switches thanks to the positive feedback and online recommmendations.
 
Successful Launch: Onsite and Online
This morning, FNB organized a successful launch event with South African bloggers and other online influencers. I followed the launch on twitter via the hashtag #FNBApp which quickly became a trending topic in South Africa on the 200 million user microblogging service.
 

The conversation quickly included over 500 tweets. A special kudos to this morning's Top 10 most active tweeps: @RBjacobs, @quintinza, @Ziletm, @khadijapatel, @mist_r, @turkish_nabs, @Brettski, @rcgmobi, @Ambio, TheeAndre.

Great Twitter Coverage From @quintinza
There is no point in reinventing the wheel when one of the participants of the launch event, Quintin van Rooyen, did such a great job covering it.

Please find below some of Quintin's best tweets.
 
* FNB is very excited about the smartphone app because of the speed of adoption.
* works on 3G and Wifi, can make payments, can be linked to your account with ease. Check forex, find branches and ATM's
* allows you to make free calls to any FNB call center with FNBconnect.
* really awesome how easy making payments are.
* coming soon: Augmented Reality, eBucks, advanced payments via Google, NFC and Bump payments. cancelling stolen cards and notifications of spend limits
* Future features: augmented reality possibilities like virtual branch tours mentioned as possible future capabilities.
* not working for business accounts yet, not being ruled out as a possibility, works if you have a consumer banking platform.
* expected timeframe for keypad devices? No commitments yet. Currently only touch screen devices supported.
* currently cannot add beneficiaries on the app, in the future the capability will be included.

Initial Feedback from Twitter
I've enjoyed following the enthusiastic conversations this morning on twitter.
 
Loving that a tweep was so excited that he published a screenshot of his 1st payment including his account number. :) But do not worry, the picture is offline.
 
@thabitha Is that ur acc no. Aki? *starts hacking☺* RT @AkiAnastasiou: Just made my first payment using the #FNBApp to @shapshak twitpic.com/5sw0w1

Please find below some of the most interesting tweets as of 1:30pm GMT.
 
Customer Acquisition
* @Matsied Think I'll be moving to fnb...#FNBApp
* @rossiza #fnbapp is just another reason everyone should be banking with FNB. Seriously cool.
* @PietSous You can argue all you want but all other banks in SA are dead in the water compared to #FNB. #FNBApp is awesome so far.
* @VinylDestZA Duly impressed with #FNB's latest iPhone/Android banking app. If you bank with them, get the app! If you dont, why the hell not??
* @RobsSilverstone: Seriously considering moving to #FNB banking. Over Absa
* @NealeForrest: Wow quite excited about the #FNB. This will be a game changer. Even my wife wants to move to fnb now.
* @BrionyFickling @MichaelJordaan And that's why I switched to FNB! Great job. #FNBApp
 
Suggestions
* @naeem_coza @Rbjacobs suggestion, how about putting a qr code on the download page, saves user from searching market place for app.
* @taneshn @Rbjacobs I presume there's a #FNBapp developed specifically for the iPad on the cards. If not, please add it to the wishlist.
* @lesegokotane oh my word. #FNBApp. you answered my desires. love love love. but at 18MB it better save to my SD card. #android
 
Issues or complaints
* @maxui @AkiAnastasiou @shapshak #FNBApp That i s all well and good but how am I protected if my phone is stolen?
* @idashKB @Rbjacobs #FNBapp doesn't want to download on my BB http://lockerz.com/s/121906067
* @davegreenway @Rbjacobs Non Touchscreen BB App????? #FNBApp
* @Lion_Moose @Rbjacobs dude i am so bummed that i can't get the #fnbapp BB and all still cant get it.
* @Brettski Keypad support for the #FNBApp is doubtful… #FNB says for those users there's always Mobi and USSD… Pity… Implies that smart=touch phone…
* LeoMckay Largest smartphone manufacturer for last. Hmm. RT @Rbjacobs: #FNBApp Working on a symbian release .. unfortunately no release date yet
* @arigork Seems the #FNBApp isn't compatible with the Blackberry 9700 or 9780?
* pjvandyk
* @nduplessis #FNB wants to waste your time by letting you watch a 7 second intro movie every time and that is on an iPhone4. #FNBApp
 
Praises
* RobinHood_1 @nafisa1 OMW da new #FNBApp is totally awesome.Slick interface,very user friendly & simple 2 use. #FNB is like the #Apple of banks,brilliant.
* Raielki The #FNBApp is a winner! Easy. Functional. Safe. The best. (If you're an FNB-client with a smartphone, download it NOW!)
* SerajGool Wow!!! The FNB app for iPhone is awesome!!! A job definitely well done #FNB #FNBApp
* @cgstander @Rbjacobs wow!! What an awesome iPhone #FNBApp !! Real impressed. Thanx #FNB :)
* @webejame FNB android app is amazing! Good jobn nice and compact, fast and secure! @Rbjacobs #FNBapp
* @naeem_coza installed and got it working in less then 2 minutes. FNB android app is fantastic. Nice one #FNBapp
* @50jtaylor I am proud of FNB: love the new #FNBapp - download, setup and transfer quick and easy - already done - fantastic - well done.
* @MzansiGirl can't believe how quick the #FNBapp is. Much faster and simpler than internet banking.
* @shapshak: Don't tell @MichaelJordaan I've already installed the #FNBapp & paid someone. Slick, quick interface. Very impressive.
* @Nico_Naidoo I am quite taken aback - in a good way - at the big interest in the #FNBApp! Excitement over a bank...now that's worth a chirp or tweet...
* @DChetty Been playing with the #FNBApp. Only response is Yoh! It's SERIOUSLY shizzy. :))
* @GrahamZA To be honest I'm more excited about the #FNBapp and @GooglePlusOne app than OS X Lion....
 
Competition
* @MohamedKarolia The other SA banks better act quick if they are going to catch up with #FNB. The #FNBApp. Has just made banking a lot more easier !
* @SbuDaBuddist #FNBapp looks great #Nedbank where you at?
* @tehPaperCut Haaa! RT @hiltontarrant: So Absa's launched a rival to the #FNBApp today. Except all it lets you do is *open* an account!? Seriously!?
* @geordinhl Would be awesome for @StandardBankGrp to get a Blackberry App! This #FNBApp sounds pretty good.
* @BurningPoint @standardbankgrp I'm hearing really good things about the FNB app. Do you have anything planned for us?
 
My Take
So yes I believe FirstRand has indeed a good shot at increasing its market share on the back of this successful launch. The question is how significantly?

This will depend on their ability to sustain the online conversations with their advocates and detractors, to demonstrate they are taking their input into account, to leverage this online activity and those contributions and incorporate them into their more traditional marketing campaigns (TV, radio, press). And of course, I'm eager to see how fast and how big will be the response from the other main South African banks!
Stay tuned on Visible Banking.

As you'd expect, I loved the way the bank leveraged twitter (onsite and online). Do I really need to mention all the key benefits of this approach? From creating some instant buzz (a bit like NAB's award winning 'the Break Up' campaign), gathering immediate feedback, fixing bugs, identifying key suggestions and ideas for the second release...
 
By the way at 1:40pm GMT, just a few hours after launch, the FNB App was already the #1 free app in the South African apple store.
Congratulations to Mike and his team. :-D

And this is just the beginning: surely most of the participants this morning in the room will produce a blog post within the next few days, so will my fellow bloggers living outside South Africa but passionate about social media and digital engagement in banking.

I love seeing Michael retweeting some of the most passionate messages from customers and prospects. It is always great to see a Senior Executive embracing social media to connect with its market. Luckily Michael is not alone. I invite you to check my list of Banking and Insurance Senior Executives on Twitter.
 
More and more financial institutions are aiming to be innovative in the mobile banking space: last week, CBA in Australia announced its commitment to mobile apps and NFC payments, earlier this year Webank launched 'the Wepad project' a crowdsourcing experiment to design its iPad app, Danske Bank launched 'Idebank' and asked its customers on facebook to share their suggestions to enhance their mobile banking application...
 
But in my opinion the most compelling questions of all are to the South Africans: how important for you is innovation? Would FNB's leading edge mobile banking application be enough to make you leave your bank and switch to them?
 
The FNB App Video
I invite you to watch the video posted by the FNB team this morning.


Working Together
We at Visible Banking would be delighted to help you and your team better UNDERSTAND and LEVERAGE social media in a strategic yet pragmatic way. 
So please don't hesitate to call me, send me an email or DM me (@Visible_Banking) to book a meeting and talk about twitter, facebook, crowdsourcing, customer reviews, social media & social commerce in banking, financial services and insurance.
 
Related articles on Visible-Banking.com
* All my posts related to Twitter
* All my posts related to Facebook
* Visible Banking Directory: Social Media in Financial Services
* Visible Banking Social Media Watch Series (Twitter, Facebook, Blogs)

What's Next for the Winner of the 'World's Coolest Intern' Contest by Standard Chartered Breeze?

At the end of last year, Aman Narain - Global Head of Internet and Mobile at Standard Chartered and his Breeze team launched a highly successful contest 'the World's Coolest Intern' (WCI) which attracted 1,190 applications from over 65 countries in just 8 weeks.
 
I invite you to watch my video interview with Katherine Liew, the winner of the contest and currently Social Media Analyst at SC, recorded the day following the the results.
 
Since then, the Breeze team has been busy launching a number of innovative mobile applications in various countries in Asia and the Middle East, as well as conducting a few other crowdsourcing experiment with their inmode contest and their wish list feature on mobile.

A month ago, I asked Katherine to give us an update on her achievements at Standard Chartered in Singapore and talk us through her next career move.

I invite you to read Katherine's guest post and check out what the Top 10 finalists are up to.
Please do not hesitate to leave a comment!
 
FAQ with the ‘World’s Coolest Intern’
My name is Katherine Liew, and I’m the World’s Coolest Intern.
 
It wasn’t an easy title to earn, competing against over 1000 others across the world for the dream job on offer by Standard Chartered; being paid to use social media.

Some have argued that with the challenges faced by banks in implementing social media, it’s not the ideal job.
 
Well, for the last six months I have been working in Standard Chartered’s online and mobile banking team dealing with these challenges every day. This is what it’s really like.

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the writer’s own and may not reflect those of Standard Chartered Bank.

…but what do you actually do??
‘Get paid $30,000 to tweet at work’ was the tagline, but that’s just the beginning.

Managing social media assets such as our Twitter (@stanchartbreeze) and blog involves monitoring, content production and of course detailed analytics. As part of the marketing team for Breeze, our mobile banking app, I’ve also been involved in new country and feature launches – for example, the Wishlist and a launch in India.
 
I ran the bank’s first attempt at crowdsourcing – a global design competition in partnership with frog design that challenged young designers to come up with an alternative login screen for Breeze. Over 200 designers from 75 design schools across the world were inspired to design for us, and apart from the 26 designs we’ve selected for the app we earned media coverage worth over 5 times our spend.
 
 
My pet project is about creating a social media metric, placing emphasis on the potential for gaining business insights over measuring campaigns. It’s tied into a larger piece on where social media activities fit into an organisation: Most people tend to focus on the external activities on the right-hand side, which is where the direct value to an organisation comes in. However, there is also value to be gained both directly and indirectly through internal activities.




What’s the best part of your job?
The people I’ve met have made my internship feel like a 6 month TED conference. My philosophy is that you can learn something from everyone that you meet, which has made my 6 months a steep learning curve.
 
I’ve hung out with external agencies, from the famous (Google) and the infamous (Pat Law of Goodstuph) to the creative (Qais Consulting) and the analytical (Edelman, JamiQ).
 
Competition aside, I’ve been amazed by the skill and determination of some of the other applicants for the job. The finalists have become pretty close – I’ve gained 20 new friends (and a housemate).
 
That doesn’t even start on the inspiring leadership and fun people Standard Chartered.  Bank staff are often typified as boring and stuffy, but it’s not true – every day there’s a fresh topic of conversation, whether it’s on photography, the future of NFC technology or the best bars to go to in Singapore.

Do you still believe that banking and social media go together?
Most of the social media campaigns that receive attention come from FMCG companies or other high-interest industries. Banking is a different challenge that requires a different approach. I believe more people need to remember that there is more to social media than creating a Facebook page to gain fans – there are multiple ways it can add value.
 
In terms of customer engagement, social media has been a great way to speak to customers directly and this is reflected in our analysis of our channels. Taking Twitter as an example – we look beyond numbers such as followers or RTs to bit.ly statistics and the breakdown of Klout scores.
 
What’s next?
What really drew me to the WCI role was not the potential to get paid to tweet, but the challenge of how a large organisation that has recognised the value of social can actually go about implementing it. I’ve faced challenges and made mistakes, but I’ve learnt a lot from this role – to the point where I can comfortably sit across from senior management and talk to them about how they can add value to their business through technology.
 
To keep moving in that direction, I’ll be staying on at Standard Chartered and taking on a strategic role for the implementation of social/digital marketing across the organisation. I’m looking forward to the challenge!
 
I invite you to connect with Katherine on twitter (@katherineliew), and read her blog 'the grass is greener on the internet'.
 
I'm not sure what are thinking after reading Katherine's article, but as far as I am concerned I look forward to contributing to the next edition of the WCI contest!
 
Working Together
We at Visible Banking would be delighted to help you and your team better UNDERSTAND and LEVERAGE social media in a strategic yet pragmatic way. 
So please don't hesitate to call me, send me an email or DM me (@Visible_Banking) to book a meeting and talk about twitter, facebook, crowdsourcing, customer reviews, social media & social commerce in banking, financial services and insurance.
 
Related articles on Visible-Banking.com
* All my posts related to Twitter
* All my posts related to Facebook
* Visible Banking Directory: Social Media in Financial Services
* Visible Banking Social Media Watch Series (Twitter, Facebook, Blogs)

The Wepad Project: Italy's Webank Invites 6 Experts (and You) to Help Them Create in 6 Weeks the Best iPad Application for Banking

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In the last 12 months, a fast growing number of retail banks released an iPhone and/or an iPad application, some more sophisticated than the others. A few financial institutions tried to cleverly leverage social media to promote their mobile apps, such as:
* Contest: Singapore's Standard Chartered with the 'the World's Coolest Intern' contest,
* Facebook: France's Credit Agricole which added a dedicated iPhone tab to their facebook page to collect user feedback and ideas to improve their app,
* Crowdsourcing: France's Societe Generale which urged their clients to come up with the 9th fonctionality of their iPhone app, "secure email".  
  
I love all those initiatives which demonstrate that banks are keen to involve their clients more and recognize the tremendous value of product co-creation. Social media is unarguably the best way to engage in a transparent and cost effective way.
 
But couldn't banks be more innovative and even better leverage the power of the crowd? 
 

Italy's Webank is giving it a good try. In late January 2011, they launched the Wepad project. This is genuinely the next generation of crowdsourcing initiative in banking.
 
The  bank recognizes that innovation doesn't necesserally come from within the bank, they demonstrate their willingness to be transparent with a good use of social media (twitter, facebook, and especially videos... I love videos!), and they urge italian people to participate... Brilliant.
 
I remember meeting with Webank's Vittoria La Porta, PR & Brand Reputation Manager at the excellent Online Financial Services event by EFMA (Athens, Nov 2008). At the time, Webank's social media activity was very limited. In the last couple of years, they became the most engaging bank online in Italy with a facebook page, a twitter account, as well as initiatives such as online dal 1999.
 
The WePad Project: 6 Weeks, 6 Experts, 1 Application
 A web-reality and a race against time. A social network and an experiment in collective creativity. A team of experts working in an impossible mission: to invent the App iPad more useful than ever, that saves time and money. To find the "right idea to have only six matches and they need your help.




The WePad Team






Webank invited 6 digital, mobile, creative, experts to help them create the best, most intuitive, iPad application for banking. Please note that none of those experts works for the bank. 
 
The 6 official contributors are:
* Gigi Beltrame, Editor in Chief at BusinessCommunity.it
* Emma Tracanella, Editor and Web Admin at Girl Geek Life
* Stefano Andreani, CEO at Opentech ENG
* Filippo Magri, Contadino at MAGRITURISMO
* Roberto Venturini, Internet Consultant at Venturini.biz
* Mafe de Baggis, Freelance
 
Webank record a weekly brainstorming session during which the experts share their progress and discuss the new ideas they or the online crowd came up with.
 
The 1st brainstorming session with the experts took place on 2nd February 2011. 


I like the fact that the weekly Top 5 most commented topics / features submitted by the community are clearly listed on the WePad website. The ones for this 1st session were:
* App for all accounts
* Tag my reality
* Not only wishes
* iTransition
* App for taking notes
 
Well done to all the contributors: Gianluca Seta, Giorgia Calandriello, Gianpiero Riva, Silvia Franci, Marco Manzoni.
 
The 7th Team Member: You!
I love that Webank involved on this project not only experts from outside the banking industry, but they also demonstrate they are keen to listen to the Italian people to build this iPad application which, after all, will be used by them.
 
We all know that the more engaged in product co-creation your market, the more successful your new products.
 
As usual, to drive the volume of contribution the bank has to convince web users of the value of taking part and find the most appealing way to REWARD the contributors for their input. Here, Webank decided to give away one iPad to the best contributor.
 
Promotion: Homepage & Social Media Assets
You are proud to be on facebook or twitter, to have an executive blog, or an online community?

I can't stress enough how important it is to promote your social media presence and your activity. SEO benefits and (very) long tail aside, you can produce the best content and the most insightful posts on your social media assets, but what if very few people know about it?
 









Webank does a good job promoting the Wepad project on:
* their public website (dedicated tile on their homepage),
* their facebook page (dedicated tab which redirects to the microsite, and wall posts on mobile banking and iPhone / iPad),
* their twitter account (the call to action could be improved, but most of their tweets in February are referring to this initiative).
 
My Take
Well done to the team owning this initiative at Webank. This is one of the far too rare explorations in the field of crowdsourcing in banking, it is a great initiative which pushes the bundaries in a broadly conservative industry. Unarguably, Webank reaffirms its commitment to be the most innovative and engaging bank in Italy.
  
Such an approach is an excellent way to build a community of passionate, vocal, and influential italians who would surely be happy to contribute to any future similar initiatives. Here, Webank has a unique opportunity to build an engaged community of enthusiasts.

As usual, the challenge is to make sure the contributors are representative of their target segment and are rewarded for their contribution. I'd love to find out:
* how many of those contributors are already banking with Webank,
* how influential those contributors are,
* if this initiative could impact the propensity of non-customers to switch to Webank...
 
Contrary to other innovative initiatives such as ASB Bank's Virtual Branch on facebook (the New-Zealand bank experienced a tremendous online coverage last year), I haven't noticed yet either a sizable blog or press coverage online yet, or a high number of enthusiastic conversations on twitter. I'm not sure how structured Webank is in terms of Reputation Management. I would recommend they find some inspiration from companies like MasterCard (I invite you to watch my interview with my friend Jim Issokson, VP Reputation Management at MC Worldwide whose responsibilities include identifying and building relationships with their influencers - journalists and bloggers). This is one efficient way to spread the news and accelerate Word Of Mouth.
   
I'm also curious to see what will materialize from this initiative, and how quickly the bank will release its ground breaking iPad application. With so many iPad applications dedicated to banking already available worldwide, I wonder how much better this one will be (could be?) in terms of design and functionalities.
 
This excellent initiative would have been totally awesome if launched 6-12 months ago, don't you think?
     
Related articles on Visible-Banking.com
* Twitter Activities covered on Visible Banking
* Facebook Activities covered on Visible Banking
* 2010's Top 10 Most Liked Financial Institutions on Facebook
* 2010's Top 10 Most Followed Financial Institutions on Twitter
* Visible Banking Directory: Social Media in Financial Services
* Visible Banking Social Media Watch Series (Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, YouTube)

Retail Banking Innovations 2008 - Interview with Steve Kietz, CEO at Mobile Money Ventures

Retail Banking Innovations Asia Pacific 2008 - Banking in a Brave New World

Retail Banking Innovations 2008 aims to address new frontiers in the industry and the changing concept of retail banking and consumer finance in the Asia Pacific region – with a highly content-driven and provocative agenda.

I was delighted to speak at Retail Banking Innovations. I had a great time in Singapore. Not only it was my first successful speaking engagement in Asia, but the event was excellent. What a good line up.

Congrats to the VRL Knowledgebank team, and especially Linda!

Steve Kietz, CEO at Mobile Money Ventures
Mobile Money Ventures (MMV) was formed in March 2008, a joint venture of Citi and SK telecom. MMV has created a next generation mobile financial service solution that will accelerate the adoption of mobile financial services worldwide.

I contacted Steve via Linkedin a few weeks before the conference. We already knew each other: in May, I met Jay Bhattacharya, one of Steve's colleagues, who was speaking at the Online Retail Banking Services 2008 event I chaired in NYC.

Steve is managing one of the most innovative companies in the mobile banking space. They are currently working on projects around transit, iPhone, and a few months back they announced the compatibility with Google's Android software.

Congratulations to Steve who was named one of Banking's Elite 8 2008 by Bank System & Technology magazine.

I invite you to watch my video interview with Steve:

Related articles on Visible-Banking.com
* Coverage - Retail Banking Innovations 2008 (Singapore)
* Coverage - Online Retail Banking Services 2008 (NYC)
* Banking 2.0: 10 "good" reasons not to embrace social media
* Launch of the Visible Banking Page on Facebook

News - ClairMail's latest banking customer & BancVue's REWARDChecking's new milestone

On Monday, I received two emails: one from ClairMail (thanks Eleni. By the way, could you please say hello to Gavin?) and one from BancVue (thanks Renee).

ClairMail's latest banking deal
Please note that this news was under embargo until yesterday.

ClairMail partnered with Alerus Financial,  a local and independently owned us bank, to offer Alerus customers a new mobile banking platform – Alerus Mobile Access. The service enables Alerus customers to access their accounts via text messaging or via the web on a mobile phone.

I have been in touch with Joe Salesky, ClairMail's CEO, and his team since early 2007. I usually catch up with Joe at the hottest online banking / online finance events in the US.
I had the pleasure to shoot a video interview with a very inspired Joe in San Francisco at FinovateStartup 2008.

In September 2007, U.S. messaging and content delivery service provider Sybase 365 reported that:
* More than a third of U.S. consumers can state their bank balance at any given time
* Additionally, 42 % of American consumers can calculate their current balance total to the nearest $200
* As many as 61% of Americans admit to checking their bank balance at least every few days; 29 % check daily

BancVue's new milestone
REWARDChecking is a free checking account offering a high-interest reward rate and ATM fee refunds worldwide when consumers meet cost saving and revenue generating electronic banking requirements.

* As of August 1, REWARDChecking accounts have eclipsed $5.5 billion in deposits nationwide and attracted more than 610,000 consumers interested in earning high-interest rewards on their checking accounts.
* REWARDChecking is currently attracting a new depositor every 45.6 seconds.
* Close to 400 community financial institutions are currently offering REWARDChecking accounts.

I met John Waupsh, CEO of First ROI, and Gabriel Krajicek, CEO of BancVue, in San Francisco a few months ago.

John and Gabe demoed their new online search tool, CheckingFinder.com, at FinovateStartup 2008. They did a great job: their presentation was one of the very best. They have so much energy, so much passion. And a good service. Well done guys!

I invite you to check the video interview I shot with John and Gabe at the end of such a busy day.

CheckingFinder.com, a new online search tool that allows consumers to find, compare and sign up for REWARDChecking accounts online.

Related articles on Visible-Banking.com
* Coverage - FinovateStartup08 (San Francisco)
* Coverage - the_online_banking_summit_2007 (Charlotte, North Carolina)
* Video - Interview Joe Salesky, Founder & CEO of ClairMail
* Video - Interview John Waupsh & Gabriel Krajicek, CheckingFinder.com 

Online Retail Banking Services 2008 - Day 2

I have been invited to be the Chairman of the Online Retail Banking Services 2008 conference in New York.

I go to many conferences every year, and I have probably seen several hundreds presentations in the last 7 years.

The presentations at the Online Retail Banking Services 2008 stand out in terms of both content and delivery. And the format of the conference is perfect for networking.

I will post my video interviews, and my wrap-ups for day 1 and day 2 in the next few days.  

the Online Retail Banking Services 2008 - Day 2

Related articles on Visible-Banking.com
* Video - Focus on Wells Fargo 2.0
* Video - The 4 kinds of Social Media projects
* Coverage - Online Retail Banking Services 08 (NYC)
* Coverage - FinovateStartup (San Francisco) 

FinovateStartup - Interview with Aradiom

I covered the first Finovate event organized by Jim Bruene back in October 2007 (in New York City).
The event was such a success that Jim decided to organize two more Finovate events in 2008: FinovateStartup & Finovate 08.

I was delighted when Jim invited me to be the official live blogger on NetBanker at FinovateStartup in San Francisco.

Interview with Selahaddin Karatas and Baris Gul

Related articles on Visible-Banking.com
* Coverage FinovateStartup 08 (San Francisco)
* Coverage Finovate 07 (NYC)