Online Banking Benefits for Financial Institutions
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SINCE 1994, THE EXCLUSIVE MONTHLY REPORT ON INTERNET BANKING PRODUCTS & MARKETS Number 170 & 171 August 18, 2009 STRATEGIES FOR 2010 Product, Pricing & Strategy Guide FINANCIAL Your roadmap for business planning INSTITUTIONS ____________________________ n the 15 years we’ve published ONLINE BANKING REPORT, there have been several tricky planning periods: 1999 (Y2K), 2001 (9/11) I and 2002 (recession). But last year was the worst overall. It’s not Internet banking easy tweaking a spreadsheet when the banking world is in free fall. Web services While many economic indicators appear to be stabilizing, we are still headed in to a challenging planning cycle. There are enormous Bill payment unanswered questions about consumer and corporate credit Email quality, unemployment rates, economic growth, interest Innovations rates, inflation, and government intervention. Online marketing But for those working in alternative delivery, it should Interactive lending be a good year. Capital- constrained banks will be looking more towards the online and mobile channels INSIDE to drive revenues and corral costs. The era of massive branch openings to grow deposits has passed, and even growth through The Plan acquisition may be off the table for a few years, at least for the Online banking FI benefits ...2 banking giants under close government supervision. Why innovate? ..........................3 Consumers are watching their finances like never before and are Generating ideas .....................7 interested in online and mobile services that help keep close tabs on Creating the Amazon.com spending and saving. And even though the U.S. stock market has had of financial services ........12 a bit of a rebound, FDIC-insured deposits are still more popular than 20 online winners for 2010.15 they’ve been in decades. User benefits ..........................19 Finally, with less credit available and deposit rates down, the spread Consumer planner ................22 on new loan originations is extremely attractive. Companies running Product marketing.....................23 General marketing ....................38 their online channel as a profit center, by crediting it for sales and Service & retention ...................46 profits, should show robust results on their online initiatives. This is Small business planner .......52 the time to seize the momentum. Fee planner .............................59 Jim Bruene, Editor & Founder Messaging planner................72 [email protected] FINOVATE 2009 .....................80 WWW.ONLINE BANKING REPORT.COM 2010 PLANNING Online Banking Benefits for Financial Institutions or many financial institutions, this will be yet another difficult planning cycle. While things have stabilized somewhat, it’s still difficult to project what 2010 will bring. Naturally, we are F big believers in online and mobile initiatives. But because alternative delivery strategies don’t have the lengthy track record of other marketing techniques, it’s important to measure every conceivable metric to demonstrate the value of the online channel. For example: website traffic, referrals to the branch and other business units, applications submitted, questions answered, and so on. It’s also important to be creative in itemizing the intangible benefits listed below (see also OBR 96/97, pp. 8-10, for a more thorough discussion). Most important • Improve customer satisfaction and retention • Stay competitive • Increase cross-sales, especially credit/loan products Important • Increase confidence in your brand • Increase transaction fees (more important in many non-U.S. markets) • Lower internal costs via self-service • Support branch, phone, and card channels (e.g., lead generation, self-service, etc.) • Enter new markets, either geographic areas or new customer segments • Improve product sales by adding online functionality • Reduce fraud by enabling customers to watch their accounts more closely • Use marketing dollars more effectively through targeted online promotions • Stay in touch with press/investors through online blogs, feeds, and investor areas • Improve branch recognition and perception • Gain visibility with job seekers • Improve your standing in the community • Generate word-of-mouth buzz • Gain visibility and generate stories in the press • Create gateways to mobile payments • Generate website traffic (SEO/SEM) • Create new revenue streams Copyright 2009: ONLINE BANKING REPORT (ISSN 1095-2829) is published monthly by Financial Insite Inc., 4739 University Way NE, Suite 1002, Seattle, WA 98105, USA. Phone: +1(206) 517-5021, Fax: +1(206) 524-0351, [email protected]. Subscriptions: US$1,795 per year worldwide, includes paper and electronic editions with online archive access. Editor & Founder: Jim Bruene, [email protected]; Analyst: Chris Young, [email protected]; Business Manager: Anita Schultz; [email protected]; Marketing Director: Eric Mattson, [email protected]; Circulation: Kate Schultz, [email protected]; Webmaster: Gerry Soroczak, [email protected]; Copy Editor: Jennifer Russell Warning! Federal copyright law prohibits copying this report. Contact [email protected] for reprints or electronic rights. page 2 ONLINE BANKING REPORT Number 170 & 171 © August 18, 2009 2010 PLANNING Should You Still Innovate? ith all the bad financial news of the past 12 months, it’s tempting to hunker down and ride out the storm. But some of the most important new developments come during downturns W when the costs of a new strategy are less and there’s less competition for new ideas in the marketplace. Two U.S. financial giants emerged from the dot-com bust: ING Direct (Sep. 2000) and PayPal (Nov. 1999). More recently, Mint, launched in Sep. 2007, has seen impressive growth during he financial meltdown more than doubling its traffic since last fall (see inset). And if the government stops meddling with them, person-to-person lending from Zopa (UK), Prosper, Lending Club and others, is expected to get a real boost from the slow-down in lending. There’s no doubt that budgets have contracted. But new technology holds the promise of cutting costs or making it easier to serve more customers without adding resources. Here are the trends you cannot afford to ignore in your 2010/2011 plans: 1. Always-connected mobile consumer: Consumer services continue to move online as ubiquitous broadband and cellphone connectivity keeps banking households connected 24/7 at home, work, and, now with mobile, everywhere. Apple’s iPhone, and the next generation smartphones, are changing the game in mobile. There are already more than twice as many mobile phones in the world as there are credit cards. And location-based technology allows users to interact with merchants and payment providers in new and potentially more secure ways. Implication: Mobile services today are about where the Internet was a decade ago. And globally, mobile banking and payments will be even more important than online banking and payments. 2. Over-extended consumers seek guidance: Just as millions of amateur stock traders learned a harsh lesson about risk vs. return in 1999/2000, tens of millions of consumers are learning the downside of extensive debt and leverage in 2008/2009. Traffic at major personal finance-management is up 40% compared to last year (see Table 1, p. 5). Implication: This is a great time to convince consumers to use online and mobile tools that help them manage their spending, savings, and debt. 3. Branch exodus intensifies: The U.S. over-investment in branches will come to a screeching halt in 2009. With several of the big branch builders, especially WaMu, being acquired, there will be less of a competitive imperative, not to mention less capital, to build new branches. Some of the savings will be funneled into alternative delivery. Even the sleekest website can be built today at a fraction of the cost of a single urban branch. Implication: Increasingly, financial institutions will service and acquire most accounts online. page 3 ONLINE BANKING REPORT Number 170 & 171 © August 18, 2009 2010 PLANNING Note: For example, in late July, Bank of America told investors that it expected its branch network to decline by as much as 10% in the next 3 to 5 years. This is a major about-face for a company that nearly doubled its branch base in the previous 10 years. 4. Online research is the norm: According to a late-2007 study by the National Association of Realtors, 84% of households used the Internet in their search for a house. And in a dramatic change compared to 10 years ago, online sources were nearly as important as humans in locating the house that was ultimately purchased (29% found it online first vs. 34% who said their agent told them about it). Similar numbers are reported for autos and other big-ticket items. Implication: A great website is crucial to landing new customers. 5. Credit scores achieve a wider following: The importance of a clean credit file is more important now than ever. In late 2008, consumers couldn’t get a loan at GMAC with a credit score below 700. Even more important is the potential impact of a poor score on job prospects. As many as 50% of U.S. employers are estimated to use credit bureau checks in screening for at least some of their jobs. With six unemployed for every job opening, no one wants to risk being eliminated because of problems lurking in a credit file, especially if it’s a mistake. Implication: Consumers will gravitate to sites such as Credit Karma (see traffic in Table 4, p. 7) that make it easy and inexpensive to follow their credit history/score. And consumers will spend money to investigate and fix irregularities in the records. 6. Lending is far more profitable: Credit availability has dried up across the board, but it’s especially acute for small businesses and anyone with below-prime credit scores. Implication: This is the best time in years to grow market share and profits. For example, expanded opportunities exist in the following areas: 1. Debt consolidation: Most people try to make good on their financial obligations; that’s what makes lending work. But it’s difficult for over- leveraged households to navigate successfully through this period if their home equity has dropped below 20% of the loan value.