Visible Banking

Celent - Finovate09 Interview #11: Jacob Jegher, Senior Analyst

2009-11-23T10:09:00+00:00

As you all know, I was very much looking forward to participate to my third finovate event.

And what a day! Kudos to Jim Bruene, Eric Mattson , and the rest of their team for putting together such a smooth event with hardly no technical glitches.

I invite you to check my wrap up on Visible Banking, add yourself to the list of tweeps @ FInovate09 (for those you attended the event), check the pictures and videos I shot at the event (and add yours) on the Visible Banking Facebook Page.

16 Video Interviews
I have been incredibly busy while staying in NYC. Indeed, I managed to shoot 16 video interviews between Monday 28th and Wednesday 30th September. I will be posting all of them on my blog soon. Stay tuned!

If you can't wait to watch them, I invite you to visit my Dailymotion page and the Visible Banking Facebook page.

Interview #11 - Celent: Jacob Jegher, Senior Analyst
Celent is a research and consulting firm focused on the application of information technology in the global financial services industry.

I invite you to check their banking blog and their insurance blog, and follow them on twitter @Celent_Research.

Jacob Jegher, Senior Analyst
I have been in touch with Jacob for quite a while now, mainly via our respective blogs and our twitter accounts. It was a pleasure to meet him in NYC. Jacob is the primary author of Celent's annual global IT spending report, as well as the banking CIO survey and model bank report.

Jacob and I both share an interest for online innovation, social media, and online banking. Topics we covered during my interview with him.

You can find more about Jacob on Linkedin and Celent's website, read his posts on the Celent blog, and follow him on twitter @jjegher.

I invite you to watch my interview with Jacob.

Our Sponsor
A big thanks to my sponsor for this US trip, Finroad the online community for Financial Markets professionals.

Related articles on Visible-Banking.com
* Coverage - Finovate09
* Coverage - Finovate07 & FinovateStartup08
* Visible Banking Services
* Visible Banking Directory: Social Media in Financial Services
* Visible Banking Social Media Watch Series (Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, YouTube)

Happy Birthday to Aaron Patzer, Founder & CEO at Mint.com!

2009-11-20T08:06:55+00:00

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Happy Birthday Aaron!
I love this picture of you Aaron. Thanks again for flagging it on your facebook page yesterday: "Don't quite know how the media found this picture of me for my Business Network interview..."
Perfect timing for my birthday post. ;)

Not only Aaron looks strong (cf the picture) and wears green most of the time, cnn labeled him a hero last year, he is a great guy to hang around with. I had the pleasure to meet with Aaron several times in the US and I look forward to catching up with him in London soon.

Aaron is a great inventor and also an outstanding entrepreneur a bit like his own hero Thomas Edison. He did an amazing job building in just a couple of years one of the most exciting, valuable, and successful services in the Online Finance world, Mint.com, recently acquired by Intuit for about $170 million.

Aaron's vision for Mint: turn the savings rate for people under 40 from negative to positive taking the pain out of budgeting. Budgeting made easy. Simple yet brilliant and so needed.

You can find Aaron on linkedin, on twitter, and obviously on google.

Media Coverage
I invite you to read four of the most recent interviews with Aaron:
1. Mint Founder Aaron Patzer: How Gen Yers Can Sell Big Ideas
2. How This Kid Made $170 Million in Two Years
Aaron shares his advice on how to build a successful business.
* Step 1: Create a product that makes a difficult, tedious task easy and fun
* Step 2: Choose a market that's really, really big.
* Step 3: Develop a business model that actually allows you to, well, make money.
* Step 4: Don't pay to acquire customers. Ever.
* Step 5: Be a compete stickler about who you hire.
3. Mint’s Aaron Patzer: “We Will End-Of-Life Quicken Online” In 6 to 9 Months
4. Making Mint.com: Aaron Patzer on the one-click future of personal finance

Interview @ Finovate 2009 in NYC
I invite you to check my post about Aaron's demo at Finovate 2009.

Interview @ FinovateStartup 2008 in San Francisco
I invite you to check my post about Aaron's demo at FinovateStartup08.

Interview @ Finovate 2007 in NYC
I invite you to check my post about Aaron's demo at Finovate 2007.

Techcrunch Interview

Mint.com: The Leader in Online Personal Finance Management
In just two years, Mint built an active user base of over 1,5 million people.

Mint's Traffic
Please find below the latest stats from compete.com.

Mint's Blog - 'Mint Life'
This is another best practice in blogging this time. Aaron cleverly turned the Mint blog into an online magazine, one of the most valuable destinations for money tips online. It is now a profit center with many advertising deals in place.

The Mint.com Page on Facebook
Mint has already over 38,000 passionate fans on its Facebook page. There is a lot of activity on the page.

Mint on Twitter
@Mint has over 21,000 followers on twitter.

Mint's Money Tweets on Twitter
Mint recently launched Money Tweet to keep track of valuable tweets for the Mint community.

Mint TV
There are currently 17 videos available on the Mint YouTube channel.

Most Viewed Video on the Mint Channel with 293k views, 830+ five-star ratings and 840+ comments: One Trillion Dollars Visualized from www.mint.com

Related articles on Visible-Banking.com
* Coverage - Finovate09
* Coverage - Finovate07 & FinovateStartup08
* Visible Banking Directory: Social Media in Financial Services
* Visible Banking Social Media Watch Series (Twitter, Facebook, Blogs, YouTube)

Visible Banking Interviews 2.0
I invite you to check the list of my video interviews with some of the most inspiring entrepreneurs in online finance and the social media champions in the finance industry.

BrightScope - Finovate09 Interview #10: Mike Alfred, Co-Founder & CEO

2009-11-19T09:20:00+00:00

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AllState Runs a Virtual Career Fair Today + Financial Institutions Leverage Virtual Worlds & Online Games to Innovate in Recruitment

2009-11-18T06:02:17+00:00

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The virtual worlds are dead... Long live the virtual worlds!

Even though I have always doubted the value of opening a virtual branch on Second Life (except if you are the first bank to do so), I believe financial institutions could leverage the virtual worlds to:
1. drive more collaboration internally: increase productivity and cut travel costs
2. provide financial education in an entertaining way: US Wells Fargo was the first large financial institution to launch an island on Second Life back in 2005, Spain Bankinter opened a branch in whyville in 2007
3. recruit talented people online: France BNP Paribas is a leader in innovation & recruitment. They ran a v-recruitment campaign on Second Life in 2007 and they currently providing online games such as Ace Manager or Starbank.

Even in the current context, especially in the current context, it is critical for financial institutions to be seen as innovative to attract the best talent out there. But HR Teams are challenged to achieve their ambitious targets with smaller budget. It is time to be smarter, and embrace social media to initiate conversations, increase your reach, change brand perception, and eventually convince your future leaders to join your organization.

And remember that your employees are your best advocates: give them a voice and turn them into 'rockstars'!

Today AllState is running a Virtual Career Fair where their employees will interact with the virtual audience and share information regarding Allstate employment and business opportunities.

There are three main sections to the site: the virtual fair itself, the auditorium with on-demand resources on recruitment, and the Networking Lounge.

For more info, I invite you to watch the demo.

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

EverythingCU - Finovate09 Interview #9: Morriss Partee, Chief Experience Officer

2009-11-17T07:22:00+00:00

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As you all know, I was very much looking forward to participate to my third finovate event.

And what a day! Kudos to Jim Bruene, Eric Mattson , and the rest of their team for putting together such a smooth event with hardly no technical glitches.

I invite you to check my wrap up on Visible Banking, add yourself to the list of tweeps @ FInovate09 (for those you attended the event), check the pictures and videos I shot at the event (and add yours) on the Visible Banking Facebook Page.

16 Video Interviews
I have been incredibly busy while staying in NYC. Indeed, I managed to shoot 16 video interviews between Monday 28th and Wednesday 30th September.  I will be posting all of them on my blog soon. Stay tuned!

If you can't wait to watch them, I invite you to visit my Dailymotion page and the Visible Banking Facebook page.

Interview #9 - Everything CU: Morriss Partee, Chief Experience Officer
EverythingCU.com is the premiere online resource for credit union marketing professionals. In the last ten years, it has become the central hub connecting thousands of credit union executives across the country.

They recently introduced a new service, PlumWall, which is a new way to display and share member testimonials and stories, as well as displaying local and national general news stories and features about credit unions.

I invite you to check the Everything CU World 2.0 Adventure blog.

Morriss Partee, Founder & Chief Experience Officer
Morriss is a great guy: he is passionate, very knowledgeable, and a lot of fun to be around with. Morriss is extremely well connected in the Credit Union world, and he is regularly asked to deliver presentations and workshops to Senior Executives throughout the US..

You can find Morriss on linkedin, facebook and twitter @mmpartee.

Morriss and I were sitting together during Finovate and at the end of the day we had a lovely dinner with Charis Palmer and Nichelle Stephens.

I shot my interview with Morriss at the Restaurant which was quite dark. But again I am confident you will find the content very insightful. We talked about social media initiatives from Credit Unions, their focus on members - transparency - advocacy, the social media champions from the industry, the most engaged Senior Executives.

I invite you to watch my interview with Morriss.

Bankinter Launches 'Bankinter Labs' + Online Innovation & Social Media from the Spanish Financial Institutions

2009-11-16T20:54:48+00:00

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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)
>

Visible Banking Twitter Watch #14 - October 2009: 801 Accounts / 45 Countries / 303,665+ Followers / 4,161 Lists - Top 10s Financial Institutions / Credit Unions / Insurance

2009-11-15T11:37:50+00:00

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In March 2009, I started tracking the financial institutions (FIs) on twitter. From only 54 accounts back then, I am thrilled to announce that I am now tracking over 800 accounts.

I believe my initiative is unique, definitely exciting and rewarding, and full of great insights. I aim to share some key stats with you, my blog readers, my twitter followers, and my facebook fans, and provide some second-to-none recommendations to my clients.

From now on, I will post regular summaries of the Visible Banking Twitter Watch on my blog. I am aiming for monthly updates. For more regular updates, I invite you to follow me on twitter @Visible_Banking and search twitter for updates with #VBTW.

My ambition is to establish my Visible Banking Social Media Watch Series (Twitter, Blogs, Facebook and YouTube) as The first point of reference in the Finance industry. I aim to demonstrate that the industry can leverage social media, even though very few FIs do it well mainly due to lack of a subject matter expert. Indeed it is good to know how the likes of Dell, Starbucks and Toyota successfully leverage social media, but the Finance industry is a totally different ball game.

In addition to this ongoing effort, I am currently working on an indepth report on twitter in the finance industry with a key focus on 20 of the most followed FIs. Feel free to contact me if you want to contribute!

You work for a financial institution? You would like to leverage twitter more efficiently, learn how your peers and competitors are using the popular micro-blogging service, or find out more about the best practices and the most successful initiatives in the finance industry?
I invite you to send me an email or call me on +44 7736 446 357.

The global picture
Twitter is a great tool for real time market research, the data is constantly changing. It is a work in progress, so please do not hesitate to flag any missing initiatives.

Please note I started writing this article last week, and I used the data collected on Thursday 1st October 2009. I was then tracking 801 accounts in 45 countries.

Loyalty World 2009 & SOMESSO Zurich 2009
My late post is due to a busy start of the month. I worked on a few client assignements, I spent a few days in Rome for my birthday, I was invited to deliver the pre-conference workshop at Loyalty World 2009 in London.

Financial Institutions Must Support Their Customers on Twitter
I also delivered a presentation at SOMESSO, the Corporate Social Media conference, in Zurich on 3rd November.

I invite you to check my latest presentation on twitter and customer service: Financial Institutions Must Support Their Customers on Twitter.



Summary - October 2009
Out of the 801 accounts, the top 50 accounts produced 18% of the new updates, added a staggering 44% of all the new followers, and started to follow 70% of the new following overall.

It is another proof that 1. content is king, 2. posting on regular basis pays off, 3. following people is a winner (but please be cautious with your following strategy).

Germany still leads the way in Europe in number of twitter accounts and having one account in the top 10 overall. Well done Buergschafts Bank.

Please find below more twitter news and key facts in October.
SEARCH: in case you missed it, this is major news. Last month Google and Bing are both closed search deals with Twitter which will have a tremendous impact on SEO. It makes twitter even more relevant and increase its almighty ROI.

LISTS: Twitter introduced their lists. Basically, tweeple can now create up to to 20 lists to categorize the tweeple they are following. Searching those user-generated lists is an excellent way to identify more relevant accounts to follow.
It is an interesting indicator of your popularity even though it does not necessarily mean you are the most popular tweeple on twitter. It means that your followers are a bit more twitter savvy and spend the time to categorize their following base.
It is also a great way for Financial Institutions to list their official accounts worldwide and give a voice to their employees. I invite you to check the lists from Allianz and UBank.

I started tracking the number of lists per account. Please find below the accounts which appeared on the largest number of lists (info collected on 1st November):
1. INGDIRECT (107 lists, US) 2. usaa_News (88 lists, US) 3. OPENForum (54 lists, US) 4. Rabowielrennen (46 lists, Netherlands), 5. Wachovia (40 lists, US), 6. StateFarm (39 lists, US), 7. Nationwide (38 lists, US), 8. KBank_Live (38 lists, Thailand), 9. Ask_WellsFargo (37 lists, US), 10. allianz_de (33 lists, Germany).

SPAMMING & HACKING: your account has been hacked... so what? Deal with it! We all know that twitter is not the most secure social media service out there. Is it such a big issue? Is it a reason not to support your customers on the popular micro-blogging platform?
Certainely not! You just have to deal with it. Financial institutions and their customers musn't share any personal information on twitter. And remember too... Don't be the spammer!

I invite you to check the presentation I mentioned previously and watch two videos I published recently featuring SomersetMtg, Allcains and Geojit:
-  Financial Institutions + Spam + Twitter #1: You've been hacked... So what? Deal With it!
- Financial Institutions + Spam + Twitter #2: Don't Be The Spammer!

Stats: a few stats on twitter from @eMarketer - 39% users under 35 years old check Twitter 10 times per day or more http://bit.ly/1Ds4ln.

Name Changes: the following accounts have changed names.
* StateFarmIns became StateFarm
* myAllStateAgent became ALInsurance
* Stan_Chart_Bank became SC_UAE
* YoungFreeSC became YoungFree_SC

Key milestones
Congrats to the following financial institutions for reaching an important milestone in October!
* 13,000: Somerset Mortgage (US)
* 8,000: INGDIRECT (US), UBank (Australia)
*   2,000: OPENForum (US)
*   1,000: GHCU (US), Jerusalem_Bank (Israel), GHCommunity (US), GLS Bank (Germany), RBC Royal Bank (Canada), YoungFree_SC (US), Bellco_CU (US)

Special kudos to the following FIs which haven't made the top 10 yet, but significantly increased their follower base in October: 1. neon_card (+401 / +853.2%, UK), 2. quirinbankAG (+214 / +319.4%, Germany), 3. escape_card (+160 / +296.3%, UK), 4. @ALInsurance (+2,334 / +140.5%, US), 5. @CareersSocgen (+238 / +85.9%, France).

Twitter anniversaries
In case you missed my updates on @Visible_Banking, I invite you to check my list of Social Media anniversaries (Twitter, YouTube and Blogs) in October.
Please do not hesitate to leave a comment and flag any missing key news, milestones or anniversaries.

Top 10s - Most Followed Financial Institutions
Since I started this research, I've received regular requests for twitter statistics from all over the word.

Karl Flinders, Deputy News Editor at ComputerWeekly in the UK, has already been using my stats. I invite you to check his post Photos: Top 10 Banks on Twitter.

From now on, I will publish my top 10s in three categories: overall, credit unions and insurance. Please feel free to use those insights as long as you mention Visible-Banking.com.

My top 10s are based on the total number of followers. Please note that the data used in this report was collected on 1st November.

Top 10 - Overall
Please find below the top 10 most followed financial institutions on twitter tracked in the Visible Banking Twitter Watch.

Financial Institutions	Followers
1. Somerset Mortgage 2. ING DIRECT 3. usaa_news 4. Wachovia 5. StateFarm 6. ALInsurance (new) 7. Advanta's Ideablob (-1) 8. HRBlock (-1) 9. Buergschaftsbank 10. BofA_help (-2)	13,418 (+17.8%) 8,851 (+11.1%) 6,947 (+6.3%) 5,562 (+3.4%) 4,057 (+10.6%) 3,995 (+140.5%) 3,976 (+9.4%) 3,635 (+1.1%) 3,559 (+7.0%) 3,540 (+4.8%)

In October 09, the Top 10 most followed Fis added on average 701 (+181) new followers, followed on average 662 (+272) more tweeple, and sent 8.1 (+1) updates per working day.

Thanks to a rocketing growth in October, ALInsurance made the top 10 overall, and in the process "kicked out" Ask_WellsFargo which is just a few followers away from the recently redesigned BofA_Help.

Top 10 - Credit Unions
Please find below the top 10 most followed credit unions on twitter tracked in my Visible Banking Twitter Watch.

Credit Unions	Followers
1. MSUFederalCU 2. FinanceCFCU 3. PioneerCU 4. CUCU 5. GHCU 6. YoungFree_SC 7. BellcoCU 8. BreweryCU 9. U22 Updates 10. ForumTalk	1,305 (+8.0%) 1,188 (+6.7%) 1,166 (+5.8%) 1,140 (+6.6%) 1,041 (+4.4%) 1,012 (+2.4%) 1,010 (+7.1%) 959 (+5.4%) 879 (+8.9%) 797 (+6.8%)

In October 09, the Top 10 most followed Credit Unions added on average 61 (-24.7) new followers, followed on average 32 (+86) more tweeple, and sent 3 (+0.5) updates per working day.

No changes in the Credit Union chart. Now 7 out of the 10 most followed CUs have reached the 1,000 followers mark. Even though Twitter is not all about quantity, size matters.

Top 10 - Insurance
Please find below the top 10 most followed insurance companies on twitter tracked in the Visible Banking Twitter Watch.

Insurance Companies	Followers
1. StateFarm 2. ALInsurance (+3) 3. allstate (-1) 4. allcains (-1) 5. Progressive (-1) 6. Nationwide Ins. 7. AAADiscounts (new) 8. VPI Pet Ins. (-1) 9. CA Health Ins. 10. PetPlan (-2)	4,057 (+10.6%) 3,995 (+140.5%) 2,831 (+13.0%) 2,425 (+0.9%) 2,321 (+14.8%) 1,745 (+8.1) 1,718 (n/a) 1,590 (+5.8%) 1,539 (+6.4%) 1,507 (+3.1%)

In October 09, the Top 10 most followed Insurance companies added on average 414 (+128) new followers, followed on average 349 (+141) more tweeple, and sent 6 (+1.80) updates per working day.

Please note that ALInsurance is the twitter account from Joseph an Allstate agent in Alabama. I have also decided to add AAADiscounts to my list which is AAA's twitter account dedicated to flagging rewards and discounts.

I believe it demonstrates the various ways financial institutions and individuals leverage twitter to increase their brand awareness and provide more value to their customers.

More Twitter Statistics
* Most Followed FIs: 336 (+56) accounts have 200+ followers of which 135 (+28) have 500+ followers.
* The 1,000+ Followers Club: 54 (+13) accounts have 1,000+ followers.
* Lists (new): 82 accounts are listed more than 10 times, 26 accounts more than 20 times, and 3 accounts are listed more than 50 times. 67 accounts don't appear on any list.
* Restricted tweets: 20 accounts.
* Inactive accounts: 208 (+170) FIs haven't sent any updates in October 2009.
* Other awesome twitter lists: I highly recommend you follow Roger Conant who maintains a comprehensive list of credit unions (via @CUTweetTrack), Sonya J Mills who maintains a list of community banks (via @CommunityBanks), Charis Palmer who maintains a list of banks and bankers in Australia & New Zealand (via @bankingreview), Boris Janek who maintains a list of German FIs Social Media: Deutsche Banken im Twitter Kurz Test on (via @Electrouncle). Also check Jeffry Pilcher's twitter list on the Financial Brand blog.

Twitter accounts added in October 09
In October 09, I added the following 94 accounts to my list: AAAauto, AAADiscounts, Allianz - Allianz_be - Allianz_Ireland - Ayudhyallianzcp - BajajAllianz - ehworldwide - Mondial_Assist - MondialAssist - MondialTravel - PassagensAerea - SeguroViagem - SeguroViaje - allianz_com - Allianzdirect, AllstateCareers, AmericanNatlBk, Ask_TDBank, AskPayPal, AsurisNWHealth, BarclaycardNews, BBVA's Planta29, BcardMusic, BFA_ru, BNP Paribas - BNPP_Fortis - BNPParibas_com - BNPPARIBAS_NET - BNPPARIBASOPEN - bnppmasters - Davis Cup - Geojit, Broncofcu, cignatweets, CitigroupJobs, CommFirstBank, CUPresident, CUServiceCenter, DB - DB_News - DeuBa_News, electro_banker, ERIEFCU, glsbank_obn, h_volksbank, IhreNaspa, ipoteka, KBank_Live, KBC_group, KSKRatzeburg, LeumiDigital, LzO, MortgageChoice, Moskvavkredit, nicoletvault, privatbank, PSCU_Amy, raiffeisen_at, Regence Blue Shield - RegenceIdaho - RegenceUtah - RegenceWA, royalsundaram, S_Immobilien, SC_UAE (ex Stan_Chart_Bank), siminsure, SKTrier, SmolenskyBank, Societe Generale - Tous Uniques, Sparkasse_Essen, Sparkasse_GM, Sparkasse_Kleve, Sparkasse_Neuss, Sparkasse_Oy, SparkasseGE, sparkassehanau, SparkasseMSLO, Spk_Holstein, spkhd, spknuernberg, stmkspk, SuncorpBank, SVSachsen, thatssoNW (NCCU), UBA - UBADIRECT - UBAGroupAlerts - UBAGroupCareers - UBAGroupEvents - UBAGroupIR, VanLanschot, WartburgSpark, youi_insurance, YoungCUceo, Zurich FS - HelpPoint4Kids - Sparschweindl (Zurich Connect) - zurich_de - ZurichAustralia.

Related Articles on Visible-Banking.com
* Visible Banking Services
* Visible Banking Directory: Social Media in Financial Services
* Visible Banking Social Media Watch Series (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Blogs)

American Express Launches 'OPEN Forum Pulse' to Help Businesses Share their Insights and Advice on Twitter

2009-11-14T21:56:40+00:00

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I invite you to check Jennifer Leggio's interview with Jason Rudman, Director of Strategy and Marketing for American Express OPEN: American Express OPEN keeps 'pulse' on small business with social media.

Jennifer spoked with Jason about American Express' social media strategy and delivery, as well as benefits to its small business customers.

Earlier today Jason sent a tweet about 'Pulse' the new service the OPEN Forum team introduced a few weeks ago: @jasonrudman Check out openforum.com/pulse and see how businesses are sharing their insights and advice on Twitter.

Please find below a few screenshots from http://openforum.com/pulse.
I will add more information and update this post tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Homepage

Registration

Today, I couldn't find a link to this new service on the OPEN Forum community.

7 Reasons Why You Must Check OPEN Forum
I invite you to read the post I published back in July 2009 following the successful redesign of the OPEN Forum community.

OPEN Forum 2.0 or How to Reward your Customers
But let me get back to the OPEN Forum. It is rare to find an online community with a simple and sleek interface, and with the right level of features. It demonstrates that American Express worked with a few subject matter experts who really get social media.

At Visible Banking we are totally focus on helping our clients understand and leverage social media to drive client and employee engagement. Social Media is all about people, not technology.

You MUST check the OPEN Forum for the following reasons:
1. Sleek Interface - It is clear and simple. You are not overwhelmed by too many features or options... MORE

Related articles on Visible-Banking.com
* Visible Banking Directory: Social Media in Financial Services
* Visible Banking Twitter Watch (800 accounts tracked in 45 countries)

Breaking - Caja Navarra, the Most Transparent Bank - Pioneers in Civic Banking, Launches Cancha24 on Twitter & Redesigns its HomePage - Interview Scheduled at BarCampBank in Madrid

2009-11-13T18:46:07+00:00

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Caja Navarra became inarguably the most transparent bank in the world since they introduced their innovative concept of Civic Banking back in 2004.

As a business model, Civic Banking has sought to turn traditional banking on its head by placing the customer at the center of its business practices and ascribing them rights (the Five Rights), while creating duties for Caja Navarra.
Civic Banking creates networks. First, it links customers to social projects in the community or internationally by giving them an opportunity to direct 30% of CAN's annual profit to specific social projects. Second, CAN facilitates customers volunteering to participate in them, and encouraging others to participate. Third, the social projects link to CAN by encouraging people interested in the projects to bank with CAN and to then to direct their allocation of CAN's annual profit to the social project.
Source: Wikipedia

Here we talking about real transparency. Being transparent and giving more power to their customers is a core strategy for Caja Navarra.
The innovation team also do a great job leveraging social media to give a voice to their communities.

I must admit that I got really excited when I read one of the latest update from the bank on my blackberry this afternoon:
@CajaNavarra Anunciamos nuestra Cancha24, el servicio de atención exclusiva a nuestros clientes Online por Twitter, Facebook, Skype y Messenger

As I couldn't find much more information on their website, I DMed Fernando Egido Egaña, Caja Navarra's Head of Digital Business who responsed a few minutes later from @eventoblog in Seville: "the twitter account for our Cancha24 office is twitter.com/cancha24. This services are only for new digital clients. Soon we hope expand to existing clients."

So please find below the screenshot of their newly launched twitter account cancha24.

Initial remarks:
1. the account is not protected
2. the web link direct you to CN's HomePage
3. two tweeple are following the account for the time being: CajaNavarra and... Visible_Banking
4. they follow 5 tweeple including Fernando, Guillermo Catalán - Director of Communications, and Juantxo Zabalo - NetCan Negocio Digital.

I am curious to see how the bank will interact with their digital clients only, and manage the requests from the rest of their existing clients as well as their influencers: the press, the bloggers, their detractors, their advocates. Will they somehow redirect non digital customers to their CajaNavarra account? I wonder what their call to action will be...

For the time being, I couldn't find any dedicated facebook page, but I will keep you updated on Visible-Banking.com!

I scheduled a video interview with Fernando in the next two weeks. In the meantime, please do not hesitate to send me the questions I should ask Fernando!

New Home Page... Web TV soon?
Last week, I exchanged a few DMs with CajaNavarra and Fernando which shared with me a link to their newly redesigned homepage which was still confidential at the time.

They started to include more multimedia content. It is now available at http://www.cajanavarra.es/en/home.htm.

Please find below a few screenshots of the successful redesign stressing their commitment to being transparent and giving a voice to their clients.

You will notice the seamless integration of video, the focus on Civic Banking and transparency, the latest stats from their social projects in 2009, the promotion of their community blogs, their presence on the most popular social media sites, their rss feeds. A it like Dell, they urge their clients to participate to their digital cancha via the participate button in the menu at the top.

I believe than they plan to launch a Web TV in a couple of months. The bank has already actively been using YouTube with over 145 videos posted since the launch of their Canvideo's channel back in January 2007.

BarCampBank in Madrid on 30th November
I have been kindly invited by Jesus Perez Sanchez, CEO at FinancialRed.com, to patricipate to the next BarCampBank in Madrid which will take place on 30th November.

I very much look forward to contributing to this exciting event and catching up with my fellow banking innovators in Spain from Caja Navarra, Banco Sabadell, Barclays, and BBVA just to name a few.

I also plan to cover the event the Visible Banking blog and @Visible_Banking on twitter, and shoot a few video interviews while in Madrid. I have already scheduled an interview with Jesus to talk about HipoListo.es, the Spanish version of SmartHippo.com (I invite you to check my video interview with SH's Founder, Georges Favvas), and Fernando Egido Egaña, Head of Channels, Innovation and Strategic Deployment Area at Caja Navarra, to talk about Cancha24. Stay tuned!

Civic Banking by Caja Navarra: The Lost Interview
I invite you to watch the video I shot with Pablo Armendariz, the former Head of Innovation at Caja Navarra, back in October 2008 in Singapore at Retail Banking Innovation.

Great content, but please be kind with Pablo and I: it was a long day and the jetlag kicked in! You will notice it in the tone of my voice. ;)

Barclays Bank's Social Media Initiative for Students: 100 Voices... in 5mn? Or 100 days?

2009-11-06T10:41:00+00:00

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More and more financial institutions have realised that leveraging social media is a great way to engage with students and young professionals and reach the attractive Gen Y. Nowadays financial Institutions have to be seen as innovative to attact talent and recruit tomorrow's leaders.

But Gen Y's expectations are different from the older bank customers: they are not afraid to express themselves and voice their concerns, and they expect companies to listen to them and show they care.
The good news it that they are also happy to participate to a social media contest or join a new online community as long as they find the initiative exciting, innovative, useful, and fun.

100 Voices by Barclays Bank
I invite you to watch my video comments on 100voices.co.uk, an initiative launched earlier this year in the UK by Barclays Bank.

My key comments
* the Interface looks very static, very "web 1.0"
* there is limited activity and content
* just text, no user generated videos
* it is not easy to search the Voices or find the right content
* what is the reward? Why would the participants post on regular basis?
* limited marketing on Barclays Bank's own assets
* no presence on facebook, twitter, youtube, myspace, 12seconds?
* virtually no coverage neither on the blogosphere nor on twitter

Two years ago, with very few social media initiatives by Fis targeting students, it would have been understandable to launch such a close "micro-site", but now...

It is important to embrace social media and keep trying to engage with people online, and I salute the Barclays team for their effort, but this example demonstrates once again the need for subject matter expertise not only at Financial Institutions but also at Web Agencies.

Please do not hesitate to call me on +44 7736 446 357 to talk about social media in finance.

The Visible Banking Social Media Directory
Other social media initiatives targeting students: WF's the Student LoanDown blog, the RBC P-2-P blog, Severus Credit Union's Young & Free Alberta blog, facebook: the TD Money Lounge page, the Abbey Students page and application, the Chase +1 page...

I invite you to check a more comprehensive list of social media initiatives from the Finance industry targeting the Gen Y with the relevant links. Please do not hesitate to flag any missing initiatives!

I believe you will also find some useful insights in my Social Media Watch Series.

Social Media Success
Success in Social Media lies in your ability to convince people there is a value of taking part in your initiative and REWARD them for the time they spend visiting, contributing, sharing and promoting it.

Focus on Engaging with your members, and don't spend too much money on the interface upfront!
Don't reinvent the wheel, white label a popular blogging or online community platform, make it as simple as possible to contribute and spread the word.

Then you need to find the best way to urge your members to participate. It is all about REWARD, just REWARD, nothing but REWARD.

And make your content as easy to search and as easy to share on popular social media sites as possible!

The Man of 100 Voices in 5mn
I had to embed this video too...

Related articles on Visible-Banking.com
* Visible Banking Services
* Visible Banking Directory: Social Media in Finance
* Visible Banking Twitter Watch (710 accounts tracked in 38 countries)

Standard Chartered in UAE Launches 'Get Rich With A Click' to Increase their Fan Base on Facebook and Drive Activity & Adoption of Online Banking

2009-11-05T13:26:00+00:00

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Several times a week, I search facebook for new initiatives from the Finance industry to add to my Visible Banking Facebook Watch.

Last week, I found this recommendation from Facebook based on two of my friends from Standard Chartered.
I met Aman, Global Head of Remote Banking, in Singapore at Retail Banking Innovation 2008 where we were both speaking, and I met Naresh, Head of Solutions Delivery, Consumer Transaction Banking, in Kuala Lumpur at the E-Channel Management event I chaired earlier this year.

This is an interesting initiative from Standard Chartered Bank in UAE. I invite you to check their facebook page to read the Rules & Conditions.

You can also follow them on twitter @Stan_Chart_Bank (not the best username, nor the best look-and-feel for an official account) to find out who won.

The Get Rich With A Click initiative will kick off on 4th December.

In the meantime, Standard Chartered will give away one iphone per day to their online banking customers who are also fans of their facebook page. (I count 6 winners so far, as of 31st October, the date I wrote this post)

Visible Banking Facebook Watch
I invite you to check my #1 update.

Please note that I am also tracking two other popular initiatives from Standard Chartered on Facebook:
* Page from Singapore -> 4,200+ fans
* Group from Jordan -> 1,700+ members

My ambition is to establish my Visible Banking Social Media Watch Series (Twitter, Blogs, Facebook and YouTube) as The first point of reference in the Finance industry.

I aim to demonstrate that the industry can leverage social media, even though very few FIs do it well mainly due to lack of a subject matter expert. Indeed it is good to know how the likes of Dell, Starbucks and Toyota successfully leverage social media, but the Finance industry is a totally different ball game...

Interview with Aman Narain, Global Head of Remote Channels at Standard Chartered
I invite you to read my post from RBI 2008, and watch my interview with Aman:

Visible Banking Facebook Watch #1 - October 2009: 258 Pages, Groups, Apps / 41 Countries / 308,000+ Fans - Top 10s Financial Insitutions / Credit Unions / Insurance

2009-11-04T10:56:00+00:00

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In May 2009, I started tracking the financial institutions (FIs) on facebook.

From 128 accounts back then, I am delighted to announce that I am now tracking over 250 pages, groups, and applications.

I believe my initiative is unique, definitely exciting and rewarding, and full of great insights. I aim to share some key stats with you, my blog readers, my twitter followers, and my facebook fans, and provide some second-to-none recommendations to my clients.

From now on, I will post regular summaries of the Visible Banking Facebook Watch on my blog. I am aiming for at least one update every two months. For more regular updates, I invite you to follow me on twitter @Visible_Banking and search twitter for updates with #VBFW.

My ambition is to establish my Visible Banking Social Media Watch Series (Twitter, Blogs, Facebook and YouTube) as The first point of reference in the Finance industry. I aim to demonstrate that the industry can leverage social media, even though very few FIs do it well mainly due to lack of a subject matter expert. Indeed it is good to know how the likes of Dell, Starbucks and Toyota successfully leverage social media, but the Finance industry is a totally different ball game.

You work for a financial institution? You would like to leverage the most popular social media sites more efficiently, learn how your peers and competitors are using facebook, or find out more about the best practices and the most successful initiatives in the finance industry?
I invite you to send me an email or call me on +44 7736 446 357.

Visible Banking Facebook Watch - Stats
Please find below some stats from September.

More Facebook Statistics from October:
* Most Loved FIs: 115 FIs have 200+ fans, 56 FIs have 500+ fans, and only 38 FIs have 1,000+ fans.
* The 5,000+ Fan Club: 11 FIs have 5,000+ fans.

Top 10s - Most "Loved" Financial Institutions
From now on, to be consistent with my Visible Banking Twiter Watch, I will publish my top 10s in three categories: overall, credit unions and insurance. So far, my top 10s are purely based on the total number of fans.

Please feel free to use those insights as long as you mention Visible-Banking.com.

Top 10 - Overall
1. Chase +1 (US)
2. usaa (US)
3. Abbey Students (UK)
4. TD Canada Trust - TD Money Lounge (Canada)
5. Allstate Insurance - Vehicle Vibes (US)
6. E*TRADE Baby (US)
7. Visa Signature (US)
8. Discover Card (US)
9. KBank Live (Thailand)
10. Progressive Insurance (US)

Top 10 - Credit Unions
1. FAIRWINDS CU (US)
2. MSU Federal CU (US)
3. Members 1st Federal CU (US)
4. SEFCU (US)
5. Founders Federal CU (US)
6. America First CU (US)
7. Evansville Teachers Federal CU (US)
8. University CU (US)
9. Commonwealth CU (US)
10. NCCU's That's So Northwest (US)

Top 10 - Insurance
1. usaa (US)
2. Allstate Insurance - Vehicle Vibes (US)
3. Progressive Insurance (US)
4. American Family Insurance (US)
5. Trupanion Pet Insurance (US)
6. Zurich Financial Services (US)
7. Anthem Health Footprint (US)
8. AIG (US)
9. United Health Group (US, Group)
10. Progressive - Pet Photos (US, Application)

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* Visible Banking Services
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* Directory 2.0: Social Media in Banking