Banks are strange animals. They seem both almighty (some these days say immortal) and fragile.
Almighty and immortal because, as the current financial crisis has shown, they are more often than not too big to fail. Fragile because we the clients are both clients and claimholders. Opening a bank account is indeed tantamount to lending money to the bank while at the same time becoming a client.
This implies that banks are good as long as we trust them, as long as we believe our money is in safe hands. This notion of trust is even more crucial in an Internet driven world where bank runs can occur at Blackberry speed.
In his new book, "Bank 2.0 : How customer behaviour and technology will change the future of financial services" , published by Marshall Cavendish, author Brett King urges the banking world to embrace the Web 2.0 challenges and opportunities that will undoubtedly shape the future financial landscape.Ninety to ninety-five per cent of bank transactions are executed electronically today. The Internet, ATMs, call centres and smartphones have become mainstream for customers. But banks still classify these as ‘alternative channels’ and maintain an organisation structure where Branch dominates thinking. Continued technology innovations, Web 2.0, social networking, app phones and mobility are also stretching traditional banking models to the limit.
BANK 2.0 reveals why customer behaviour is so rapidly changing, how branches will evolve, why cheques are disappearing, and why your mobile phone will replace your wallet—all within the next 10 years.
This book is also available in Cyberlibris' ScholarVox , the leading Web 2.0 digital library for business schools.
About the author:
Brett King is the founder of the International Academy of Financial Management, one of the fastest growing professional associations and training institutes in the world. A regular speaker at top global conferences, he is an acknowledged expert on wealth management, customer experience and retail channel distribution strategy. He also runs User Strategy, a boutique consultancy focused on improving customer interaction for leading financial services companies and businesses. Brett previously helmed the Asia division of Modern Media and the E-Business service line for Deloitte. His clients include HSBC, Citigroup, UBS, Standard Chartered, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and many more. He blogs here.
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