small business — Banking.com

What We’re Reading: Small Business Banking, Mobile Growth and Social Media

May 6, 2013 By Banking.com Staff 3 Comments

Below are interesting stories the Banking.com staff has been reading over the past week. What have you been reading? Let us know in the comments section below or Tweet @bankingdotcom.

Small Business Owners to Banks: Meet My Needs

American Banker

Small businesses want banks to add more of a personal touch. Nearly a quarter of owners of companies with less than $10 million in annual revenue want their bank to make adjustments to meet their individual needs, according to a survey published Monday by U.S. Bank (USB). More than 20% of small businesses owners also want their banks to make more money available and to connect them with other small business owners. A fifth of those who participated in the study want their bank to serve as a financial mentor, according to the fourth edition of the Small Business Annual Survey.

Using Big Data to Fight Phishing

Bank Info Security

Using so-called big data to develop phishing intelligence systems that can connect e-mail attacks to specific criminal activities and groups over time is a good way to thwart targeted schemes, researcher Gary Warner of the University of Alabama at Birmingham says during an interview with Information Security Media Group. Rather than relying on e-mail signatures to filter out spam, Warner says organizations should rely on the e-mail data and statistics they collect. “We need to do more proper analysis of the log data,” he says.

Mobile Growing, But Still Not Preferred Channel

Bank Systems & Technology

Jason Malo, a research director in the CEB TowerGroup’s Retail Banking and Cards practice, reported that the majority of mobile bankers use the channel for alerts, with occasional transactional capability. According to a recent TowerGroup survey of mobile banking consumers, 54% said the most important mobile function to them was being able to receive notification from their bank about irregular account activity or changes to their account. That was followed by 51% who reported their most important mobile function was bill pay capabilities, while 46% listed notification of low account balance as the function they most wanted from mobile banking. 43% of respondents listed remote deposit capture capabilities as what they most desired from the mobile channel.

Banks plot major shrinking of branches

Crain’s New York Business

To cut costs bankers say hello to banking’s brave, new, cramped world. At about 1,000 square feet, [a new prototype branch is] 75% smaller than the traditional Wells Fargo outpost upstairs. Driven by changing consumer behavior and the urgent need to reduce costs, banks are devising ways to cut their branches down to size. Wells Fargo opened its first next-generation branch in April in Washington, D.C., and is looking to open seriously shrunken branches in New York and other major cities. JPMorgan Chase & Co. has started building branches that are 25% smaller than older models.

A New Social Media Platform For Advisors

Financial Advisor Magazine

The progress of social media is inexorable and inevitable. Yet many financial advisors are still trying to figure out how to play the game without getting into hot water with regulators. Finect, a New York City company, has recently rolled out an online platform aimed specifically at the financial services industry. The company believes it can help financial advisors meet their professional and compliance needs in the social media era. “Financial advisors are tiptoeing around social media and are looking for help to move forward,” says Jennifer Openshaw, Finect’s president.

In-Branch Tablet Banking Kiosks: Ideas, Opportunities and Costs

Financial Brand

The introduction of the iPad brought with it a whole new world of marketing opportunities for banks and credit unions. What are some examples of things bank and credit union marketers are currently doing with tablet kiosks? Jon VanderMeer, CEO/Kiosk & Display: The capabilities for kiosks and tablets is about 99% the same, only the form factor is different. Potential tablet uses include: In-branch demos, training and troubleshooting, onboarding new customers into online banking, and digital alternative to printed brochures where branch visitors can review and compare products.

Financial Pain Ensues When Custodians of Health Fail to be Good Stewards of Privacy

Javelin Strategy & Research Blog

The healthcare industry stores massive amounts of PII, and it is incumbent on them to protect that data from theft. According to Javelin research, approximately 1 in 9 data breach victims in 2010 were fraud victims – this correlation grew to 1 in 4 as of 2012! Social Security numbers are the keys to the castle when it comes to financial accounts. In our 2013 Banking Identity Safety Scorecard, 80% of the institutions examined still allowed consumers to authenticate themselves with SSNs.

Mobile Remote Deposit Capture and More Convenient Banking

Main Street

Mobile remote deposit capture (MRDC) has become banking technology’s must have for 2013. But MRDC is just the beginning of how the camera changes banking. Next up: picture bill pay. It works like this: You get a bill. You could input biller data – account numbers, addresses, all those details – into online banking. Or you could snap a picture of the bill and let the software – developed by the same folks who created MRDC – populate a payment form with all that information that has been harvested from the bill.

Banking by Voice Gets Test From U.S. Bank

The Street

Smartphone users are just getting used to issuing voice demands to make phone calls, get directions or ask for dining-out options. Now mobile phone users may be getting another audible option: using voice commands to conduct personal banking. U.S. Bank is testing a voice-banking service that enables customers to check account balances, review transactions and pay bills solely through voice activation. For now, U.S. Bank is limiting the app test campaign to its FlexPerks Travel Rewards program and to its employees; the voice-activated technology comes from Nuance Nina Mobile, and is now limited to iPhone and Android phones.

Filed Under Industry News Tagged With big data, cybersecurity, mobile, mobile banking, small business, what we're reading

Small Business: Perception vs. Reality

November 21, 2012 By Banking.com Staff 1 Comment

In the most recent election cycle, like most others before it, the one sector of the economy that got the most attention was small business. This is the future, we were told by every candidate—the very backbone of the nation’s economic infrastructure, the greatest source of employment and innovation, the foundation of America’ greatness.

The new J.D. Power and Associates 2012 US Small Business Banking Satisfaction Study paints quite a different picture. It uncovers an environment where optimism co-exists with uncertainty, and where tapping capital resources remains an unnecessarily onerous task. Far from being lauded, this is a market that is looking for support, deserves it, but too often doesn’t get it.

There’s no question that as the economy continues to recover, however slowly, small businesses will play a critical role. Those already in the market are on track to keep growing, and this will turn help fuel the creation of others. Indeed, the study highlights a degree of optimism in this sector. There’s a clearly perceptible spike in the percentage of small business banking customers who report being better off now than they were a year ago. It’s still far from a majority at 33 percent, but that’s still a 10 percent jump over last year’s corresponding number, and even better news compared to the 15 percent who now say they’re worse off.

“There is a long road ahead to economic recovery, but it’s positive to see that small business banking customers report they are better off this year over 2011,” said Jim Miller, senior director of banking at J.D. Power and Associates. “Since 2009, we have seen the percentage of those who reported to be ‘better off’ jump from 16 percent in 2009 to 33 percent in 2012.”

For banks in particular, there’s even more good news. The JD Power study reports that, on average, small businesses hold deposits four times greater and loan balances 15 times greater than retail banking customers. The people running the businesses are doing well too: these customers carry higher levels of personal banking business than the average consumer.

And finally, there’s the profit factor. Perhaps contrary to conventional wisdom, profit margins associated with small business customers are typically higher than those associated with larger corporate banking customers.

However, the gulf between perception and reality extends into other areas as well, with less happy results. As the JD power study makes clear, this market doesn’t get the respect it clearly merits. For the record, there is a higher level of overall satisfaction in the most recent report, but that’s still cold comfort. In fact, it still ranks near the bottom among the financial services businesses that the study covers (only mortgage servicing ranks lower). Even the credit card business, which long languished at the bottom, has now moved past small business banking in satisfaction to levels enjoyed in the retail banking sector.

The elephant in the room, of course, is credit, or rather the lack of it. Oddly, the hard numbers don’t necessarily show a decline here: 82 percent of small business loan applicants say got approved for their most recent loan, the same as the year before. However, a recent research effort conducted by the Small Business Administration that went a level deeper revealed that lending this sector has been falling steadily since 2008, the year of the banking meltdown. This is likely one factor behind the declining Availability of credit rating, which is down from 6.71 (on a 10-point scale) last year to 6.65 in this year. That’s actually one of the lowest-rated attributes in the 2012 study.

Again, all the clichés ascribed to the small business sector—hardy, entrepreneurial, innovative—are real. This is a risky proposition, and we all know just how many new ventures don’t survive. At the same time, as every good candidate will point out in every stump speech, small business is exactly what will fuel overall economic recovery.

In the next piece, we’ll look more closely at the pain points in this market. But for now, the unmistakable takeaway is that small businesses are healthier than they’ve been for a while, they’re vital for economic growth, and there are significant profit margins involved. The market is good for companies, good for individuals, and good for the economy. Given those considerations, the banking satisfaction levels identified by the new report are lamentably low, and it should be the industry’s goal to do better.

* Now in its seventh year, the U.S. Small Business Banking Satisfaction Study measures small business customer satisfaction with the overall banking experience by examining eight factors: product offerings; account manager; facility; account information; problem resolution; credit services; fees; and account activities. The 2012 study includes responses from nearly 7,246 small business owners or financial decision-makers who use business banking services. The study was fielded from August 10, 2012, through September 10, 2012.

For more information about the J.D. Power and Associates 2012 US Small Business Banking Satisfaction Study, please contact: Holly Zagresky at (248) 680-6319 or via email at Holly_Zagresky@jdpa.com

Filed Under For Financial Institutions, Surveys Tagged With banks, customer satisfaction, J.D. Power and Associates, small business, small business banking, Small Business Banking Satisfaction Study

Big Data: The Link From Dinosaurs to Batman to Small Business

August 15, 2012 By Stephen O'Grady Leave a Comment

It’s hard to escape the hype around big data these days. From magazines to newspapers to TV, discussions of big data are everywhere. But for the average business or software developer, what does big data mean? What is its promise or potential? The answer depends on the business.

For Google, Facebook and others, big data is intelligence and revenue rolled into one. In cases like the British Museum, it’s about preserving and making freely available a corpus of better than 150 million assets, from maps to musical scores. But even the smallest businesses can begin to use data in new and creative ways.

Consider the case of seasonal retail businesses, such as hardware stores. In years past, store owners manually managed inventory, attempting to anticipate demand for their wares. Today, forward-looking businesses incorporate big data into that decision-making process.

Some turn to predictive algorithms, which are primed with years of inventory data to render better, more accurate projections of demand. Others factor freely available weather data into their inventory predictions. When long-term drought conditions are forecast, as they were prior to this spring, intelligent hardware store owners could lower their inventory of garden hoses and sprinklers and stock the parts necessary for deeper wells that may be dug.

And it goes far beyond internal or general sources, such as weather data. Two years ago the New York Times examined Netflix data to determine which movies were being rented, by neighborhood, in a dozen cities. If you were an entrepreneur looking to open a comic book store, knowing where the fans lived for movies like “Batman Begins,” “Captain America” or “Thor” would be invaluable. Or if you were opening a cooking supply store, planning your location and marketing around which boroughs were consumed by Julie and Julia could be a real competitive advantage.

The nonprofit sector can also benefit from big data. U.S. government census data, made available via the open API at www.census.gov, offers insights on poverty and homelessness. The Cornell Program on Applied Demographics, for example, uses the API to layer poverty statistics onto a map. From there, a savvy nonprofit could turn to the ProgrammableWeb’s collection of nonprofit APIs to tap into databases of potential volunteers.

Whatever the business and whatever the industry, there are datasets – some of them very large indeed – that can help make better decisions faster. The key to effectively using big data is to think creatively about how it can be leveraged. Consultants or contractors won’t necessarily see the same possibilities that you will. But keep an open mind, and big data will more than justify its hype.

*This post originally appeared on the Intuit Network.

About Stephen O’Grady: Stephen is an industry analyst and cofounder of RedMonk. He is based in Maine, a frequent traveler, ardent RedSox fan and focused on helping companies understand developers better and, in general, helping developers do what they do best. He is a paid contributor to the Intuit Network.

Filed Under Industry News Tagged With API's, big data, financial data, Intuit, small business

Market Outlook: Good Times Ahead, But. . .

July 30, 2012 By Banking.com Staff 2 Comments

Another day, another ray of hope in an otherwise dour environment: A new report based on a poll of 137 banking executives from over 100 financial institutions reveals an optimistic outlook for the SMB market. How strong? Try this: 95 percent of bankers describe the untapped potential of this market as equal to or greater than any other current opportunity, while more than half, 57 percent, say it’s huge.

That’s the word from the North American Insights conference held by Fundtech, a provider of financial technology solutions to banks and other corporations. And the good news doesn’t end there: 60 percent say demand for new services from this market sector is higher than usual, while nearly 20 percent call it “unprecedented.” Of course, mobile is a big issue: 38 percent report that building the mobile banking channel is a top priority. Perhaps strangely, almost as many, 34 percent, also note that cutting costs in this area is a top priority. And to top it off, a strong 67 percent of the respondents believe that social networking will play a major role in their growth, but add—and this is critical—they don’t quite know how.

That isn’t the only dark note in an otherwise bright scenario. While no one denies the viability of competition, almost 60 percent of the respondents, banking professionals all, say they see signs of inroads into their business coming from non-banking companies. That would be a tip of the hat to organizations associated with the technology sector—think Facebook, eBay and PayPal. This is by no means an isolated concern. In fact, numerous other analyses have stressed that many successful entries into this market will be made not only by innovative startups but also by companies that have achieved success in the technology arena and apply those techniques to the banking sector.

That’s just one reason why another subject covered in the report is so intriguing: regulation. Bankers confirm that they’re already not clear exactly how to comply with new mandates such as the Dodd-Frank Act—to be fair, almost half say they “mostly” understand—and yet they expect more such mandates to come down the pike.

What’s completely unrelated yet very relevant in this regard are the statements made this week by former Citigroup head Sanford Weill. He startled everyone by essentially calling for the resurrection of the Glass-Steagall Act, the Depression-era legislation that separated commercial banking from investment banking, and was abandoned more than a decade ago. This is one reason why banks got to be ‘too big to fail,’ and as has been widely reported, Mr. Weill himself was a prime mover behind the change. Now he seems to have changed his mind.

Taken together, these are some strange winds blowing for the financial services industry. There are good times for banks working with the SMB sector, but one potential concern is that non-banking institutions might steal some of that thunder. Meanwhile, one of the people most responsible for shredding the legislation that separated commercial and investment banking would like to see it return, a major reason for their existing strength, recommends reducing that power.

This should be very interesting to watch. Stay tuned.

Filed Under Surveys Tagged With Dodd-Frank legislature, small business, survey

Tips: How to Choose a Bank for Your Small Business

July 17, 2012 By Erica Bell 6 Comments

Banking is one of the first things you’ll need to make a decision about as you get your business up and running. From business security systems to online marketing, everything about your business relates directly to your company’s financial sector. You’ll want to make sure things are efficient and glitch-free. As a small business, choosing a bank can sometimes be daunting. Here are three things to consider when choosing your banking company.

Location, Location, Location

As they say in the real estate world, the most important thing is location. Depending on the size and nature of your business, you may need a bank with numerous locations or a small bank in your immediate area. Location plays an important role when choosing a bank.

Does operating your business entail numerous runs to a bank in one day? If so, you’ll want to make sure you choose a bank with a branch local to you to cut down on time and gas accrued from running back and forth.
If your business transactions occur mostly online, location isn’t as important and you can focus on other features each bank has to offer.
Are you going to need lending? In today’s market, small banks are more likely to take chances on small businesses. If the bank is in your community, they may be more flexible and provide greater customer support.

Online Banking Selections

Regardless of whether you choose a banking corporation or a small business, you may want to choose a bank that provides online banking. Online banking has its perks, but there can be drawbacks if you choose a company that is only online.

Making the most of online banking can help your company reduce its environmental impact. If your company wants to be as green as possible, online banking can help you do just that.
Strictly online banking accounts typically pay a higher rate of interest than you can get from a brick and mortar competitor.
Online banking accounts may save time with the constant use of direct deposit, but because there are no ATMs, depositing checks and withdrawing cash become more difficult.
Open 24/7, accounts that offer online banking are convenient and allow for constant monitoring of payment and spending. You can catch fraudulent actions quicker than if you wait for a monthly statement.

Figuring Out Fee Structures

As you come closer to choosing a bank for your business, you’ll need to look at the fee structure of each bank. Some charge fees after a certain amount of transactions or for various financial services. Determining what you need and the fees associated will benefit your business in the long run.

If you’re going to need financial advice and the bank you are considering offers such services, look into the related costs, if there are any. See what extras are associated with your account and which aren’t.
Larger banking corporations are more likely to issue corporate credit cards to small businesses, which can be used for financing. Rates are also usually less with larger banks.
Some banks will also charge small businesses for online banking services, even though they do not charge individuals.
If you will need a loan, what are the rates? You’ll want to figure out what kind of loan you’ll need and the rates associated. Banks often limit loan amounts so asking what each bank’s limit is might be a good idea.

Always ask questions about fees and services associated with your account. Pin down what you need and make sure the bank you choose has those options available. Don’t forget to occasionally shop around. Your business changes and so do the banks’ rates and available options. As your business expands and shifts around, you may have different needs that your current bank doesn’t provide.

Contributed content by: Erica Bell: Erica is a small business writer who focuses on topics such as business plans and social media trends. She is a web content writer for Business.com.

Filed Under Industry News Tagged With banks, online banking, small business, Small Business Lending

What Small Businesses Can Teach Us About Technology

June 5, 2012 By Stephen O'Grady Leave a Comment

For the majority of businesses, IT is a DIY proposition – do it yourself. That’s because most businesses are small businesses, which makes information technology decision-making at the Mom and Pop shops a DIY affair, far different than their larger business counterparts, where procurement is a managed process.

While the mechanics of technology decision-making for SMBs differ from those at large enterprises, their early embrace of the “Bring Your Own Device,” aka BYOD, strategy has lessons for the industry as a whole.

Try replacing a small business employee’s iPhone with a business-friendly BlackBerry and see how far you get. Chances are employees are using their own phones on the job. This consumerization of IT, in which consumers bring their own devices to work, is increasingly the rule at SMBs, not the exception.

This raises many questions for employers.

How can I connect these devices to existing services, including email and payment processing?
How can I protect against loss or theft?
How do I make sure company data doesn’t leave if the employee finds a new job?

The costs associated with these questions sound extreme, but the benefits of a BYOD strategy will, in most cases, more than offset the costs. Not surprisingly, when employees use devices they like and have chosen for themselves, they’re happier.

And there are hard savings as well. By putting employees in charge of their technology, a BYOD strategy also shifts the responsibility for managing and maintaining – and in some cases, purchasing – that device to the user, reducing the overall company’s technology costs. The small business that lets its people use their iPhones is the small business that doesn’t have to buy them corporate devices.

Aside from the discussion of benefits and downsides, a bigger question remains: Why is BYOD so popular?

The answer lies in a simple but infrequently acknowledged truth: Most business technologies deployed to users aren’t designed for users. They’re designed instead for buyers, whose agenda is far different than their individual employees. For decades, enterprise technology vendors courted CIOs, IT managers and other buyers with promises to make their life easier: automate deployment, ease the pains of management, and lock down individual devices so that users required permission to install even a new browser. The user experience, the interface’s aesthetics and any functionality not directly related to the business were afterthoughts, if they were thought of at all.

And then everything changed.

Five years ago this past January, Steve Jobs unveiled the iPhone, forever transforming the way we communicate. For the first time, users had a device that was designed not for the employer and not for the carrier, but for no one other than the person using the device.

With its first mobile phone product, Apple not only leapfrogged every other device manufacturer on the planet, they completely reset users’ expectations. No longer would we have to settle for a device that was clumsy and awkward to use – which described virtually every device built for businesses. Users revolted and embraced, and today you see iPhones, iPads and dozens of other consumer-focused devices tacitly, even explicitly, supported within the enterprise.

For the businesses, then, the lesson is simple. Think carefully about who your customer is and who you’re building for. Because if you forget about the person who actually has to use your product, you can be sure that someone else won’t.

*This post originally appeared on the Intuit Network

About Stephen O’Grady:
Stephen O’Grady is an industry analyst and cofounder of RedMonk. He is based in Maine, a frequent traveler, ardent RedSox fan and focused on helping companies understand developers better and, in general, helping developers do what they do best. He is a paid contributor to the Intuit Network.

Filed Under Industry News Tagged With BYOD, DIY, small business, technology

Video: How Love Enters the Equation with Small Business

June 4, 2012 By Banking.com Staff 1 Comment

CeCe Morken, senior vice president and general manager of Intuit Financial Services recently presented the opening keynote at the Barlow Research National Client conference. This is part four of the video series.

Filed Under Videos Tagged With Intuit Financial Services, small business, video

Video: Getting to Know Small Businesses

May 21, 2012 By Banking.com Staff Leave a Comment

Filed Under Videos Tagged With banks, small business, video

How To Profitably Serve Small Business Customers

March 15, 2012 By Banking.com Staff Leave a Comment

Small businesses, especially micro businesses, are an underserved customer within financial institutions. The small business market will grow from approximately 27 million to 33 million in the next 10 years, with many of these being micro businesses. Many organizations outside of financial services are targeting these very segments.

In this video CeCe Morken, president and general manager of Intuit Financial Services, sat down with Greg Wright, to discuss how Intuit can help you better and more profitably serve small business customers.

Filed Under Videos Tagged With CeCe Morken, Intuit Financial Services, small business

Community Service

March 15, 2012 By Banking.com Staff Leave a Comment

It’s rightly said that the SMB market, which employs a majority of the American workforce, is often overlooked in the national business discourse. Similarly, community banks and credit unions are too often neglected in the mainstream dialog over the financial services industry. This is a glaring oversight: these sectors not only play a critical role in the daily lives of many Americans, but also offer a fresh and distinct picture of the economy at large. Some recent stories, still more the exception than the rule, prove the point.

First, SNL Financial is out with its annual list of the nation’s best-performing community banks, and true to form, there are some very interesting angles. For example, Atlanta-based State Bank Financial Corp. (the holding company behind State Bank & Trust) ranks No. 1 among banks on the larger end of the spectrum, between $500 million and $5 billion in assets for 2011. This would seem to be an unlikely location for a success story of this caliber—Georgia has suffered through nearly 80 bank failures since the market tanked in 2008. However, SBFC has since acquired a dozen of those fallen competitors and assiduously built up a strong, and now market-leading, portfolio.

Coming in second is American First National Holdings of Houston, which has a very different story to tell. Founded by six entrepreneurs barely 15 years ago, it is focused on the Asian American market. And then there’s Citizens National Bank of Bossier City, La., launched in 1985 by a small group of local businesspeople who saw the need for a locally owned and managed bank that could provide modern banking services “without the cold and impersonal delivery. . .so prevalent in today’s financial institutions.”

The entire list exhibits this kind of national diversity. Texas has the highest number of ranked banks, with 12 entries in the top 100. California comes in second with nine, followed by Virginia and Pennsylvania with eight each.

SNL casts a separate look at banks with assets of less than $500 million, and here too there are pleasant surprises. Topping the list of community banks in this category is Amerasia Bank, located in Flushing, N.Y. That’s literally a stone’s throw away from Wall Street and its conglomerates. Launched less than 25 years ago, the bank has earned recognition from financial rating companies.

Meanwhile, The Street offers a different perspective on this very issue by pointing out that long-term growth investors would do well to “look beyond the largest bank holding companies and consider profitable, growing community banks.” The simple, underlying reason: While the multinationals get all the attention, it’s their smaller counterparts, working at the community level, that have more room to grow.

For the record, most of the largest banks are healthier now than they were even a few years ago: All but four of 19 major institutions got a boost last week after the Federal Reserve, reporting on rigorous stress tests conducted over the past few months, determined them strong enough to survive another harsh downturn. J.P. Morgan Chase and Wells Fargo, among others, got the thumbs-up; Citicorp did not, and the market seems to reacting accordingly.

The reality is that community banks play a critical role important in the daily economy, just like their much larger counterparts. However they get much less attention in the process, unless there’s a scandal, or something of political significance, such as last year’s much-heralded Bank Transfer Day.

But for the most part, community banks do what they do quietly—serve with dedication and innovation, effectively using the technologies and tools most needed to survive and thrive. For that, they deserve far greater recognition than they typically get.

Filed Under Industry News Tagged With Bank Transfer Day, community banking, small business