ABA Bank Marketing articles from March 2002

ABA Bank Marketing archives from March 2002

Bankers. (Announcements).(Securian Trust Co., Interchange Bank appointments)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Patrick A. Mazorol was named chief executive of Securian Trust Co., which will be formed out of Securian Financial Group's purchase of the trust and investment division of Midway National Bank of St. Paul, Minn. Mazorol previously was chief...

Financial services. (Announcements).(H and R Block, Prudential PL appointments)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Bill Sotis has been named assistant vice president for worldwide tax marketing at H&R Block, replacing Scott Ragan, who was promoted to vice president. Sotis was previously president of MVP.com, an electronic sports retailer. Prudential PL...

Service providers. (Announcements).(employee changes, various companies)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Dan Tarantin, formerly president and CEO of Jackson-Hewitt Inc., the tax preparation firm, was named CEO of Cendant Corp. of New York. Last August, Tarantin had joined FISI-Madison, a Cendant subsidiary, as president. Lisa A. Shipley was...

Mergers & acquisitions. (Announcements).(various companies)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... MB Financial Inc. completed its merger with MidCity Financial Corp. The combined organization, with assets of $3.5 billion, will do business under the MB Financial name. The merger affects 31 MBFI and MCFC locations. Mellon Global...

Alliances & agreements. (Announcements).(Metavante Corp. to acquire 401kservices.com)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Metavante Corp. of Milwaukee, technology subsidiary of Marshall & Ilsley Corp., will acquire 401kservices.com of Appleton, Wisc., a third-party administration of pension and profit-sharing plans.

Back to basics, Banking style. (Marketing News).(First Community Bank, Olympia, WA)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... They tell us to sell the sizzle and not the steak. Good advice, but it doesn't hurt to mention the steak now and then, too. Since 1997, First Community Bank (FCB) in Olympia, Wash., has been doing just that. As a bank, First Community's...

Quality improvement trade-off. (Marketing News).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... The conventional wisdom is that improvements in service quality should be structured to do two jobs: enhance revenue and reduce costs. A new report from the Marketing Science Institute suggests, however, that that might not be the best...

What do they want from US? (Marketing News).(banking services survey)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
March 1, 2002... Convenience, mostly. More branches, more ATMs, longer hours, drive-through services and, in a limited way, Internet services. But a sort of residual ambivalence about Internet banking continues to linger in consumer' minds. These...

New frontiers in free Enterprise. (In Brief).(universities open Internet banks)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... You probably thought you had enough competition already, what with expanding national banks, insurance companies and brokerage firms all encroaching on your turf. Time to make room for one more: dear old alma mater. Drexel University...

Retirement planning. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... RETIREMENT PLANNING: Less than half of small-business owners consider more than one type of retirement plan when choosing a plan for their business, according to a survey conducted by Nationwide Financial of Columbus, Ohio, a distributor of...

Factoring: One of the fastest growing and most profitable financial service sectors for community banks and commercial lenders is factoring. (In Brief).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... FACTORING: One of the fastest growing and most profitable financial service sectors for community banks and commercial lenders is factoring, says the International Factoring Association, San Luis Obispo, Calif. Factoring is a lending tool used...

The rich get richer. (Marketing News).(larger banks offer more Internet services)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Remember "small is beautiful?" The theory that bigger isn't necessarily better and that there are serious limits to the economies of scale? Well, forget it. It turns out that bigger is better--at least when it comes to Internet banking....

Electronic Bill Presentment and Paying (EBPP). (In Brief).(consumers not using service)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... ELECTRONIC BILL PRESENTMENT AND PAYING (EBPP) still hasn't caught on with consumers, says a new report from Meridien Research. Two reasons: consumers don't want to pay for it, and banks see it as a threat to their existing lockbox business....

College savings card. (In Brief).(from Citibank)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... COLLEGE SAVINGS CARD. Citibank is offering a new MasterCard that helps consumers save for college. One percent of the amount of purchases made with the card will be set aside in a special college account. The card, known as the Citi Upromise...

Resurgence of the physical channel. (Marketing Solutions).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Shortly before Christmas, I walked into a store and had an experience that tells me that 2002 could become the "Year of the Store." The resurgence of the physical or people channel--neglected during the rise of the Internet--may be coming: ...

Making employee suggestions count. (Rewarding Employees).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... One of the best ways to involve and energize employees is to solicit their ideas and opinions. Real motivation comes from within. People have to be given the freedom to voice their opinions and make suggestions--whether these ideas succeed or...

Teens: Give'em Credit! (Cover Story).(banks target market teenagers)(Statistical Data Included)
March 1, 2002... The fiscally precocious teen-age market, 30.9-million strong, is the fastest-growing customer segment in the United States. bank marketers can't afford to ignore it. The secret of successfully reaching Generation Y is to look beyond the pierced...

Internet TV: In the air. (Future).(home banking services via interactive television)
March 1, 2002... Banking by interactive TV sounds like a glitzy new delivery channel. And experts have been predicting its launch for the last decade. Bank markets should stay tuned, according to this update. It's still coming - only slower than forecast...

Adding splash to a birthday bash. (Feature).(Litchfield Bancorp's award-winning anniversary public relations campaign)
March 1, 2002... Bank anniversaries offer a pool full of public relations opportunities. All it takes is careful planning and a little media savvy. Here's how one community savings bank in Connecticut dived in headfirst and came up with handfuls of free...

The young and the (Financially) Reckless. (Fundamentals).(techniques for educating teenage consumers on personal finance)
March 1, 2002... Marketers cultivate today's youth because they represent tomorrow's customers. Unfortunately, many children are clueless about basic money issues such as budgeting and managing debt. Banks can shape kids into better potential customers by...

Know thy bank's 'killer attributes'. (Customer Satisfaction).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... The 2001 Christmas selling season was pretty low-key, given the state of the economy and the American psyche following September 11. However, one interesting factoid did emerge from the sea of post-mortem analyses. While overall retail sales...

Profitability picture. (New Products).(transaction tracking software from Raddon Financial Group)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... Are you making money on your existing accounts-or losing it? Raddon Financial Group, an Oakbrook Terrace, Ill, developer of marketing software, says its iNTEGRATOR software can provide the information you need to make that determination. ...

Identity theft prevention. (New Products).(brochures available from CCH Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... You can alert your customers (and your staff) to the dangers of identity theft with a series of brochures from CCH Inc. of Riverwoods, Ill. Two new booklets are available-one written for consumers in nontechnical language and one designed for...

Loans from the Desktop. (New Products).(Digital Insight Corp. loan application software)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... AXIS DeskTopLender is an application service provider, from Digital Insight Corp., that automates the loan application and decision-making process. And, says the company, because it's an ASP, it can be implemented in a fraction of the time...

Hire a Virtual Agent. (New Products).(online sales and service software from Mindful Technologies)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... The Virtual Agent Suite from Mindful Technologies provides online sales and service assistance. When customers log on to your website, a Virtual Agent engages them in conversations to determine their needs and to address them. "Mindful's...

A welcome sign. (New Products).(electronic information system from Pro-Lite Inc.)(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... A new electronic information system that features an elliptical design with a viewing angle of over 160 degrees has been introduced by Pro-Lite Inc. of Costa Mesa, Calif. The InfoCenter delivers messages instantly from a full-sized keyboard or...

Three ABA conferences are 'must-go' events for marketers. (ABA Resources).
March 1, 2002... Three ABA conferences of interest to marketers are scheduled during the months of March and April. The following is a brief description of each, highlighting some of the marketing-related subjects that wilt be covered. ABA Small-Business...

Customer segmentation' topic for online Peer Networking. (ABA Resources).
March 1, 2002... Have a bank marketing question? You may be able to find the answer on the "Peer Networking" service at the ABA Marketing Network website (go to aba.com and click on "Marketing Network"). Peer networking sessions are held online every...

Bankers' Sept. 11 relief fund raises more than $1.1 million. (ABA Resources).(Brief Article)
March 1, 2002... A bankers' charitable fund organized to show support for the victims and the families of the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks had raised more than $1.1 million by the end of 2001. The fund was created by the New York, Virginia and American...