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Gold/Mining/Energy : BCE Emergis - global e-commerce -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: salva who wrote (732)	5/13/1999 7:37:00 PM
From: Ruby	Respond to of 1341

Sorry, I am out of town; otherwise I would love to. Have fun. I hope the meeting generates more buying interest.

To: salva who wrote (732)	5/14/1999 8:01:00 AM
From: salva	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1341

A Financial Web Supersite.....Survey finds more than half of US households wants this. Interesting reading. Hope IFM is heading that way. Heres the story for our IFM friends: <<<<< May. 13, 1999 (PCWorld via COMTEX) -- Banks should watch their turf: More than half of U.S. households banking online would like someone other than a bank to provide them with a financial Web supersite, according to a recent survey. Consumers' idea of the ideal financial Web site is one that displays all their accounts--bank, credit card, brokerage, and others, according to the study by Dataquest, a market research arm of the Gartner Group. The dream site would let you perform all financial transactions--from online banking to investing and paying bills--with a single log-in. Dataquest interviewed 561 households that bank or invest online in the March survey. "The key message for the banks is that consumers are starting to view portals like AOL, Yahoo and Quicken.com as their financial providers," says George Barto, a senior analyst at Dataquest. But banks have few incentives to provide consumers such an ideal site, Barto adds. "The banks would probably demand to be the supplier of all the services," Barto says, adding that the portals are aware of the potential of such a central financial site. "Yahoo already has a Visa card. We might see a Yahoo Bank after an acquisition. The Yahoo Broker, Yahoo Insurance might be coming too," Barto says. Dataquest found that 87 percent of survey participants would definitely or maybe use a one-stop site for account viewing. Eighty-three percent would consider performing all financial transactions from one site. Thirty-five percent would be willing to pay to use this ideal site. Once Online, Do More But the survey reveals another trend about the finance sector, according to Dataquest, and that concerns marketing efforts. Banks stress the "anytime, anywhere" message too much, analysts said. "It is important to reach their existing customers with this message in order to get them to use the cheaper Internet access instead of the brick-and-mortar locations. But for potential customers there must be something special. Anybody offers 'anytime, anywhere.' There must be carrots that differentiate," Barto says. Such lures might include a lower price, service around the clock every day, and bundling with other financial services. People banking online "visit" the bank more often, and online investing results in more account activity, the study shows. This presents a huge opportunity for financial-services organizations for more cross-selling and even e-commerce, Dataquest analysts suggest. Financial sites could evolve into portals. The study estimates 15 million Americans are involved in online-investing activities that include seeking financial advice, tracking portfolios, and buying and selling. The consumers said they were most satisfied with advice from a financial-services portal. However, 63 percent said they bypass those finance-specific sites, broker sites and news-service portals in favor of larger portals that aggregate different types of information, including financial information, such as America Online. "Also we note that less than 4.5 million actually buy or sell online," Barto says. Only 17 percent of those interviewed have used the Internet to find loans; 11 percent used it to search for mortgages; and 8 percent used it to get car loans, Barto says. Dataquest also suggests Internet banking is changing who handles the dreary household chore of paying bills. Traditionally, women paid the bills; but when the household moves to online banking, men typically take responsibility, the study finds. Men no longer dominate online investing, Dataquest found. Today 40 percent of online investors are women, up from 27 percent 18 months ago. "The financial institutions should be aware of these changes when marketing their services," Barto adds. -0- By: Dorte Toft, IDG News Service Copyright © 1998 PC World Communications. All Rights Reserved. Use of this service is subject to the PC World Online Terms of Service Agreement. >>>>>>>