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UBS On Apple Pay: Drinking The Merchant Kool-Aid

UBS recently published a report titled The Empire Strikes Back: Retailers and Banks to Join Forces as Alternative to Apple Pay in 2015. The report is so full of misguided misconceptions that, normally, I’d be inclined to think “Where did they come up with this stuff?” But in this case, I know where they came […]

Can We Trust The Trust Numbers?

Each year, there seems to be no shortage of well-publicized surveys showing how much trust consumers have in banks, and how that trust has changed since the previous survey. What is it about the banking industry that makes bankers obsess over whether or not their customers trust them? You’d think that brain surgeons would be […]

A Call For A Moratorium On Millennial Research

Right now, in an ad agency conference room somewhere in the United States, there is someone–a fairly senior person–saying the following: “Let’s commission a survey of Millennials. We’ll ask questions that really get to the heart and core of what they’re about. The press will pick up on our press releases, and we’ll demonstrate to […]

The Non-Banks People Want To Bank With (Or Do They?)

Every once in a while, a consumer study is released whose findings are…well, let’s just say “hard to believe.” One of those studies crossed my desk this week. A survey of 3,800 Americans and Canadians revealed that 50% of respondents said that they would be likely to bank with Square if the company offered banking […]

Adventures At The LoopPay Mall Kiosk

You probably think I spend my Saturday nights out at fancy dinner parties, going to the Symphony, or attending high-society social events. I do. It’s good to be me. But this past Saturday night, the two older girls were home for the weekend, which put a crimp in my typical Saturday. So I took the […]

What Bank Marketers Should Know About The Fed’s Survey of Consumer Finances

According to a recent Federal Reserve Bulletin: “The Federal Reserve Board’s triennial Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) collects information about family incomes, net worth, balance sheet components, credit use, and other financial outcomes. The 2013 SCF reveals substantial disparities in the evolution of income and net worth since the previous time the survey was conducted, […]

The [Not So] New Hierarchy Of Needs In Banking

When you hear “hierarchy of needs,” I’d guess that you think of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. The theory posits that humans have needs that range from physiological needs (e.g., food, water, shelter) at the bottom level of the hierarchy, to self-actualization at the top. The theory has recently been updated to reflect the new reality […]

Apple Pay’s Critical Success Metric

There are two moments from the recent iPhone 6 announcement that have stuck with me. The first is when Tim Cook is announcing Apple Pay and shows the video of how payments are done today. A woman opens her pocketbook, fumbles for a second or two to find her purse, pulls out her credit card, […]

Failed CurrentC

According to an article in NFC World about MCX’s mobile wallet (to be named CurrentC): “Consumers will benefit from using CurrentC in four main ways: 1) Save money with valuable coupons and offers; 2) Earn rewards from participating merchant loyalty programs; 3) Pay simply; and 4) A more secure way to pay.” My take: In […]

Dissecting The So-Called Rise In Bank Branch Popularity

The American Bankers Association released the findings of its 2014 survey of 1,000 US consumers regarding bank channel preferences. A pymnts.com article titled Mobile’s Impact on Bank Branches reported that: “21% of those polled selected the branch as their most preferred banking method, up from 18% in 2013. The Internet was favored by 31%, but […]

Banks’ Digital Marketing Hyperopia

Don’t bother looking it up. Hyperopia is a term that refers to far-sightedness–for the purpose of this blog post, it’s important to know that it’s the opposite of myopia. Myopia being the term used by Kevin Tynan, CMO of Liberty Bank for Savings, in an editorial in American Banker titled Banks Have a Case of […]

The Debanked Are For Real

In February 2012 I published a post titled “Big Idea: The Debanked”, in which I wrote: “There are many consumers in the ranks of the Underbanked who are going through tough times, find themselves un- or underemployed, in debt, and paying way more for maintaining a checking account than they should be. But there’s a […]

The Mobile Moments Of Opportunity (Or Why Mobile Wallets Haven’t Caught On)

The mobile wallet space continues to evolve. Maybe devolve is the better word. Square’s Wallet is off the market (if you consider the Apple Store to be the market, that is). Visa’s v.me is off the market (if you consider the US to be the market, that is). Lifelock’s mobile wallet is off the market […]

Why Credit Unions Don’t Get Their Fair Share Of Business

According to Callahan & Associates, at the end of Q1 2014, US credit unions had more than 98 million members. That implies that almost one in every three Americans belongs to a credit union (implies, because if there are people who belong to multiple CUs, membership penetration isn’t that high). So why would I think […]

Here Are McKinsey’s Thoughts On Financial Marketing

A McKinsey Quarterly blog post on The Changing Face of Marketing contains the following: “Change is the dominant fact of life in every business today. And the ability to master and exploit change has become one of the most sought-after management skills. This is particularly true in marketing, where the very tempo of change is […]

Rethinking Social Media Marketing

Gallup released the results of a consumer survey which found (as reported on the Harvard Business Review blog): “62% of U.S. adults who use social media say that these sites have absolutely no influence on their purchasing decisions. Another 30% say these sites have some influence, and just 5% say they have a great deal […]

Competing On Performance: Marquis’ Member Value Statements

A recent Financial Brand article titled Proving The Value of Credit Union Membership highlighted Marquis Software’s Member Value Statements (MVS), a new service that “calculates specific dollar amounts for each members showing the relative value of their credit union’s products compared to similar products offered by nearby FIs.” The article quotes Marquis’ GM/Creative Director Tony […]

Millennial Millionaire Mularkey

Man oh man, some of you will believe anything you hear. In an article titled Millennial millionaires just want to get rich, CNBC reported: “A report from The Shullman Research Center, titled Millionaires Have Their Own Generation Gap, found that 23% of today’s millionaires are millennials. There are now about 5 million millennial millionaires. That’s […]

The Debanked: An Update On Unbanked Consumers

Most of you are genuinely nice, caring people who sincerely want to help other people who may be in need. Whatever. But for too many of you, your view of what it means to be “unbanked” in America is off-kilter. Bring up the topic of unbanked consumers, and it conjures notions of poverty-stricken, under-served and […]

Why There Is No Amazon Of Banking

According to a recent American Banker article titled Amazon Becomes Retail Bank Role Model: “Amazon has revolutionized everything from publishing to online shopping. Can it save retail banking? At Retail Banking 2014, bank execs repeatedly invoked Amazon as an example of what they aspire to become. One said ‘Amazon was conceived around the use of […]

This Branch Goes To Two

Every thing you need to know about life can be learned from just three movies: 1) Animal House. The lesson from Animal House is “never give up.” Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no! Sometimes just one really futile and stupid gesture is all it takes to get you out of […]