Ray Van Eng (11/07/96)
Internet banking services is becoming so important that the bankers' survival depends on it. As Royal Bank of Canada's Bob Dido indicated, "[Bankers] are saying, 'If my competitors offer a service and I don't, then 50% of my customers will consider switching banks.' " The following is a list of Canadian financial institutions who currently have (or should have as promised earlier) Internet banking and related transaction systems in place: WHO: Bayshore Trust WHAT: It would be improper to talk about Internet banking in Canada without mentioning the Toronto based Bayshore Trust as being a pioneer in this industry. Way back in October 1995, Bayshore Trust, a small institution with only eight branches, launched the world's first bank loan services over the Internet at its own web site (www.bayshoretrust.com). Subsequently, they have added retirement savings plan and GIC (guaranteed income certificate) services to their Internet operation. Nowadays, the company claims that almost all of its new customers have come aboard because of their presence on the information highway. WHO: Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS) WHAT: Sensing that most other banks in Canada will move their home banking systems from a dedicated access mode to the open Internet in the coming months, Bank of Nova Scotia is trying to leapfrog its competition by heading straight to the Internet bypassing the private line route. Working in conjunction with IBM Canada, BNS is piloting the Internet banking services with its own employees and a number of selected customers in the Southwestern Ontario region with plans to roll out the service in January 1997. Initially, customers will be able to pay bills and transfer funds. Eventually, loan application, mutual fund or GIC purchases services will also be offered. Their web address is www.scotiabank.com. WHO: TotalNet and Paypro Network WHAT: This one is actually more about building an infrastructure than about one banker's effort on the Internet. TotalNet, one of Canada's largest Internet service provider, and Paypro, a payment processor company are piloting a project that would allow about 1000 of TotalNet and Paypro customers to do banking and shopping on the Internet securely using the widely available Interac debit card transaction system. The new service dubbed Virtual Community/Cite Virtuelle allows customers to use their credit or debit cards to purchase products and services and make bill payments through a card swipe/PIN pad interface via TotalNet's web site at www.total.net. WHO: Bank of Montreal WHAT: Backed by a multi-million dollar media advertising campaign, the Bank of Montreal introduced their Mbanx online banking services in October 1996 that make use of a variety of access modes including toll-free phone, fax, mail, ATM and an even the Internet. For a mere $13 a month, Mbanx customers can carry out all sorts of transactions, e.g. chequing, deposits, even line of credit or mortgage applications. Certainly, a major reason why B of M is getting into online banking is cost-savings. The bank says that electronic banking have an expense-to-revenue ratio of about 40% versus 60% for traditional retail banking. The Mbanx home page is located at - www.mbanx.com. WHO: Toronto Dominion Bank WHAT: Despite all the efforts that Canadian banks are working on to initiate or strengthen online banking services, electronic commerce for businesss users remains to be the bread and butter for many Canadian financial institutions. For example, TD Bank is helping customers to setup web-based interfaces for EDI services over the Internet, allowing existing EDI users (typically bigger companies) to communicate with smaller firms who do not have traditional EDI links by ways of private value added networks (VANs). In August 1996, TD Bank also introduced the Greenline Investor Services to offer securities trading on the Internet through the use of their proprietary software, the WebBroker. TD's Greenline expects to have about 80,000 of their customers to sign up for the Internet based brokerage service at www.tdbank.ca. WHO: IWA Community Credit Union of B.C. WHAT: The IWA began to offer full Internet banking services to its 11,000 members with modem-equipped home PCs in September this year. Customers are able to check account balances, pay bills, do fund transfers etc. When the three month trial period ends, customers are expected to pay 50 cents for each bill settlement. The IWA based their system on the Microsoft Windows NT platform with firewall security from Checkpoint Technologies and used the Internet Explorer 3.0 as a client for accessing the service. The ease of system implementation, coupled with a strong user demand for Internet banking services (IWA cited a 39% user interest from a recent survey) gives the smaller players a chance to overtake much bigger financial institutions in offering Internet based banking services. Related stories: |