Features : The World’s Best Internet Banks, 2004

In the first of a two-part series, Global Finance identifies the best online corporate and consumer banks by country and product or service category.

I t’s hard to believe that it has been 10 years since Web banking kicked off. In the years that have passed, consumer and corporate use of the Internet to manage accounts and conduct transactions has continued to steadily increase and become more sophisticated. Internet banking has largely avoided the booms and busts of other e-commerce applications, such as those experienced by online brokerages, retailers and trading exchanges. Internet banking continues to produce quietly and at a sustained growth rate.
But that’s not to say there isn’t big growth out there.At leading banks and in emerging markets and emerging types of financial services, payment and transaction volumes are exploding. For example. Wells Fargo last year processed nearly $6 trillion in electronic payments for commercial and business customers, a six-fold increase over the year-earlier period. Users of online services are becoming much more active now that they’ve become familiar with the medium and made it a part of their daily business routines. As it matures, the global Internet banking marketplace is exhibiting some clear trends.

Changing Business Processes
business processes to make their employees more efficient and effective. Corporates increasingly seek online offerings, such as workflow management solutions, which present them with a fundamentally better way of operating. So banks are building corporate banking applications that have customized features and access based on what role the employee has in their company and what they’re responsible for.
“What’s very appealing for customers is making it easier for their employees to do their jobs,” says Danny Peltz, executive vice president of wholesale Internet solutions at Wells Fargo. For example, Wells Fargo has established and is expanding “panels of functionality” that allow corporate clients to access disparate accounts, information and functions all in one place, their personal home page, says Peltz.
Companies also want services that improve previously inefficient business processes—foreign exchange, payments and trade settlement, for example—saving them time and money. Leading banks now process more than twothirds of their customers’ wire transfers and more than half of their foreign exchange transactions online.

Security
Transaction and information security continue to be paramount considerations for online banks, as privacy concerns, identity theft and money laundering remain important, high-profile issues. So banks are beefing up their security systems with elaborate, sophisticated systems that feature multiple layers of user access control so that the wrong people don’t get access to customer data and information.

Attributes of the Leaders
The best Web banks and services have a lot in common, such as being well organized, integrated and consistent across multiple channels; saving time and money for clients, as well as the banks themselves; and fostering customer loyalty. In short, the best banks use technology to differentiate themselves from competitors.
Clearly, the clicks-and-mortar model has won out, as many banks have added online, mobile and wireless offerings even as they continue to open branches, service centers and sales offices. The idea now is delivering information to customers where and when they need it, whether that be via mobile or wireless access, email, voicemail, fax or in-person.

ADAM ROMBEL