Retail renaissance

The internet and mobile phones are at long last turning boring old retail banking into an exciting industry, says Jonathan Rosenthal
May 19th 2012 | from the print edition
IF YOUR BANK could start over, this is what it would be, trumpeted the marketing campaign for the launch in 1999 of Wingspan, an internet bank. The following year the bank was gone. In September 2000, a few months after the dotcom bubble burst, it was absorbed by its boring American bricks-and-mortar parent, Bank One (now part of JPMorgan). For all the high hopes that the internet would transform banking, most other internet banks launched around that time met with a similar fate. Citi f/i, an online bank started by Citigroup, was folded back into its parent in 2000. NetBank, an American pioneer of internet banking, soldiered on for longer than most but was shut down by banking regulators in 2007. On the other side of the Atlantic, Egg, Britains first stand-alone internet bank, shook the market in 1999-2000 when it gained more than 2m customers within months of starting up. But within a few years it, too, had in effect disappeared, its customers having been sold first to Citigroup and then to Barclays and the Yorkshire Building Society. It was an ignominious end to a bold experiment in online banking that had caused palms to sweat in banking centres around the world. The promise of internet banking had seemed obvious. More than most other industries, banking was already largely digitised. In most rich countries the cash that people carry in their wallets represents only a tiny fraction of their assets and is used for only a small portion of their spending. The rest exists only in the pattern of magnetic charges and flickering electronic impulses of banks data centres. Moreover, banking is something few people enjoy. If offered an alternative to queuing up in a branch to get served, surely customers would take it up avidly? After all, large numbers of bookshops and music stores have already closed as people have taken to buying online, even though browsing in such places was rather fun. Going to the bank is not much fun. All the more reason to do your banking from your armchair. Yet, except in a very few rich countries, there are 10-20% more banks today on main streets the world over than there were a decade ago. Instead of superseding banks, the internet has simply made them a little more convenient. Conventional banks have added internet banking, mobile banking and even video banking to their offering. Yet all the while they have expanded their branch networks. In retrospect, the years in the run-up to the financial crisis were a golden age for banks. Even the dullest of them could earn high returns by taking big risks. And few really bothered to try to cut costs when their revenues were being massively boosted by a

debt-fuelled bubble. Since the mid-1990s Europes big retail banks have managed to cut their costs relative to income by an average of just 0.3% a year, reckons Simon Samuels, an investment analyst at Barclays. Yet even that modest figure flatters the banks. He calculates that costs over the period increased by an average of 8% a year. The only thing that saved them was that revenues increased a little faster. The effect of the debt bubble was more insidious than it appeared at first glance. In encouraging universal banks to build up their investment side, and some retail banks to dabble in exotic instruments that they did not always understand (demonstrating that even boring retail banks can blow up), it made them take their eyes off their bread-andbutter business. Yet basic retail banking was, and remains, their main engine of profitability. McKinsey, a consulting firm, reckons that it accounts for more than half banks worldwide annual revenue, which in 2010 amounted to $3.4 trillion (see chart). It has also proved, in the longer run, to be the most reliable generator of consistent profits and high returns on equity. A ranking of the worlds biggest banks by return on equity correlates closely with the proportion of revenue they make from retail banking, rather than from racier investment banking.

During the bubble years retail banking was a dead end for ambitious managers. Pay was higher at investment banks, and the corner offices at universal banks would go to executives who had climbed up the ranks of the investment banks. But recently retail banking has been getting a lot more attention, for several reasons. The first is that it needs it. In the rich world the bursting of the debt bubble, slowing economies and low interest rates have changed the economics of the business. Banks are now having to put their best talent to work at the retail end to reduce costs and restore profitability. Second, technology is changing fast. Smart mobile phones are encouraging customers to interact with their banks in new ways. Technology also promises fundamentally to alter the economics of low-margin banking staples such as processing payments. With new tools to store and crunch massive amounts of data, banks and technology firms such as Google and PayPal hope to transform the business of swiping a credit card. Rather than merely generating an instruction to move money that might be worth a few small coins, the information that comes with such a payment might open up new sales and advertising opportunities that could we worth hundreds of times as much. Money is special This report will argue that retail banking is going to be the most exciting part of the banking business over the coming years. Yet unlike the bricks-and-mortar bookshops, travel agents and record stores that have been swept away by the internet, banks have two enormous advantages in adapting to change and adopting new technologies. The first is that in the minds of consumers, money is still special. Few customers like to switch banks, even if they are unhappy with their own, and even fewer seem ready to trust one without a physical presence. That is changing with time, but slowly enough to allow banks to adjust. The second is that, in a sense, banks are technology companies. Many have hundreds, if not thousands, of people working in huge information-technology departments. Most are ready to adopt new ways of serving their customers. The most obvious sign of this is the changing nature of bank branches.

Telefoane i internet mobil sunt de la ultimul timp de cotitur plictisitor vechi bancare cu amnuntul ntr-o industrie interesanta, spune Jonathan Rosenthal

19 mai 2012 | din editia de imprimare

"Dac banca dvs. ar putea ncepe peste, aceasta este ceea ce ar fi," trambitat campania de marketing pentru lansarea n 1999 a Anvergura, o banc de internet. n anul urmtor, banca a fost plecat. n septembrie 2000, cteva luni dup explozia bulei dotcom, care a fost absorbit de plictisitor sa mam american crmizi i mortar, Bank One (acum parte a JP Morgan). Pentru toate speranele mari pe care ar transforma internet banking, cele mai multe alte bnci de internet lansate n jurul valorii de acel moment sa ntlnit cu o soart similar.Citi f / i, o banc on-line a nceput de ctre Citigroup, a fost mpturit n mam n 2000.NetBank, un pionier american de internet banking, soldiered pe mai mult dect cele mai multe, dar a fost oprit de autoritile de reglementare bancare n anul 2007. Pe cealalt parte a Atlanticului, ou, Marea Britanie prima banca de internet stand-alone, zguduit de pia n anii 1999-2000 cnd a ctigat mai mult de 2 milioane de clieni n termen de luni de la pornire. Dar, n termen de civa ani, de asemenea, a avut n vigoare a disprut, clienii si au fost vndute n prima Citigroup i apoi la Barclays i Yorkshire Building Society. A fost un capt ruinoas pentru un experiment ndrzne n sectorul bancar online, care au cauzat palmele sa transpire n centrele bancare din intreaga lume. n acest raport special
Retail renatere Dispariie Expedierile de sera Ronit numerele O mulime de portofele Peste mare i departe Ocupaii private Lume, aici am ajuns
Surse i mulumiriReeditari

Teme legate de
Titluri de valoare, Servicii De investiii bancare

Industries Bancar Servicii financiare

Promisiunea de internet banking a prea evident. Mai mult de cele mai multe alte industrii, sectorul bancar a fost n mare parte deja digitalizate. n majoritatea rilor bogate n numerar care transporta persoane, n portofelele lor, reprezint doar o mic parte a activelor lor i este folosit doar pentru o mic parte din cheltuielile lor. Restul exist numai n modelul de taxe magnetice i plpie impulsuri electronice ale centrelor de date ale bncilor. Mai mult dect att, sistemul bancar este ceva ce puini oameni se bucur. n cazul n care a oferit o alternativ la coad ntr-o sucursal a servit pentru a obine, cu siguran, clienii ar fi so iau cu aviditate? Dup toate, un numr mare de librrii i magazine de muzic s-au nchis deja ca oamenii s-au luat pentru a cumpara on-line, chiar dac viziteaz, n astfel de locuri a fost destul de distractiv. Mersul la banca este distractiv, nu cu mult. Tot mai multe motive pentru a face dvs. bancare de la fotoliu. Cu toate acestea, cu excepia cazului n foarte puine ri bogate, exist bnci cu 1020% mai mult astzi, pe strzile principale din ntreaga lume decat erau acum un deceniu. n loc de a nlocui bncilor, internetul a pur i simplu le-a fcut un pic mai convenabil. Bncile convenionale s-au adugat de internet banking, mobile banking i chiar bancare video de la oferta lor. Cu toate acestea, tot n timp ce-au extins reelele lor de sucursale. n retrospectiv, de ani n termen, pn la criza financiar a fost o epoc de aur pentru bnci. Chiar plictisitoare dintre ele ar putea ctiga profituri mari prin asumarea unor riscuri mari. i ntr-adevr cteva deranjat pentru a ncerca s reduc costurile atunci cnd veniturile lor au fost masiv stimulate de un balon de datorie-alimentat. De la mijlocul anilor 1990, Europa de bncile mari de retail au reuit s reduc costurile n raport cu venitul de o medie de doar 0,3% pe an, crede Simon Samuels, analist de investiii de la Barclays. Totui, chiar i aceast cifr modest linguete pe bncile. El a calculat c costurile pe perioada a crescut cu o medie de 8% pe an. Singurul lucru care le-a salvat a fost faptul c veniturile au crescut un pic mai repede. Efectul de balon datoriei a fost mult mai insidios dect a aprut la prima vedere. n ncurajarea bncilor universale de a construi partea lor de investiii, iar unele bnci de retail pentru a se ocupa n instrumente exotice, care nu au neles ntotdeauna (demonstrnd c bncile, chiar plictisitoare de vnzare cu amnuntul se poate arunca in aer), a fcut s le ia ochii de pe lor de pine, i- unt de afaceri. Cu toate acestea, bancare de baz de retail a fost, i rmne, motorul lor principal a rentabilitii.McKinsey, firma de consultanta, crede c aceasta reprezint pentru mai mult de jumtate din bugetul anual de venituri ale bncilor la nivel mondial, care n 2010 sa ridicat la 3400 miliarde dolari (a se vedea graficul). Acesta a fost, de asemenea, dovedit, pe termen mai lung, pentru a fi generatorul de cele mai fiabile de profituri consistente si castiguri mari de pe capitalurile proprii. Un clasament de cele mai mari banci din lume de ctre Rentabilitatea capitalului propriu se coreleaz strns cu proporia veniturilor care le fac din retail banking, mai degrab dect de la bancare de investiii racier.

Pe parcursul anilor bubble bancare de retail a fost un capt mort pentru managerii de ambiioase. Pltii a fost mai mare la bnci de investiii, precum i birourile de colt de la bncile universale ar merge la directori care au urcat la rndul bncilor de investiii. Dar, recent, serviciile bancare cu amnuntul a fost obtinerea o atentie mult mai mult, pentru mai multe motive. Primul este c el are nevoie. n lumea bogat spargerea bulei datoriilor, ncetinirea economiilor i de ratele sczute ale dobnzilor s-au schimbat economia de afaceri. Bncile sunt acum a fi nevoie s pun cel mai bine talentul lor de a lucra la sfritul de vnzare cu amnuntul pentru a reduce costurile i de a restabili profitabilitatea. Tehnologie al doilea rnd, se schimb rapid. Telefoanele mobile inteligente sunt ncurajeaz clienii s interacioneze cu bncile lor, n moduri noi. De asemenea, tehnologia promite s modifice fundamental economia de capse bancare low-marj, cum ar fi procesarea plilor. Cu instrumente noi pentru a stoca i a rontai cantitati masive de date, bnci i firme de tehnologie, cum ar fi Google i PayPal sper s transforme afacerea a smuls un card de credit. Mai degrab dect generarea doar o instruciune de a muta bani care ar putea fi n valoare de cteva monede mici, de informaii care vine cu

o astfel de plat s-ar putea deschide noi vnzri i oportuniti de publicitate pe care am putea valoare de sute de ori mai mult. Banii sunt special Acest raport va argumenta c sistemul bancar de retail va fi mai interesanta parte a activitii bancare n urmtorii ani. Cu toate acestea, spre deosebire de librrii crmizi i mortar, agenii de voiaj i a magazinelor de discuri care au fost mturate de pe internet, bncile au dou avantaje enorme n adaptarea la schimbrile i de a adopta noi tehnologii. Primul este c, n mintea consumatorilor, bani este nc deosebit. Puini clieni ca pentru a comuta bncilor, chiar dac acestea sunt nemultumiti de propria lor, i chiar mai puini par gata s se ncread unul fara o prezenta fizica. Care se schimb cu timpul, dar destul de ncet pentru a permite bncilor s se adapteze. Al doilea este faptul c, ntr-un sens, bncile sunt companii de tehnologie. Muli au sute, dac nu mii, de oameni care lucreaz n uriae de informaii-tehnologie departamente.Cele mai multe sunt gata s adopte noi modaliti de a servi clienii lor. Semnul cel mai evident al acestei este de natura n schimbare de sucursale bancare.