First Interstate Bank is readying to roll out deeper mobile banking functionality to its customers, Bank Innovation has learned. The Billings, Mont.-based community bank is expected to release the technology sometime this quarter, Lyn Blotkamp, virtual services manager, tells Bank Innovation.
The $7.1 billion banking organization is using Clairmail Inc. to broaden its mobile banking capabilities, which are currently limited to mobile web, says Blotkamp.
With its Clairmail partnership, First Interstate will soon boast mobile banking apps for smartphones.
“We wanted something better than we offered,” Blotkamp tells Bank Innovation.
“Better” will also include rolling out more features including remote deposit capture technology and interactive alerts, such as reminding a customer that his loan payment is due, and letting him take action through the alert.
Beyond mobile banking enhancements, Blotkamp tells Bank Innovation she’s in the process of penning a social media employee policy, and that the bank has inked a partnership with CashEdge, which will soon grant customers P2P capabilities, too.
While not directly related to TARP, the following piece gives a British perspective on the current state of affairs. It was forwarded to me today by a UK buddy. I don’t know if I agree with the especially colorful characterizations or with the attributions of motive, but here it is for your consideration.
The banks have buried their heads in the sand
Will Self
11.11.08 London Evening Standard
Over the past decade, as British culture has become steeped in pop psychology, one expression has come to be bandied about with increasing abandon: “She’s in denial.” Much as I deplore such psychobabble, sometimes “in denial” is the mot juste. Since the British economy began to hit the buffers, while interest rates have been slashed and consumer demand plummeted, so people’s denial has increased. Of course, ours being an unequal society, this denial has not been spread about evenly; on the contrary, the highest concentration is among the richest and most powerful.
Take the bankers: they had to go crawling to the taxpayer to be bailed out, but now look at them squirm. Barclays executives, fearful that their colossal bonuses will be capped, would rather eschew this recapitalization in favor of funds from the Gulf.
I wonder, do these fat cats really stop to think how dubious the money Dubai and the other emirates have really is? Dubai is a financial market that sucks in the proceeds of international organized crime the way a whale sucks in krill; its shiny shopping malls and priapic skyscrapers are built by thousands of low-paid workers from the developing world, likened by critics to indentured slaves, its brothels stocked with trafficked women. But oh no, the Barclays boys want to go on scoffing – while denying what’s on the end of their forks.
It’s the same with their colleagues at HBOS and Lloyds TSB – will they merge or won’t they? You might think this has to do with preserving jobs or what dividends they’ll be able to offer shareholders. But these execs’ consideration is only what’s in it for them and how soon they’ll be able to get back to trading the kind of derivatives that got us into this mess.
Yes, they’re in denial, and so are the politicians who are desperate to get the interbank lending rate down. The say it’s because they want the banks to start lending to businesses again, but the truth is that the whole financial system is hooked on the profits from short-term gambling.
And they’re also in denial about the economy as a whole. They still think they can drag us out of recession by stimulating demand – that’s what all the interest rate cuts and mooted tax cuts are meant to do. They want us punters, who already have a trillion quid’s worth of unsecured credit card debt, to get back in those shops and spend, spend, spend!
There’s only one problem with this plan: we consumers aren’t in quite as much denial as our alleged betters. We’ve woken up and smelt the coffee – and it’s been burnt, just like us.
I’m certain there isn’t a quick fix to this recession, and I know you know it too. Our only problem lies in confronting the bankers and the politicians with their denial.
If only there was a psychotherapist who could put all our elites on the couch at once – and if only we had the money to pay for the treatment.
This is excellent! I’ve been a First Interstate Bank customer for many years. They have great customer service, but their technology (online & mobile banking) has always been a little behind the curve (like most community banks). It’s great that they are addressing this gap through partnerships with companies like Clairmail. A community bank that offers mobile banking features like RDC would be the best of both worlds.