FINspeak

“You guys have an addiction problem. You should go to an addiction place, because you cannot stop spending!”

Arnold Schwarzenegger once famously uttered those words while complaining about California politicians. He could well have been scolding the average American consumer and with good reason.  Americans love to spend and love to spend using debt.  In fact, at the end of 2007, American household debt totaled $13.8 trillion up from $7.0 trillion at the end of 2000—an outstanding 97 percent increase in 7 years!

So, while the pundits and politicians continue to look for scapegoats to explain the current meltdown in the financial markets, one thing seems clear – it is unlikely that the world will continue to finance the American consumer. And, with the entire financial system thirsty for much needed liquidity, American consumers will be pushed to dramatically increase savings.

But changing lifestyles and habits isn’t easy. In my last blog, I spoke about the role of communities in financial advisory matters. Another use of an online community is to induce ‘good behavior’ in its members and this throws up some interesting options for banks in their search for deposits.

One such “interesting option” for inducing good consumer behavior is Smartypig.com.  Smartypig.com is a cross between an online piggy bank and gift registry – it helps users set up structured contribution plans to realize specific savings goals. Smartypig.com works as follows:  First, users open a high yield savings account on the website.  Then, the user establishes a savings goal and, with the help of Smartypig.com, a monthly contribution calendar is suggested illustrating the achievability of even the loftiest savings goals.  With a goal in place, an account holder is able to publicize their savings goal to friends, family, and even a community of users via the smartypig.com applications available on Myspace and Facebook.

The ‘Web 2.0’ component of smartypig.com is what makes the site unique.  When your account is visible to your chosen community, there is added pressure to save as your community will keep you accountable for your savings goal.  Also, if so inclined, a generous supporter can contribute to your account and help you reach your goal.  Now, that sounds like a good deal!

Banks (thirsty for scarce deposits in the current credit crisis) are already taking advantage of this concept. Last week ANZ signed up with Smartypig.com to tap Gen Y customers in Australia. Look for banks in the US to follow with similar ‘community enabled’ savings concepts. 

Learn more about ANZ and its partnership with Smartypig.com in this article.

Posted by Mahesh Makhija at 05:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Posted by Balaji Yellavalli at 08:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It seems like every year a new “wow” gadget appears on the market—a computer, phone, or entertainment device that reaps windfalls for its creator and drives tech-hungry geeks into pre-release camp-outs.  Past examples include the iPod, iPhone (Apple seems to be on to something) and the Xbox 360 game console.  This year is no different, with the incredibly successful releases of the 3G iPhone and the G1 Android consumers continue to show an affinity for innovation.

Generally a hardware dominated category, 2008 has seen the rare ascendance of a software driven concept to the “wow”-factor throne.  The new king of the tech world isn’t the aforementioned iPhone or its would-be competitor the G1.  Rather, it is the applications store.

Applications stores provide mobile users access to thousands of independently developed mobile applications which can be downloaded onto smart phones and other devices.  These range from amusing programs like the Phonesaber— a program for the iPhone which replicates the sounds of the iconic Star Wars’ laser weapon—to the more utilitarian Bloomberg app which provides real-time market data.  How popular are these applications?  Very, the Apple App Store alone recorded 100 million downloads in its first 60 days.

Since its inception earlier this year, the Apple App Store has dominated the market, an easy thing to do when there is no competition.  However, with the recent rollouts of the Blackberry Bold, the G1 Android and their respective app stores, the competition has started to heat up.  Consumers now have a choice of smart phones, and one major factor influencing purchasing decisions is App Store quality and offerings.

Though all three App Stores have their pros and cons, plenty of consumers will be downloading from each.  This has attracted a slew of major players, ranging from SAP to Microsoft to Bank of America.  The market is lucrative, rapidly growing, and is drawing interest from all corners of the business world—the financial services industry being no exception.

Due to the attractive user demographic of smart phones (male, 28-34, salary over $100,000), banks, brokerages and IT companies are beginning to focus their efforts on developing mobile banking and trading applications.  TD Ameritrade, Etrade and others have already launched mobile trading applications which allow users the convenience of tracking and trading on the go.  Bank of America, Citi and others have also begun to take the potential of mobile apps seriously.  Even advanced portfolio management tools have been developed, allowing hedge fund managers the luxury of adjusting their portfolio allocations while perusing the Museum of Modern Art or skiing in Aspen!

Though the market for smart phones and their associated applications may soften in the coming months, the potential is limitless.  Mobile technology is ushering in a new era of hardware and software innovation, and it will be interesting to see how creative developers will get.  

Posted by Mohit Joshi at 03:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)