Editorial

Parting Thought on the FDIC Study….and 2009

12.21.2009

So you’ve heard me rail on about the unbanked and underbanked for the last couple of weeks and I’m not quite ready to let it go. In addition to outlining the results of the FDIC study, I’d also like to give one final thought on what we as banks do about it.

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The Underbanked – Are we making cross-selling efforts or are they just not working?

12.14.2009
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The FDIC study – take two. In my last post, I focused on the unbanked and some misconceptions about that group. Today I’d like to focus on the underbanked — those households that have a deposit account but rely on non-bank financial services. These are households that are already bank customers but are also using alternative financial services (AFS). The FDIC study provides great insight into what those AFS products are – good information for a bank that’s looking to improve cross-sales to existing clients.

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The FDIC’s New Study on the Un- and Under-banked – Will It Help or Hurt?

12.09.2009
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Last Wednesday, the FDIC released the results of the National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households. The survey found that over 1 in 4 US households are unbanked or underbanked. There have always been outreach efforts by some banks to bring the unbanked into the fold. But as I’ve included unbanked information in my presentations on self-service, I’ve had some comments that these groups are not “good” bank clients so banks don’t see any need to reach out.

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The ATM, Debit & Prepaid Forum – Will the More Focused Conferences Remain a Trend?

11.16.2009

I’m a little off my blog game as I flit from conference to conference this autumn but I’m picking up lots of great information along the way. I started out a couple of weeks ago at the ATM, Debit & Prepaid Forum in Las Vegas which was very well attended. This was my first one and I have to say that it was nice to be among a group of people speaking the same language. While there, I hosted a workshop on successful deployment of self-service. I thought I would share with you a couple of key points that came out of that session.

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BAI Retail Delivery Show – an exhibitor’s perspective

11.12.2009

The subject of this post is a little misleading. For the record I want to state officially that I am neither an exhibitor myself nor do I own a company that exhibits at this event. I work for a company that exhibits at this event and as a result of my employment I have found myself attending the 2008 and 2009 events in Orlando and Boston respectively.

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Retail Currency Management – Short-term solution, long-term gain

10.23.2009
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Financial institutions have long tracked the amount of currency they hold in cash vaults, at branches, and in ATMs. However, retail merchants have not been able to manage currency as closely as banks. Instead of simply moving cash internally as needed, as banks do, retailers have had to move cash to and from the banks daily to get credit, gain interest for deposits, and maintain the necessary mix of currency denominations. And they have either had to pay costly armored carrier fees or risk the safety of employees carrying large amounts of cash between the stores and the banks.

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Who Will Speak Up for Cash?

10.21.2009
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The past year or so has been by and large a good one for the currency industry. The economic meltdown has led to increased demand for cash, while the banks and financial institutions, preoccupied with rather more weighty issues than pushing people toward payment instruments that benefit them, have gone quiet on the subject.

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The 2009 Fiserv Cash & Logistics Connect Forum – Another Stellar Roundup

10.14.2009
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Last week, I had the pleasure of speaking at Fiserv’s Cash & Logistics Connect Forum in Boston. While I certainly liked speaking on the topic of cash management in a year when there have been so many interesting changes (and so much more cash in circulation!), I mostly enjoyed meeting so many people who live and breathe currency management on a daily basis.

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The Cashless Branch (continued) – Is it possible to be cashless and still make customers happy?

10.07.2009
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So how can a bank transform itself to a cashless branch without scaring away the customers that still want and need to come to the branch? Any hardware manufacturer will be happy to tell you how as it relates to the layout and functionality. But the key question is how to do it in such a way that the branch is more profitable and the customers are not alienated.

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new currency – fresh from the press!

10.05.2009
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Hello faithful reader! For those of you who have been reading this blog since I made my first post almost two years ago you will have noticed many changes. It started off as some things do – simply as an experiment in new media directed at the men and women who slave tirelessly at the business of making sure we all have enough cash in-hand to buy the things we want and need each day.

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if the recession is over can we go back to normal?

10.01.2009

I have heard and seen editorials in the past few weeks warning of the complacency that comes with narrowly escaping an economic depression. These same editorialists are asking the same questions – mostly of our leaders – why are they not warning us of not heeding the lessons we apparently just learned. If this recession was so quick to fix (I said quick, not inexpensive), then why can’t we just continue with our cavalier ways. If it happens again the governments and central banks will just bail us out again, right?

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The Cashless Branch – Scaring the Customers or Just the Next Step?

09.29.2009

If you haven’t considered the cashless branch before, you may be asking “Why?”, quickly followed by “How?” I could do entire presentations and research notes on this topic, so I’m probably not going to do these questions justice here. But let me just hit on some highlights on the “Why” today and the “How” in my next post.

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Pleased to “Meet” You!

09.21.2009

I’ve been working in currency management since 2001 and although my last year at TowerGroup has allowed me to branch out (pun intended) into new areas, I’m always excited when I get a chance to write a research note or give a presentation about currency management. It’s my warm blanket on a cold day – my comfort zone – so I’m thrilled to have an excuse to spend time on it on a regular basis.

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the recession is over, now get back to work!

09.16.2009

I guess it must be official, if Ben said it. Today at 10:56:40AM Eastern Time MarketWatch started spreading the news, “Fed Chief Bernanke: The Recession is Likely Over”. Watch your words here folks, the vocabulary is littered with exception traps! Here’s another classic, directly quoted from the closing lines of their newsflash, “Bernanke noted that many economists now expect the labor market to recover slowly. But he said this was only a forecast and might be wrong”.

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is cash becoming king again?

09.09.2009

Has the consumer learned their credit-aversion lesson yet? Ask this question of any cash manager at a bank – whether in retail (Branch and ATM) or in vaults and their answer is likely to be in the affirmative. I have not heard from any of my cash management network that the demand for cash has started to fall off in recent months. In fact anecdotal evidence would seem to support the idea that we are all using our cash – and only cash – as a simple yet effective way to control our spending and consequently bolster our meager savings.

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Counting On Currency welcomes a new contributor

09.02.2009

The height of confirmation that one is doing something of meaning for a community (to me at least) is when others want to voluntarily join in to help make it even better. This small contribution to the voice of the currency community has been so confirmed – a second time! First it needs to be [...]

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authenticating currency with numbers

08.07.2009

In a past life I worked for one of the premier currency sorter manufacturers, which is primarily where I cut my teeth in this business. One of the things that impressed me then (and still does now) is the technology that goes into authenticating currency. One technology in particular that I saw as revolutionary was the ability to read the serial number of a note as it flew down a track on a sorter at something like 30 feet per second. The system not only reads the serial number but can compare it to a known database of “authentic” notes and “tracked” notes (the latter having been identified as used in criminal activity).

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bidding for my bucks

07.24.2009

Imagine my surprise (and delight at the timely irony) when I discovered the business model that is unfolding as a type of eBay for cash. In this scenario, you register an account with the likes of Licuro.com, Moneyaisle.com or Spaarbod.nl (brush up on your dutch before visiting that last site!) and put your cash up for auction.

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banking on the basics with SmartyPig

07.15.2009

There are few people in the developed world who have not been affected in some way by the economic meltdown that started in ernest last year. One of the fundamental shifts that I see occurring is the real skepticism we now approach our financial services with.

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banking on tomorrow in the US – sole-source policy control

06.02.2009

According to a number of stories in recent media (new an traditional) the US Treasury with support from other concerned interests is about to propose what could amount to paradigm shift for the banking industry. According to reports, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and others will be sponsoring a proposal to Congress for the creation of a new government agency whose responsibility will be as the ultimate and only banking sector regulator.

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I trust my bank – then again, maybe I don’t

05.29.2009

Having made a career in sales and marketing the biggest single competitive advantage I have over the sales people with whom I compete is my trustworthiness and my credibility. Oh, there are other attributes that I believe make me effective in my career, but trust is by far the most important. I work very hard to maintain the trust and confidence of my customers and this hard work has served me well by allowing me to continue in this field where many others have withered.

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when is a note or a coin like a seat on a commercial aircraft?

05.21.2009

I could think of a few cute answers to that question, which surely would not suit this occasion. The relevant answer is that both the seat on the plane and the note/coin, cost someone more than their intrinsic value* to provide for your convenience right when you need it. In other words it is a thing of relatively high value, which we need on demand.

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virtual currency – second life and the linden dollar debate

04.29.2009

We all live in a world where hard currency is a basic necessity, notwithstanding the attempts by many alternate payment forms to displace it’s pervasive use. What I find truly fascinating however is the growing on-line use of virtual money. I am sure that most of you are familiar with PayPal as one of the [...]

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world currency – how about linden dollars?

04.22.2009

North America has seen its fair share of debate and argument over the years on the subject of a harmonized currency. I have yet to find anyone other than an economist that is for that idea. So much of a nations identity is defined in the color, size and design of their currency that I can’t imagine any country voluntarily disposing of their notes and coins. Until the Euro came along. Next to the US, I expected Europeans love affairs with their scrip to be so zealous that they would never consider a change – but switch they did, with only the mildest public objections.

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how nationalized should US banking be?

04.12.2009

For years I have been the brunt of many a joke while in the company of US bankers and others in the industry. You see as rumor would have it Canada only has a handful of financial institutions as proportionately compared with it’s neighbor, because the Canadian government controls all Canadian banks!

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Hello currency world!

04.09.2009

Hello Faithful Readers. If you found this site, then you have been curious about my next move after almost a year of silence. Figuratively speaking I have been with monks in Cupertino studying the sacred blogging arts, under a vow of silence and non-publishing. Contrary to common myth I do not receive any remuneration in [...]

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