Looking for Net Worth - Company Business and Marketing - Directory - Company Profile
Industry Standard, The, Feb, 2001 by Jen Davis
From banking to insurance, the Web is a great tool for managing money. Here are the 40 top e-finanoe players.
It's not hard to remember a time when personal finance meant little more than a piggy bank and a weekly allowance. Then came that first savings account, a credit card and, before long, a complicated tangle of accounts and financial responsibilities all vying for attention.
The Internet promised to make personal finance simpler. Payments made without
writing checks, insurance purchased without talking to an agent, mortgages approved without visiting a bank -- all in about the time you once spent balancing your checkbook.
To see how that promise is measuring up, we talked to analysts, industry folks and our own in-house experts to determine the key players in the world of e-finance. We identified 40 companies spread across six sectors -- banks, brokerages, insurance, loans, payment and back-end suppliers -- that are moving financial services online with speed and innovation. One trend to note: Many of these companies offer services in more than one category. Their goal is to let you manage all aspects of your finances in one place.
Kind of like reaching for your piggy bank.
BANKING
Bank of America
HQ Charlotte, N.C.
EMPLOYEES: 155,906
REVENUES: $54.68 billion (3099 to 2Q00)
CUSTOMERS: 30 million households (for all banking services), 2 million businesses
The No. 1 U.S. bank offers a comprehensive menu of financial services at its Web site, which averages 9 million visits per month from 2.8 million online banking customers.
Citibank
HQ: New York
EMPLOYEES: 180,000
REVENUES: $65.97 billion
CUSTOMERS: 100 million
With nearly 6 million online customers, Citibank is expanding and enhancing every portion of its site. But the Internet incubator division, e-Citi, spent more than $1 billion over the past three years without generating significant returns.
Juniper Bank
HQ: Wilmington Del.
EMPLOYEES: 250
REVENUES: Not disclosed
CUSTOMERS: Not disclosed
WingspanBank founders Richard Vague and James Stewart left their first attempt at online banking in late 1999 to start Juniper Bank, which emphasizes customer service, wireless banking and credit cards.
NetBank
HQ: Alpharetta, Ga
EMPLOYEES: 100
REVENUES: $8.06 million
CUSTOMERS: 133,000 accounts The first online bank to turn a profit, NetBank has no brick-and-mortar branches. That translates into overhead savings which are passed on to customers in the form of higher interest rates on checking and savings accounts.
Wells Fargo
HO: San Francisco
EMPLOYEES: 103,052
REVENUES: $23.34 billion (3Q99 to 2Q00)
CUSTOMERS: 17 million
Increasingly ubiquitous, Wells Fargo is the seventh-largestbank in the U.S. It continues to court online business aggressively with a portal strategy, an online brokerage (WellsTrade) and a full complement of banking services.
WingspanBank.com
HO: Wilmington, Del.
EMPLOYEES: 150
REVENUES: Not disclosed
CUSTOMERS: 206,000 accounts
Launched in 1999, this Internet-only bank received initial support from parent company First USA (owned by Bank One). It's since been blamed for contributing to a $500 million dip in Bank One earnings for that year.
BROKERAGES
Ameritrade
HQ: Omaha, Neb.
EMPLOYEES: 2,379
REVENUES: $584 million
CUSTOMERS: 123 million
Commissions (just $8 per trade) account for two-thirds of revenues, so when trading volume dries up in a market downturn, the bottom line could take a big hit. The much-hyped OnMoney financial aggregator could diversify Ameritrade's revenue stream.
Charles Schwab
HQ: San Francisco
EMPLOYEES: 25,000
REVENUES: $6.25 billion
CUSTOMERS: 7.4 million accounts
The original discount trading pioneer, Schwab has captured 4.2 million online accounts -- 18 percent of the online market. Its purchase of U.S. Trust adds more high-net-worth investors to its customer base.
Datek Online
HQ: Iselin, N.J.
EMPLOYEES: 377
REVENUES: Not disclosed
CUSTOMERS: 623,624
Trades not executed within 60 seconds are commission-free, and customers can trade up to 5,000 shares for under $10. Datek's Island ECN subsidiary, which matches buyers and sellers electronically, initiates one out of every eight Nasdaq trades.
E-Trade
HQ: Menlo Park, Calif.
EMPLOYEES: 1,735
REVENUES: $1.94 billion
CUSTOMERS: 2 million
E-Trade accounts for 15 percent of all online trades. The company bought Telebank and created E-Trade Bank to expand its financial services offerings. It plans to start an online financial-advice venture with Ernst & Young.
Fidelity Investments
HQ: Boston
EMPLOYEES: 30,000
REVENUES: $8.85 billion (1Q99 to 4Q99)
CUSTOMERS: 17 million
After stumbling in recent years, Fidelity's revenues grew 41 percent in 1999, and assets under management were up 25 percent. The company spent $1.5 billion in 1999 on technology, and tech workers now outnumber fund managers, analysts and traders 18 to 1.
Merrill Lynch
HQ: New York
EMPLOYEES: 70,700
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