World's best Internet banks

Global Finance, Aug 2000 by Rombel, Adam

FleetBoston's BankBoston unit introduced an Internet banking service for Palmtop organizers in Latin America about 6 to 8 months ago, which was before it launched the service in the US. Beating its competitors to the punch, it also offers Web banking for wireless telephones.

On the corporate side, FleetBoston in the next couple of months plans to start an Internet company to operate a business-to-business Internet marketplace for Latin American companies to buy, sell and trade equipment, supplies and services.

UNIBANCO

WEB SITE: www.unibanco.com.br

WEB DATA: Unibanco had 520,000 users of its Internet services at the end of 1999. About 2.8 million transactions were completed over the Web last year.

Unibanco's 30 Horas Internet banking network is growing rapidly. The bank is seeking to increase users to 600,000 this year. Unibanco began offering free Internet access in January. It provides users with services that include its e-credit card, which had 300,000 users at year's end. The bank also finances consumer purchases from the Pao de Acucar supermarket chain, and provides bookstore, e-mail and access to general shopping portals.

BEST CORPORATE INTERNET BANKS

BANAMEX

WEB SITE: www.banamex.com.mx

WEB DATA: Banamex had 321,000 clients online for its various services, or close to 3% of its total of 11 million clients, as of June 2000.

Mexico's Banamex has introduced a series of services through its Internet platform, including: BancaNet for deposits, credits and payments; AcciNet, for investment banking; and AcciTrade, for online brokerage services. Banamex was the first to introduce Internet services for investment banking and stock trading in Mexico. As of June, Bancanet had about 252,000 online clients and AcciTrade had 2,300.

In January, the bank forged an alliance with Commerce One to develop B2B Internet marketplaces in Mexico, Brazil, Argentina and Chile. The joint venture, called Artikos, announced in May it had completed its first auction and other corporate transactions in Mexico.

Banamex also operates Pl@za Banamex, an online shopping mall.

BANCOLOMBIA

WEB SITE: www.bancolombia.com.co

WEB DATA: Bancolombia's Sucursal Virtual service has 178,000 clients which execute 380,000 transactions per day, representing 4% of the banks total transactions.

Bancolombia's Internet services for businesses, include: e-Card MasterCard, E-Master Delivery (used for purchases in the United States), investments (handled nearly $1 billion worth of transactions in June), cash management, payment, and credit products. The bank is now launching a B2B portal for 4,000 of its corporate clients, and expects to launch wireless access during the third quarter of this year, according to Gabriel Jaime Agudelo, the bank's vice president of technology, in Bogota.

CITIBANK

WEB SITE: gcweb.citbank.com

WEB DATA: Nearly 1,000 of Citibank's more than 6,000 corporate customers in Latin America have signed up for its corporate Web banking service in six months. Citibank earlier this year introduced to Latin America a corporate Internet banking product, called Citibanking OnLine-Web (CBOL on the Web).The service is available in all 21 countries in Latin America, and Citibank says it's the first completely Internet-based corporate banking product in the region.The product allows users to enter trades or orders and obtain reports and information on cash management, international trade operations, foreign exchange, money market and securities transactions.