Accounting firm honors banks with online awards

Northwestern Financial Review, Apr 15, 2001

Several banks in the Heartland were honored by RSM McGladrey, in the accounting and consulting firm's second annual bank Web site competition.

New Century Bank, Chicago, Ill., and State Bank of Florence, Wis., were rated best in the class of banks under $100 million in assets. American National Bank, Beaver Dam, Wis., Legacy Bank, Hinton, Okla., Community Bank Missoula, Mont., and Ronan State Bank, Ronan, Mont., all received honors in the $100 million to $250 million in assets category. In the $250 million to $1 billion asset class, Legacy Bank of Texas, Plano, and Bank of Blue Valley, Overland Park, Kan., received honors.

The overall winner was Citizens Business Bank, Ontario, Calif. Web sites were evaluated on industry specific criteria in the areas of content, customer experience, systems performance and integration of the site with core business.

Co-sponsored by the Independent Community Bankers of America and the Web site, TheBankingChannel, the awards recognize the Web sites of community banks with assets under $3 billion. In researching 733 Web sites for the awards, RSM McGladrey also identified trends in the online banking industry.

The study found customer acceptance of online banking has been slower than expected with only 10 percent banking on the Web. Nonetheless, banks are expanding their presence in this area. Sixty-four percent of the banks surveyed had a committee that met on a regular basis to review its Web site and discuss changes.

Sixteen percent stated they offer the capability of becoming a user's homepage. Such a page is known as a "portal" and typically provides several utilities including links, e-mail and search engines. Forty-seven percent stated they plan to offer this capability within two years.

While none of the banks considered currently offer bill presentment or account aggregation, 21 percent and 37 percent, respectively, said they plan to offer these services within two years. The study also found that online deposit and loan applications are becoming standard.

Other notable trends include the consolidation of Internet vendors, banks offering customers the ability to do their own check research, wire transfer capabilities, and the increase of technology in one-to-one marketing.