Large banks dug their own graves with mergers and takeovers, Dutch professor business-spirituality and jesuit Paul de Blot said today in Dutch newspaper het Financieele Dagblad.

During mergers and takeovers vital business components are often sacrificed, causing the enterprise to lose part of its soul, the professor claims. Executives should realize that the true capital of an enterprise are the people. Undermine their strength, and banks are doomed. “I liken it to losing an arm or a leg. Someone never really recovers from such a thing.”

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This month, US based Citizens bank has opened its first branch office in a donut shop. The full service branch office is marketed as a “one-stop destination for all of their banking, coffee, and bakery needs.”

The donut shop, part of the Dunkin’ Donuts chain, is geared towards professionals grabbing a bite on the go. The same group of people Citizens bank is looking to cater. Adding the convenience of a branch office makes sense. But so would adding a dry cleaners, a laptop service shop or a grocery store.

One advantage: no-one will attempt to rob this bank.

Banks can use the media to create a positive image of themselves. On the other hand, bad publicity can bring a bank to its knees.

The Dutch DSB bank is a recent example of dissatisfied customers and bad publicity threatening the survival of a bank. Yesterday, the DSB bank was put under the control of the Dutch central bank, the DNB.

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Could you substantially reduce the vulnerability of banks by tightening liquidity requirements? Would this minimize the risk of a new financial crisis?

The reason we ask is the recent announcement of the new liquidity requirements by the British Financial Services Authority.

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Using humor in advertising is not an obvious thing to do for banks. Most banks prefer a serious approach, perhaps for fear of losing their image of credibility and reliability.

We wonder whether this fear is justified. We also regret the lack of differentiation. With few banks daring to stick out their heads, most of the ads end up looking the same.

Lighthearted
Wouldn’t it be possible for banks to be humorous and lighthearted while still being taken seriously? Take a look at the following ad from FirstBank.

“Find the sousaphoe to win free checking”

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What to do with top bankers that are responsible for financial mismanagement? Make them punishable by law, with a maximum of six years in prison. Or make top executives personally responsible and force them to surrender their bonuses. Doing this would need a change of law.

This is the wish of Dutch left wing politician Ewout Irrgang.

His proposal to make them punishable by law, however, didn’t get much support in the Dutch house of representatives. A pity, says Irrgang, because it is currently near impossible to bring failing bankers to justice.

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How do you give your customers the feeling that they’re getting honest and unbiased advice? According to the Dutch Internet bank Alex the answer is to let other customers provide the advice.

The company delegates its marketing: customers record answers to common questions using their webcam, and the resulting videos are uploaded to the Alex website.

Customers are also given the possibility to chat with each other and exchange tips.

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It is true that the credit crunch evaporated a lot of money, and cost a lot of jobs. But it’s not all bad: the crisis has proven to be a valuable breeding ground for innovation and entrepreneurship.

“In a downturn there is more creativity and innovation, more than you get during boom periods,” says Carol Bagnald, regional director at the UK-based HSBC bank.

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The Whuffie Bank is launching the Whuffie, a new currency that rewards people for their positive contributions on the internet. Consider it an alternative currency, like the ones we discussed in our previous article.

Your Whuffie balance is calculated by tracking your online activity on websites like Twitter and Facebook and analyzing your contacts and feedback.

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From now on, people without a credit card or bank account, too, can enjoy the benefits of online shopping.

The online payments company eBillme recently launched a new service in the United States that allows customers to order goods over the Internet. The service, called Walk-In, allows them to print the invoice, bring it to one of the 75.000 agents and pay with hard cash.

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