The last couple of months, bankers have been getting a lot of grief over the current economic situation. So do you think it would be a good idea for bankers to repair their reputations by putting an emphasis on ‘good banking’ in their advertisements?

Have them show us that they don’t hand out risky credit, that they are careful with handing out bonuses, and that they do their business responsibly in general. Do you think that this type of advertising could make a bank successful?

See example:

The credit crunch isn’t over yet. We asked people in the P.C. Hooftstraat in Amsterdam what they think about banks and how they see the future.

What do they think about an IKEA mortgage, a GUCCI or PORSCHE bank. ULURU has set out to rethink the way we bank. It’s time you design your own bank. Please watch our movie below.

Column Mick Walvisch

Can you combine Managing Risks with innovative entrepreneurship?

Just recently we heard the Dutch government repeating its ambition that Holland should become a leader in innovation and entrepreneurship.

The Dutch Innovation Platform, lead by our PM and renowned statesmen and business men, has really urged our nation to actively get involved in developing opportunities to improve our economic position in the world.

As the author of this piece and entrepeneur at heart I am well aware that I have a stake in the matter. But that does not withhold me from sharing my thoughts with you. I simply don’t understand why modern companies are not putting enough effort into redesigning their business and creating value, especially in this time and age…

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Time to market is key in today’s business environment. That’s why the possibility to authorise transactions via a mobile phone anytime en anywhere can be attractive for corporate and institutional clients. Which makes it an interesting service for banks to offer.

Standard Chartered Bank offers an application for Mobile Authorisation for corporate and institutional clients, Straight2Bank.

This new Mobile Banking initiative, currently supported in 16 countries across Asia and the Middle East, gives clients a secure means of authorising financial transactions with their mobile phones.

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What does your perfect bank look like? DisruptiveBanking.com challenges you to draw, write, film or shout a disruptive design of what a bank should be…

For more information, click here.

How should banks react to the Social Lending phenomenon and keep their clients from leaving? A relevant question since the popularity of social finance companies like Zopa, Prosper and Smava is rapidly increasing.

Companies like the internet-based Zopa allow members to lend money to and borrow money from other members, cutting out banks as the traditional middle man.

In a sense, Zopa acts as a market place, matching people that want to make (small) investments with people that want to borrow money. It’s like borrowing money from friends and family, except there are thousands of people you can borrow from or lend to.

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Banks had better opened their books and fessed up about their messy investments. It would help to regain some trust, which is beneficial both for the economy at large and for banks in specific.

Along these lines was the message brought by European commissioner Neelie Kroes last Saturday at a conference organized by the Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt. According to Kroes, banks have thus far taken little responsibility, and unless they provide more transparency, they won’t be able to count on any further government support.

Around the same time, the issue of bank privacy was brought to discussion. Should banks be allowed to protect the identity of their account holders?

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Earlier this week a unique alliance was formed between twelve idealistic banks from across the world: the Global Alliance for Banking on Values. While the figures show that sustainable banking is highly successful, even in times of crisis, the participating banks say there is a lot of work still to be done.

The Dutch princess Maxima, a former investment banker herself, held a speech during the founding of the alliance in Zeist, the Netherlands. According to Maxima, one thing is clear, “the core values of banking; trust, building sustainable and long-term relationships, and offering products that add real value, are more relevant than ever. And neglecting these values seems to be at the heart of the causes for the crisis.” Indeed, while most banks are struggling, the twelve members of the alliance hardly seem touched by the crisis. All have shown a steady grow, both in customers and deposits, of between 20 and 50 percent over the last year.

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A disruptive new way to connect customers with banks has emerged: online money auctions. Allowing banks to save hundreds of euros on marketing and advertising, they can bid directly on a customer’s money through special auction sites.

How exactly do the online money auction sites work? Easy enough: individuals, companies and government organizations can post the amount of money they would like to save, and for how long.

Participating banks can then place bids in the form of interest rates, directly competing with each other for the customer’s money.

Customers are then free to commit to the highest bidder and can effectuate the transaction directly through the site. Or they can tweak the amount and duration to see if they can get even higher interest rats.

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It is of great value for banks to make sure their senior employees are happy, motivated and useful.

That is the opinion of Dutch bank the Rabobank, which has launched a special ‘Seniorship’ program for employees over the age of 45.

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