Tag Archives: banking

Discount code to attend Finovate.

Finovate 2008Last October I was lucky enough to attend and live blog at the inaugural Finovate conference. Finovate was started by Jim Bruene, who writes both NetBanker and Online Banking Report. No slouch, he.

I loved attending Finovate 2007, and live blogging it gave me a great perspective on what I was seeing. The format is simple: each presenter gets seven minutes to present their solution or product. No PowerPoint, no speeches, just live demos so everyone can see what they do. You can read my blog posts here, here and here

Jim wrote a post on NetBanker the other day giving the details of Finovate 2008 with all the presenters listed. It’s a great lineup!

This year, Finovate 2008 again happens in New York on October 14th at the Crowne Plaza Times Square. The cost is $995 USD, but if any of my readers want to go and are planning to book by the end of August, the Finovate organizers have given me a special promo code to pass along.

The first five people who go to finovate.com, and use the discount code “azaroff55” will get $250 off the $995 conference cost. It’ll definitely be an event worth attending!

Canada leads the world in use of Online Banking.

Canada Leads World in Online Banking UsageWell, it’s always nice to be number one (well, maybe not).

Yesterday comScore released their study which shows that “Of the 37 global markets individually-reported by comScore, Canada ranked number one in adoption of online banking, with 67.1 of Canadian Internet users banking online in April 2008.”

It also shows…

RBC Financial group led the category with 4.6 million visitors, followed by TD Bank Financial Group with 4.5 million visitors and Bank of Montreal Sites with 3 million visitors. Among those banks in the top 10, Bank of Montreal Sites experienced the greatest increase in visitation during the past year, growing 22 percent.

I wonder if my friends at BMO are surprised by this.

The study also showed that the heaviest users of online banking are 45-54 year olds. At first this may seem surprising, but in fact, they are also likely the heaviest bankers: “The segment shows both high penetration (73 percent) and the heaviest frequency in usage (12 visits and 157 pages per visitor per month).”

So can we just admit that online banking is just banking. If your financial institution still talks a lot about online but still has its heart firmly in the branch, here’s some ammunition to change the conversation.

Read the press release here.

An update on BarCampBankBC.

BarCampBankBC on FacebookHere’s a little update on BarCampBankBC.

We started a Facebook page. You can sign up for the event there and use it to help spread the word.

Pecha Kucha
We decided to do a Pecha Kucha to close out Day One. What’s a Pecha Kucha? Glad you asked.

Pronounced “peh-chak-cha,” it is a mix of show-and-tell, open-mike night and happy hour. It has become the forum for ideas on design, architecture and lots of other stuff. Pecha Kucha has swept the world in just four years now having taken place in over 80 cities globally. Each presenter is allowed 20 images, each shown for 20 seconds each. This gives each presenter 6 minutes 40 seconds of fame before the next presenter is up. This keeps presentations concise, the interest level up, and gives more people the chance to show.

We have 12 spots open. To grab the spot you want, add your name and presentation description in the table on the wiki.

38 people so far
We currently have 38 people signed up on the wiki, and I’m very excited at the diversity of attendees. You can see the full list here.

Sponsors

We now have all our sponsors in place, which is very exciting, and helps keep our costs way down. They include:

So make a plan to come to BarCampBankBC and join the conversation. We’d love to see you here…

PS: Tim also has a post today, where you can download some nice banners for BCBBC, like this one.