This is exactly what our vision is! As you know we are the developers of an online banking application that we sell to financial institutions here in the US. While we are proud of what we have developed we realize that one size does not fit all and that we are likely not going to come up with all the great ideas to come in online banking.

For that reason we have developed our product as an "open" platform. To put this in perspective we allow our clients to access the source code, giving them (their developers) control to fully extend or customize the application.

With ~20% or our clients as source code partners, we envision a time when we have a good size group or outside developers creating add ons and modifications, contributing to the user community and leveraging other's developments.

We have already experienced this with things like FICO score widgets, customer rewards program tracking, and innovative target marketing tools.

I think much of the lack of innovation is the result of the vendor community that many of these institutions rely on. The banks are somewhat at the mercy of the vendors. At least thats the case here in the US. Requesting a creative feature addition is pointless. They sell one solution and that solution has to satisfy all of their clients. So making changes is not something they are inclined to do.

Well we, for one, are changing that model! Consumers want and expect more, and they will quickly move their money to whomever will give them what they want.

Its not about brick and mortar any more. Think about it, over 80% of all US citizens have a mobile phone now. Remote deposit is growing, online banking capabilities are advancing rapidly. The banking industry is going to go through a rapid change over the next 5 years.

The banks need to grasp this soon, or risk losing accounts to a whole new breed of online financial service companies.

Kelly Dowell
Jwaala, LLC
Better Online Banking