Is Your Institution "Safe & Sound?" Bankrate.com's Rating System

Bankrate.com's Safe & Sound^® rating system allows consumers to evaluate financial institutions on a 1-5 star rating system. Consumers can easily search their city for a bank or credit union with a 5-star rating, alleviating potential concerns of the institution's stability.

According to Bankrate's website, "Safe & Sound^® is a proprietary system designed to provide information on the relative financial strength and stability of U.S. commercial banks, savings institutions and credit unions." The system assesses each institution on 22 tests to measure:

• Capital adequacy
• Asset quality
• Profitability
• Liquidity
  

With 7 million unique monthly visitors, Bankrate.com is a well-known resource for consumers and businesses seeking financial services.

For those financial institutions looking to capitalize on safety, security and stability in these tumultuous times, a 5-star rating from an independent entity like Bankrate.com just may be the tonic.

Gen Y Gets a "Virtual Wallet"

PNC Financial Services of Pittsburgh is attracting 130 new customers a day with its "Virtual Wallet" program.

Developed specifically to attract Generation Y customers (defined by PNC as ages 18 - 34), the program has signed up more than 20,000 Virtual Wallet customers since July 2008. 65% of these customers are new and 70% are in the Gen Y demographic.

The online program offers 3 account types - Spend, Reserve and Growth accounts. Customers use a financial calendar to track bill reminders, account balances, and hi-light "Danger Days" that alert the customer to overdraft risk. The Money Bar and Savings Engine allow customers to drag and drop money from one account to another, pay bills and set savings goals.

Profit comes in different ways. The bank charges a fee if more than 3 checks are written on the account monthly. The account pays 0.1% interest on checking accounts vs. the national average of 1.25%. They do pay 3% on the Savings Account, but limit deposits to less than $25,000.

With a cost of $15 million, PNC expects the project to break even in two years, compared to a three-year break even for their new branch locations.

Email Usage Grows with Financial Institutions

The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) recently released 2007 statistics on the direct marketing expenditures of financial, banking and credit institutions.

Not surprisingly, "financial services companies’ advertising expenditures for commercial email is expected to have the largest growth among all media types between 2007 and 2012, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22.5%."

In addition, Internet direct marketing advertising spending is projected to grow at the second-highest rate, at a CAGR of 17.8%, from 2007 to 2012.

CLICK HERE to see complete details of the DMA study.