ww.fstc.org/news/reprints/07.24.07_ambanker.php -
[Cached Version]
Published on: 7/24/2007
Last Visited: 11/9/2007
Ilieva Ageenko, the e-commerce director of emerging applications at Wachovia Corp. in Charlotte, said, "This generation needs immediate access to their information," and the Web and mobile channels provide it."They have been born and raised in the era of constant communication."
Wachovia opens about 200,000 college-student checking accounts each August; nearly all sign up for online banking; and 90% use it.By comparison, just 37% of overall Wachovia customer households are even signed up for online banking.
The company did its own study last year among college students, Ms. Ageenko said, and its findings largely match what Celent found.
"For Wachovia and other financial institutions, there is this opportunity to really capitalize even more on investments in the Internet," she said.
In some cases, the young generation's appetite for immediate access was greater than Wachovia was able to satisfy, even by extending its services to mobile phones.For example, Wachovia can give daily balance updates by text message, but its younger customers wanted intraday updates as well.
"They wanted to know how much money they had in their accounts" at any given time, Ms. Ageenko said.