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Offering the Virtual Portfolio
The removal of regulatory restrictions; increasing acceptance of customers to buy and access their financial products online; and the continued consolidation of the financial services industry; have all led to vast improvements in online product and service offerings. But to date most large financial service institutions have elected to take a "wait and see" stance to developing a broad and sufficiently useful online product offering. The fact is, most customers view online brokerage, banking, bill payment, and mortgage/insurance rate shopping a dull experience with only a single outcome- "log in, check accounts, do a some quaint activity, and wait for statements." Sure online access to accounts and comparison is more convenient and has lead to increased competition (and thus reduced margins). However, what if leading financial institutions offered the ability to track ALL a customer's financial products at a single, easy to use, and secure virtual portfolio! This isn't a new concept. For a few years now the concept has been discussed and a few brave institutions have paired with software vendors to create this would be consumer and industry godsend. However, very few if any have gotten it right. Various things have gotten in the way: overly complex user interfaces; not offering a sufficiently broad array of products; and the most common flaw, not allowing for a competitor's product to be captured. Things are about to change. With over 22 million US customers now doing their business online, we are past the early adoption phase of product use and now have the critical mass needed to fuel a demand for a virtual portfolio offering. The question is who will lead the way to this inevitability of financial services consolidation?
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