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I like futuristics things, that's part of my job, iPad is a nice buzzword to tell people that we are thinking of the future. But I hardly believe the future is to handle cheque and cash transactions.

I my opinion, the future are communication interfaces that enables the bank to meet their customers, in the situation the customer is in. No matter if it's in the sofa or standing in front of a POS checking her balance, before buying that nice dress on sale.

Future is also about re-structuring banks physical/IT-infrastructure, where providing new services will be more important than manage cash. Buying on the internet should be as easy as buying a cup of coffee, and the bank want to be a natural part of customers life.

Brett,

I think you are correct, end-users don’t care very much about security, they want social sophistication, it’s the bank that cares about technical sophistication and want to package that into a compelling end-user offer.

End-users must still feel secure when doing online banking, and that boils down to trust. The customer perceives trust subconsciously, every comunication that end-user receives, whether it’s banks own actions, their marketing, media buzz or self-perceived, is what establish the level of trust. The cues banks sends will be perceived by the end-user, and it all boils down to trust.

If the bank won’t allow you to do make certain things, or they tell you how to stay safe online, helps establish or degrade this feeling of trust. The cues banks sends will be perceived by the end-user, and it all boils down to trust.

End-user are not able to determine which is the most secure solution, we have evidence where customer perceives one solution better than the other, when in reality might be opposite from a pure security perspective.

\Peter

I think your analysis on branches are "spot on", branches in the future will change alot, and will become "sales offices".

The trend in Northern Europe is that branches moves from being the daily errands office, into a high value sales office. The bank sell loans and consulting services, in a branch where the bank can meet their affluent customers. The trend is very clear, Some Swedish banks already started with cash-less branches.

Other trends is that banks are buying real estate companies, to reach the customer in the context when the customer is about to decide which bank to use for their house loan, and to start sell packages, that includes loan, insurances, packaged in a way that makes it easy and comfortable for the customer to choose.