FleetBoston Financial is offering small business customers account aggregation services from Yodlee as part of a revamp of its Web portal strategy.
The new offering is the first of many Internet-based portal services planned by Fleet for customer groups under its company-wide e-Catalyst initiative, says Blaise Heltai, managing director of global internet strategy at the US bank.
Fleet's 500,000 small business owners can use the smallbiz.fleet.com site to access a personalised page of aggregated banking and investment account information, plus consolidated data on reward programmes, airline miles, e-mail, and other online accounts. The portal can also be customised to include news feeds and other information.
"Our new small business portal provides today's time-starved business owners with the information, tools, and advice they need to operate more efficiently," says Norman DeLuca, managing director of small business services at Fleet.
He says studies among small business owners found that they want easy access to news, research, information, resources and offers. To meet this need, the bank has created a library of over 100 articles, facts, tools and calculators, says DeLuca. Also provided are resources for specific segments, like women entrepreneurs - connecting them to Fleet experts, seminars, and funding sources.
"This initiative will be followed by other similar leading-edge Internet-based product and service offerings targeted at additional customer segments," says Heltai.
Corporate-wide, Fleet currently has more than 2.5 million online customers using its HomeLink, OfficeLink, Quick & Reilly, and international online services.