Fortune Magazine article about the history of ATMs. Need to read (or at least you did until I posted this) all the way to the end to get to the most interesting point:
"The ATM clearly fell short of expectations in one area, though. It never reduced the number of tellers or filled the demand for bank branches—something the machine's pioneers had promised. According to the FDIC's count, there are close to 75,000 branches today, up from under 58,000 in 1985. Tellers number 539,000, vs. the 484,000 in 1985—though many of them now also function as retailers, cross-selling IRAs and mortgages to customers who come in with a big deposit. And that is something human beings still do better than any machine. For now."
ATMs, like phone tellers and online banking and bill pay, don't eliminate jobs or save money, they just give customers a little more of what they want: freedom.
Friday, July 23, 2004
Monday, July 19, 2004
Checking Account Fraud Is Increasing - Automated Payments Give Rise to Scams
Surprisingly candid opinion from FTC's Director of Consumer Protection:
The FTC's Beales does not believe that tougher rules would deter checking account fraud. "I don't disagree that this is a threat the financial system needs to respond to. But whatever you do, thieves are going to look for ways around it," he said. "The people we're talking about don't pay a whole lot of attention to the rules."
The FTC's Beales does not believe that tougher rules would deter checking account fraud. "I don't disagree that this is a threat the financial system needs to respond to. But whatever you do, thieves are going to look for ways around it," he said. "The people we're talking about don't pay a whole lot of attention to the rules."
Thursday, July 15, 2004
Corillian Fishes for Phishers
Motley Fool showing some interest in Corillian and their new fraud detection system. They're impressed with the software but not with the investment opportunity. Details on the system are in short supply in the article and in the company's press release. Sounds like with their system you will be able to scan the Internet for suspicious behavior related to your brand.
Banks Start To Realize Identity Theft Is Expensive
Great post from one of my favorite blogs, techdirt.
Friday, July 09, 2004
Mozilla moves to fix security vulnerability
Mozilla has been touted as a safe alternative to Internet Explorer. This article shows that no browser is infallible.
First Santa Claus, now the secure browser.
First Santa Claus, now the secure browser.