The hidden value of banks
June 13th, 2007 by 
admin
Practically every time an institution knocks on the door of a bank, it's to arrange for something financial - mostly loan and sponsoring. It's amazing that so few entrepreneurs are looking to benefit from the relationships that these banks have.
Banks traditionally have offered money and interest in a very trustworthy way. Throughout the years though, banks have developed deep relationships with consumers as well as corporations and entrepreneurs.
As cash is becoming a commodity, access to these relationships are a service that banks are commercializing. And they should - it's of tremendous value of any entrepreneurial company to quickly establish the right relationship with the right company.
The obvious challenge now is how to operationalize this intermediary role. A clerk's time is very limited already. So the pioneers are looking into the use of social networking engines, very much like LinkedIn.com's networking capabilities combined with the matching power of an eBay. We'll have to see how that is going to fly, as it's the personal approach that contains the true value of this networking - it's the clerk who has the contacts and the insights into the businesses. Besides: if this will fly with a matching system then what do we need banks for?
Posted in Financial Services | 