Something I have been harping on about for about 2 years now is that it just makes sense for banks to move more towards using videoconferencing to interact with thier customers. There are essentially two ways that banks can use video conferencing. The first way involves simply using the technology to better distribute human capital (financial advisors) to branches across the country. Both USAA and Bank of America (bit.ly/l5TeCB ) are taking this approach. Essentially customers can visit a branch and talk to a financial advisor in another part of the country by communicating through some form of video conferencing booth. The second way to use video conferencing is to provide financial advice by delivering service directly to customers in their own homes via a Skype-style communication method. Bankinter (bit.ly/msQr3d ) and Bank of Moscow (bit.ly/ltFjN4 ) currently take this approach. For me, I totally agree with the author of this recent Financial Brand article (bit.ly/ltFjN4 ), that the latter approach is the way forward. Simply put, it doesnt make senese for people to have to drive to the branch. Indeed, Skype-style video conferencing with customers in the comfort of thier own homes could level the playing field between more clicks-and-mortar based banks and more direct banks. I really think that the face-to-face aspect of video conferencing could be the best way for direct banks to maintain a more personal relationship with thier customers.

OCBC, a Sinaporean bank, has launched a new brand called Frank to better cater towards younger customers. Reflecting this younger brand, two pilot branches have been opened which have been designed more like electronics and fashion shops (bit.ly/k91q09) than the stale financial transaction centres that retail banks typically represent (bit.ly/maZZZ1 ). As such, OCBC, would appear to be following in the footsteps of Umpqua Bank (bit.ly/kL7jSh) and Jyske Bank (bit.ly/kL7jSh), designing branches as places that people may actually want to visit. Interestingly, the insurance sector also appears to be jumping on the band wagon with State Farm trialing a similar oulet branded 'Next Door' that is due to open in Chicago this August (bit.ly/lzS527).

Commerce Bank is another example of a bank that seems to be taking its cues from outside the financial services sector. Commerce Bank has extended its opening hours to actually fit with customer lifestyles. Typically Commerce Bank opens its branches from 7.30am-8pm Monday to Friday, as well as most of the day on the weekends (bit.ly/koR4oE). Such a move just seems to make sense from a customer perspective since banks usually choose to have opening hours that are extremely inconvenient for those who work 9-5 jobs or even longer hours.

Consequently, there does seem to be a slow, but positive trend from a small number of innovative banks to transform the branch experience into something more inline with what consumers expect. As banks struggle to keep up with rapidly increasing customer expectations, those banks that are primarily focused on providing services through the branch channel may well benefit from developing more customer-centric innovations, such as the examples descrived above.

Sebastian Thrun, talks about Google's driverless cars. This TED talk discusses how far driverless technology has come as well as some of its potential benefits.

For anyone interested in augmented reality, this webpage provides some nice examples bit.ly/hDFFWb . My favourite is the demo of Yelp's app which allows you to hold up your Smartphone to scan your surroundings for any Yelp rated locations nearby. I think we'll see a lot more of these types of apps in the future. They just make sense.

The Wall Street Journal provides some more updated context on.wsj.com/dIRmQw