12 Hoosier Banker March 2015 So I produced a letter from the FDIC that said I could. “Technology has been my play. For example another of my companies, re:Member Data Services, brought the first online ATM to the state of Indiana. We performed the first check-clearing for credit unions through the Federal Reserve. We brought the first online, real-time credit/debit card product to market.” Why do you strive for leading edge, not bleeding edge? “The bottom line is that we are a bank. We have the life savings of some of our clients, so we can’t step out too far on the forefront. In today’s technology world, there are processes that work effectively, and others that crash and burn. We don’t want to be so far out that we create security or servicing issues. “Our strength, and the real product we offer, is customer service. Our online/mobile banking service is live 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We advertised in the beginning that we’re the bank that goes wherever you go. “When customers reach out, it’s got to work. We do a lot of piloting, a lot of testing on this side. When we introduced check imaging for deposit capabilities, our employees tested it for a while, then we did a soft rollout. “We put it on our website, but gave no word to customers. We would let them find it, then see if they could figure it out. The first day the service went live, we processed over 100 items, and we hadn’t told anyone it was coming. Customers had just stumbled on it and figured it out. “Our clients are a very computerliterate crowd, which can create challenges on the marketing side. We have to be careful with marketing materials, or their response will be, ‘Don’t spam me. I know what I want.’ It’s kind of a two-edged sword.” How do potential customers learn about First IB? “In the early stages, we spent heavily on marketing and advertising, almost $8 million in the first 18 months, plus we did a lot of road shows. I was living out of a suitcase for a couple of months, doing radio and TV interviews across the country. “We purposely launched the bank in New York City to show that it was a virtual institution. The first transaction took place at a Citibank ATM in the lobby of the Rockefeller building on Wall Street. Our story push was that the bank really did go wherever you went. “I had an interview with the BBC, and the young lady who interviewed me, with her charming English accent, asked, ‘What do traditional banks have that you don’t have?’ I said, ‘Long lines and a lobby.’ That became our catchphrase, and we ran full-page ads in USA Today. “We estimate that, in the first month of launch, 75 million consumers saw, heard or read something about First Internet Bank. There was a lot of interest in the marketplace, and it seemed we were perpetually in Money Magazine and most of the tech magazines. A service rating firm in Boston rated us as the best Internet banking platform in the country. “We think it’s interesting that three or four years ago, the banking community got behind electronic statements, because that was the ‘green’ thing to do. We’ve had electronic statements since 1999. If you wanted a paper statement, you had to pay for it. In that way, we took what was a cost center in most institutions and made it a profit center. “So that’s the play; we were ahead of the game. When we launched in 1999, I told the story that if it’s a Sunday afternoon and I wanted to go to a Colts game, I could go online, make an advance on my credit card, put it in my checking account, and pull the cash from the ATM outside the stadium. “In 1999 most institutions’ credit cards didn’t talk with anything. ATMs were updated at the end of the business day for the next day’s business. If anything happened on a Sunday, nobody would see it until Tuesday. “We had real-time connectivity from day one, and it worked. That’s why our customers got on board. Once customers got on board, they told others. A sign on David Becker’s door reads,“While you debated whether the glass is empty or full, I SOLD IT. – Cheers,The Entrepreneur.” Modular work spaces, instead of teller windows or other traditional banking stations, fill the offices of First Internet Bank of Indiana. Continued from page 11.
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