Swedbank will launch an Internet bank aimed at young people.
Swedbank (ForeningsSparbanken) plans to launch an Internet bank specifically targeted at young people, Banken via Internet-Ung. It will be the first bank in Sweden to launch such a venture.
The bank plans to woo teenagers (who have their parent/guardian’s approval!) by offering various banking services as well as newspaper and magazine articles on its new site, which will be based on an entirely new platform exploiting state of the art technology. This platform, Swedbank hopes, will underlie its future development and provision of services throughout its digital presence.
In a pilot project, 3000 15-17 year olds will test the eBank until the end of the year. If all goes according to plan, Swedbank should launch it by early 2002. Yet, in the uncertain world of online banking, things often don’t go according to plan. Horror stories abound of failed ventures and abandoned launches. Indeed, on the same day as Swedbank announced these plans, it also said it would close its Danish eBanking unit, Firstviewbank, blaming a weak market.
So how will Banken via Internet-Ung fare? It is very difficult to say, as no one has tried anything similar before. Sweden is an Internet friendly country. Datamonitor has found that of the 56% of consumers in Sweden with home PC Internet access, 30% already engage in online banking or broking. These statistics, particularly the first but also the second, put Sweden in a league of its own compared to the rest of Europe. Teenagers are also one of the most computer literate sections of the population.
However, much will depend on whether Swedbank can make the site fun enough to encourage young people to visit it, yet sufficiently useful for them to feel a benefit from banking there. It is also debatable whether young people care enough about their finances to bother going online to transfer funds, and how many times they will feel the need to do it. It may take more than newspaper and magazine articles to get them interested.
