In their short lives, the likes of search engine giant Google and social-networking sites MySpace and Facebook have enjoyed spectacular success. Prodigies of the digital age, each has built a user base that is both truly mass and truly global. Masters, as they are, of the art of personalisation and technology integration, it seems increasingly logical that such sites have a great deal to offer the rather staid, anonymous world of online banking (see technology story).
In particular, Google – an online superpower that seems to move effortlessly across the web – is a strong contender in this regard. Having created the internet’s most sophisticated and popular search engine, Google has moved seamlessly into e-mail, instant messaging, word processing, spreadsheets, price comparison and enterprise software, among other activities. The news, therefore, that some banks are now looking to Google potentially to provide a platform by which to deliver an enhanced, feature-rich online banking experience should come as no surprise.
