Banks get creative catering to consumer demand for savings - Pacific Business News (Honolulu):

http://www.beardedlamb.com/newblog/2009/12/
The products include savings accountsw and CDs thatoffer incentives, perks and upgraded designed to assist customera with their short- and long-term savings There’s also a groundswell of new financiak literacy classes that take banking lessons into the workplaces or community-at-large. Classes cover everythingv from avoiding foreclosure to strategies for thesophisticated investor. They’res usually free and don’t involve hard-core selling. But they do allow banka to get their brand in front of thousands of Responseto ’s workplace banking classea has been “overwhelming,” says Melanie Blank, Regions’ consumer bankinyg executive for Middle Tennessee.
“We became an automatedc industry in the spirit of quicmk communicationand speed,” Blank says. “But now people are getting back to the They are in a cashoptimization mode.” Regions also has introduced its Second Chanced CD, which allows customers a 1 perceny market rate increase if they meet their savings goalzs for a year. The bank also has a no-penalty optio that lets participants take one withdrawal durin g the term ofthe CD. The bank also recently introduced a customer assistance program for families in This program helps participantes reduce or restructureproblematic loans. Blanmk says the program has helpedabout 12,000 people nationwids avoid foreclosure.
has had a workplacde banking program called Work Perkz forfive years. However, the economic downturhn has created a flood of new interest in the saysPaula Mansfield, vice presidentr of workplace banking for the bank’s Middle Tennesse e branches. “Many companies are havingf to cut back on thingslike 401(k) Mansfield says. “They are looking for ways to show employees they arestilp valued.” conducted a series of focus groups in Middle Tennessee earlier this year to determine customers’ “They said, ‘Help me save better, budget betterf and save for collegwe and retirement.
’ People are worrieed that their children don’t know how to says Connie White, marketingy director for the Middle Tennesseew branches of Fifth Third. Fifth Third also is rollingg outRelationship Savings, a product that’s meant to encourage savings and draw businesws to the bank. Customers who sign up for a Fiftgh Third checking account automatically get double the interest rate on a saving account atthe bank. Another product, the Goal Setterr savings account, works with customers to set savingss goals and rewards them withinteresf hikes. White says the bank is looking ata double-digit increase in depositw this year.
Information from Fifth Third’s market research inspired localo branches to plan a seriesof “Health and festivals. The grassroots events will be held at bank branches and willfeature mini-seminars on saving and budgeting, credir repair and affordable home Along with the financialk classes will be diabetes screenings, a personal fitness trainet giving fitness tips, healtht food booths and activitieds for children and “Our research showed us that focuses should be placedx on programs that reach youth as well as adults,” Whited says. “It showed that to gain banks should extend community outreachand presence.
” White says Fift Third also is seeing an increasw in requests for workplace banking, particularlgy from nonprofits. / reports a 10 percenty increase in users ofits 5-year-old Way2Save savingsd account. It encourages customers to save bytransferrint $1 from their checking account into a speciapl savings account each time they make a check card purchase or an electronifc payment. Customers earn 5 percent interesgt and a 5 percent annual bonuss in thefirst year, and a 2 percent annualk yield and 2 percent annual bonus in the secondd and third years.
Way2Save has had abouy 2 million participants, says Wendy Lawrence, Wachovia’zs banking executive in charge ofthe “Consumers wanted to save, but didn’tr know how,” Lawrence “Now we are seeing a wide interest, even from high school