Feedback to "What would your ideal online bank look like?" | Mike Heath on the RaboPlus Blog

My ideal Bank:

I guess firstly it would be a bank I trust, and bank that offers the best rates and is fair with its fees. My ideal bank would proactively contact me when they feel I can benefit from new offers or if they have valuable advice. I would expect safety and security without even having to think about it. I would have the peace of mind I have made the right decision.

My ideal bank would be one that I am proud of and could recommend to my friends and family. It would be innovative and provide new ways of banking (e.g. Mobile, iPhone). My bank would also cater for my personal and business needs, recognising me as one customer.

* home loans to personal customers
* U.S. passive index fund
* world passive index fund

Few thoughts...

- Thought it would be a good if you could have more than 1 digipass per account for access at multiple locations without having to carry it around with you

- Perhaps relax the security on transferring money between your own accounts instead of having to use the digipass

- An online transaction facility for companies that don't accept card payment but require the odd Cash on Delivery transaction

- Live chat with financial planners or investment advisors

- Rabo everyday banking - ie cash/credit/debit cards etc

Hi, online banking should include a "normal day to day chequeaccount" with a chequebook, efpostcards, creditcards etc. Maybe even have the possibility to have some credit facilities. Just like the "mother"bank in Holland but then without the offices,( hardy any offices in Holland either anymore).

Cheers
Ria Hekkers

I think the most important thing is "ease of use"
There should be no uncertainty when doing any task.

Is it possible to have a foreign currency account in AUD or Euro whch can be accessed from NZ. couldsych an account amount be funded in N.Z dollars with disburements in eith AUD or Euro

nothing wrong with the way it is

My Number 1 choice for your bank was high interest rates for a savings account. So my ideal bank would be one that opperated with the least frills and the least overhead and gave me the highest return. Scrap all the plans for text alerts and budgeting tools and roll that money back into the interest rates.

If you have to spend money to add something though, a kiwi saver offering or a foreign curreny deposit product, with a tool to exchange when necessary, would be attractive.

Thanks!

Hi Mike.Our suggestion is for foreign currency deposit account coupled with a say Rabo Debit travelcard that can be used overseas through Atm machines etc.Regards F & E Kruft

I too would like to see a RaboPlus Kiwisaver option.

It would also be good to see more initiatives aimed at getting children saving and developing budgeting skills. My girls already bank with RaboPlus - but a kids/teenagers section would be great. Maybe with some radom incentives for reaching savings goals such as $5 deposit to their account when their balance reaches X amount.

Email alerts for deposits such as salary etc would also be useful - saves having to log in just to check payments.

My three suggestions:
Budgeting tools (ASB have good ones)
NO bonus interest rates (keep it how it is)
Later close off for transfers

I definitely would like live on line chat with staff as i have an intense dislike of any telephone conversations. On line contact would be great if possible

I'd appreciate a portfolio register, that would be up-dated daily with latest share-market prices,as offered by ASB bank.
It also gives complete information on each company as required, and latest recommendations (or otherwise).
Their brokerage rates are $35 minimum or 0.3% - so much better than the brokers. And they handle on-line accounts well.

Education No NOT Schooling - Help people find what they are seeking

School specific bank as well as investment products

Offer a managed fund that is directly linked with eg Perth Mint providing safe hedge against second dip turmoil

I would like to see foreign currency deposit accounts to help manage the ridiculous changes in exchange rates.

Please send messages via email rather than your secure login system. Weeks can pass between logins and important messages are missed.

1. Savings growth charting capabiliies (so you can see how your savings are progressing).
2. Email alerts for transactions.

Foreign currency call accounts

I have often wondered why banks do not include a money converter on their website? Knowing what your American or Australian purchase will cost in NZ$ would be helpful.
As a retired person who uses the RaboPlus online banking facility for convenience and best interest I have little use for your other facilities - tho' I am going to read the article about Too old to Invest? I have a current account at another bank (been with them since the mid 50s) but the bulk of our money is in your care.

It would be great if your contact center is available 24 hours 7 days a week, or phone banking facility is added. Currently if something goes wrong with your website or computer system outside your contact center hours, there is no way a customer can access the account.

I like your bank account service. I don't think managed funds should be part of your services they cost too much and on past records deliver too little.

I gave up using my Raboplus account as it was so complicated to log in

Ideal bank:
More investment advice (like the blog). NZ banks now-days lack transparent advice be it investing or saving advice.
Simple products with no complicated things like "bonus interest" for regular savers.

Product Suggestions:
More Global Funds

More Term Deposit lengths (Let me choose any number of months 5,37,13 etc)
Or allow me to set the date a term deposit matures. If I know I want money from a term deposit on 1/1/2011, let me set 1/1/2011 as the maturity date. Don't force me to choose from a set number of months.

Venture Capital Fund. Apparently the news says that NZ is lacking Venture Capital. How about RaboPlus solve this. Create a fund that supports new companies in NZ. This would provide great risk/return compared to safer investments, but I would love to know my investment is helping NZ to succeed financially (rather than some other lucky country).

Please don't be a sheep (following the other banks) and have bonus interest rates for regular savers. That just complicates things. Stay simple and easy Rabo.

I'm sure the main request is higher, more competitive interest rates (as there are now at least two other online offerings in NZ which are above the Rabo rate). In order of importance:

1) Bonus interest for regular savers, something similar to RaboPlusAU Premium Saver.

As a regular saver this would be something I would be very interested in, especially as the RaboPlusNZ term deposits are not as competitive as they used to be.

It is important to keep your offerings as simple as possible. Too much complication will put new and existing customers off, and it seems this was a complaint from the AU customers. Learn from our neighbors mistakes, and strive to keep everything as simple as possible for the average Kiwi.

2) A kiwi saver offering. This would let me keep everything under the one roof, making life easier for me. Easier = Better!!

3) Live chat or some other form of communication. Maybe even a forum, just something in addition to phone support. A NZ RaboPlus facebook would be nice too :-)

While those are my top 3, the other ideas on the list are all good except I am unsure about Mobile banking and SMS alerts. Personally I wouldn't see any benefit from mobile banking and SMS alerts as I don't access my Rabo account that often (the fact that I don't need to is a bonus). Wouldn't these add to overheads which you are trying to keep as low as possible?

It's always nice to hear of progress being made, and I look forward to banking with you in the future.

I agree with the latest comment - too complicated to use frequently.
Ability to transfer funds readily

A bank you can trust (in today's scenarios) is the number one concern.

Raboplus to me stands out from the "online" banking competition (NZ banks in particular) because of the security access features. Please stay ahead of the pack in this respect. I too would like to see foreign currency deposit products (GBP, USD, Euro, AUD) with competitive interest rates

I posted a longer comment twice before, and after 48 hours it has not appeared so I don't know what happened.

Anyway, my top 3:

1) Bonus interest for regular savers (like PremiumSaver with RaboPlus AU)
2) Live online chat and other means of contacting support. A facebook page would be cool too.
3) KiwiSaver offering so I can keep everything under the one roof.

And as always the most important thing of all is keep the service simple and easy to use while being competitive :-)

I got very surprised when i was reading through all the suggestions, and i dont agree with a lot of them, I think RaboPlus account is eazy to access, and in its present form not complicated and simple to understand, i find it the best internet bank of all, so why complicate it by adding all those other services people want, like checkaccounts and foreign currency accounts, i think the high and nice intrest rates would drop and we would end with an ordinary bank, i think its just right the way it is, and thats why i find RaboPlus bank the number one, in New Zealand but also overseas, so to the team at raboPlus i would say please just leave it the way it is and dont comp[licate things, people who want all those things could just join an ordinary bank in my opinion, but dont expect the high intrest rates, this is just my humble opinion as i am just a simple guy and not a money broker.thanx RaboPlus for listen also to the little men in the street.

I would like to see Raboplus NZ always competitive with other NZ based banks and also Raboplus Australia by offering higher interest rates on deposits of $10000 or more for terms of 1-5 years. Your other services are fine by me.

I agree with the previous comment. Rabobank needs to offer competitive interest rates on term deposits, not just on on-call money.
I cannot understand Rabo's current policy of offering such low interest rates. Is it that you are no longer eager to attract New Zealand investors? That would suggest that you have lost confidence in the NZ market. If so, I suppose we can expect Rabobank NZ to suffer the same sort of fate as National Mutual, which was sold to AXA and is now being on-sold to an Australian bank.

The "digipass" is an interesting piece of technology, but is it REALLY necessary? There are other equally secure ways of logging into an account which do not necessitate having to carry around a digipass with you. This can be very inconvenient if you are travelling and I am always worried about losing it. That could be a huge problem if you were overseas. I also would like having an ATM card available.