Debit card opportunities are around every corner, yet banks are not yet taking full advantage of the emerging product, said participants at last week's Debit Card Forum in Phoenix.
Lining up more places where customers can use their ATM cards will be the key to a successful retail delivery strategy, they said.
The third annual, Faulkner & Gray-sponsored conference attracted 350 attendees, up 15% from last year. Exhibitors inflated the total to more than 500, said conference organizers.
The debit card professionals shared the crowded Pointe Hilton Resort at Tapatio Cliffs with several NBA All-Star Game events, but there was little confusion.
Even without the name tags, it was relatively easy to tell the debit card forum attendees from the athletes who towered above them. Numerous celebrity sightings were reported, mostly on the crowded golf course.
Those who attended the debit card sessions were rewarded with hands-on, practical tips for starting and managing programs.
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Keynote speaker Deborah McWhinney, senior vice president and manager of consumer electronic banking at Bank of America, set the tone for the two- day conference with a humorous talk about the many changes going on in the world today.
Ms. McWhinney invoked the names of rock groups Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, and Rancid - which, according to a show of hands, were known by few attendees - to prove her point.
She said that bankers needed to do a better job of understanding their consumers to determine what role banking products and services would play in the next millennium.
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The conference theme was "Breaking the Debit Card Mold," but at least one speaker suggested that the tag line was too generous.
"Have we been in a mold or have we been in a rut?" asked Richard G. Lyons, chief operating officer of Internet Inc., owner and operator of the Most regional electronic banking network.
"In 25 years, we have placed cards in the hands of 60% of our customers, and 60% of them use the cards," he said. "That's bad. That means we've been marketing this product for 25 years and still less than half of our customers use it."
He suggested that the card be the key to a full gamut of financial and nonfinancial services. He painted a rosy picture of the future where the card would be used for home banking, to order entertainment services, as a telephone or transit card, and as a point of access to health care and prescriptions.
"Banks need to make the card a lifestyle product," he advised.
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Other speakers recommended a closer working relationship between banks and merchants.
At auto repair shops, for example, 35% of all purchases are paid for with a check. "That's one of the big areas (banks) should target for debit," said Dennis Driscoll, senior vice president at Equifax Card Services.
Sports arenas, universities, and restaurants were also mentioned as strong merchant categories for debit penetration.
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For the first time in the three years of this conference, a credit union representative was invited to speak.
Patrick K. Adams, vice president of St. Louis Teachers Credit Union, told how his organization had grown by 73% in seven years while decreasing staff.
The trick, said Mr. Adams, is electronic delivery. The $63 million-asset institution has gotten its customers to use automated teller machines and self-service kiosks for all banking services.
"We have been able to gain efficiencies that you might think only multibillion-dollar organizations are capable of," said Mr. Adams. "Bottom line, what we believe is that if you don't serve your clients at work, home, or in the car in between, you're not doing all you can do."
Credit union employees made up more than 10% of the attendees at the conference.
"Credit unions by their very nature have never been as beholden to a brick-and-mortar strategy as banks," said a representative of the Credit Union National Association. "That's why the idea of an enhanced ATM card is so attractive to credit unions."
