U.S. Bancorp, 1st Chicago, 10 Other Banks Plan to Offer Home Banking

Twelve banks, including several major retail institutions on the West Coast, are planning to offer home banking services in October with the popular Quicken personal finance software.

The group includes U.S. Bancorp of Portland, Ore., First Chicago Corp., and San Francisco-based Sanwa Bank California and Union Bank.

Bankers close to the deal said they expect Quicken's market dominance to be a boon to customer acceptance. Quicken, made by Intuit Inc. of Menlo Park, Calif., has more than seven million users, 75% to 80% of the market in personal finance software.

That market penetration was likewise behind Microsoft Corp.'s $2 billion bid to acquire Intuit. The merger has been tied up in the courts by a Justice Department antitrust challenge.

Microsoft was unable to get more than a few percentage points of market share with its own personal finance entry, called Money, which it has agreed to divest to Novell Inc.

Microsoft worked with several banks to develop a banking package within Money, and many of these banks are expected to be in the Quicken consortium regardless of the Microsoft-Intuit deal's outcome.

A competing financial software company, an H&R Block subsidiary called Meca, announced its sale last week to BankAmerica Corp. and NationsBank Corp. for $35 million. Those banks, which hope to bring in other owners, see Meca's Managing Your Money program as a more customizable, "bank- friendly" alternative to Microsoft, especially if Intuit is acquired.

The planned Intuit home banking group was drawn to that company's market leadership.

"If we're going to have a strategic alliance, we would like to be with the No. 1 provider," said one banker, who asked not to be named.

An Intuit spokeswoman declined to comment, saying it was the company's policy not to preannounce products. She added, however, that it is "no secret" Intuit has been "actively talking with banks and trying to start relationships."

Intuit has, in fact, signed up several financial institutions overseas to co-market Quicken with a banking component.

Bankers said that Intuit and the 12 banks in the consortium had planned to announce a home banking program this month. The announcement reportedly was delayed until August in order to be closer to the expected product launching.

The complete list of Quicken banks could not be obtained. Officials of First Chicago, U.S. Bancorp, Sanwa Bank California, and Union Bank confirmed their institutions' plan to participate.

Spokesmen for Chase Manhattan Corp. and Michigan National Corp., who were Microsoft Money partners and are said to be in the Quicken group of 12, said they were unable to confirm their institutions' participation.

For Sanwa Bank and Union Bank, a subsidiary of Bank of Tokyo, the link with Quicken would supply their first personal computer banking services.

U.S. Bancorp in February announced its intention to add Quicken compatibility, which would supplement the Microsoft Money program it launched in February 1994. Rick Comandich, a U.S. Bancorp senior vice president, said 4,500 U.S. Bancorp customers use a PC link called Ubank On- line.

Mr. Comandich has long advocated offering "as many endpoints as possible," and he said he believes Quicken access would make U.S. Bancorp even more convenient for customers.

Mr. Comandich said the Quicken link would be easy to add, since transactions would be processed through an Intuit subsidiary, National Payment Clearinghouse Inc., which is also processing Microsoft Money banking transactions.

The participating banks would invest in software and telecommunications links to connect their computers with Intuit's clearing house unit. Consumers would be charged fees, which for other similar services have ranged from about $8 to $15 per month.

The bankers hope to add other services, including investment sales and loan applications.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
MORE FROM AMERICAN BANKER