On-line "chat rooms" are havens for Internet aficionados with interests in subjects like quilting, heavy-metal singer Ozzy Osbourne, beer, sex, and professional sports.
Now, add cash management to that list.
NationsBank Corp., in conjunction with Treasury Strategies Inc., has created a World Wide Web site that lets bankers and other professionals "talk" to each other using their computers.
Communications experts said the on-line forum, which is part of an Internet site called the Treasury Connection, could be a trendsetter, because inexpensive ways to exchange ideas are in high demand in the banking industry.
Experts also took NationsBank's project as a sign that banks are using the Internet more aggressively.
NationsBank's efforts point to a "completely new phenomenon" for the banking industry, said Phoebe Simpson, an analyst at Jupiter Communications Inc. in New York.
"Of course there are financial areas on" on-line services such as Prodigy, America Online, and Compuserve, "but NationsBank is being very aggressive with this project and I think it's going to pay off for them."
NationsBank and Treasury Strategies launched the Treasury Connection site in September. The site's address is treasuryconnection www.nationsbank.com.
About 870 corporate treasurers, bankers, and university professors use the site to post information, questions, comments, resumes, and even occasional jokes related to cash management.
The forum last week concentrated on commercial bank sweep accounts. The discussion was the first of what officials hope will become a regular event.
Laden with industry-specific questions and answers, the chat session - which can be found via hypertext in Treasury Connection or directly at http://www.nationsbank.com/tms/toolbox.htm - was aimed at corporate bankers and treasurers.
"Our objective is to provide as much valuable content to our subscribers as possible," said Anthony Carfang, a cash management expert at Chicago- based Treasury Strategies.
"At the same time we want to provide a lively enough setting to keep everyone's interest," he said.
Mr. Carfang and John May, who heads SEI Corp.'s product management and marketing for liquidity management, functioned as "guest experts" in the sweep account discussion. Mr. Carfang participated from Chicago. Mr. May took part from his office in Wayne, Pa.
Eileen McDonnell, a vice president with NationsBank in Atlanta, was the chat session's moderator. She put the event through several dry runs before bringing it on-line.
From her office, Ms. McDonnell directed the discussion, keeping the questions organized and prodding participants to interact.
Questions were received off-line in Atlanta. Ms. McDonnell read them via telephone to Mr. Carfang and Mr. May, who crafted responses and E-mailed them back to her. Ms. McDonnell posted new content about every 15 seconds.
Officials said 24 participants logged on to the event, and about 16 questions were submitted.
The chat session was less spontaneous than face-to-face communication. Several of the participants worked from prepared statements.
However, the anonymity of that on-line communication paves the way for frank discussions that may not have taken place otherwise. And there was plenty of "real time" banter to complement the prepared matter.
"The prepared questions and answers allowed us sufficient time to respond to the questions without time pressure," Mr. Carfang said.
"This was the first live session in this kind of a forum," said R.C. "Rick" Leander, senior vice president in charge of Internet initiatives at NationsBank.
Questions not addressed during the chat session were fodder for the weekly update of Treasury Connection's on-line bulletin board.
Organizers chose to focus on sweep accounts in the inaugural session, because many institutions engage in such practices. Future sessions may address more esoteric topics.
Sweep accounts are demand deposit accounts in which funds beyond preset levels are "swept" into short-term investment products that may give higher yields.
"Sweeps are becoming increasingly popular with brokerage houses and, more recently, commercial banks," Mr. Carfang said.
"We predict that over the next three to five years they will be as common as your average checking account."
As a cash management service, sweep accounts are very popular. Mr., Carfang said bank corporate customers have invested about $100 billion in commercial bank sweep accounts "compounded by over 40% in the past two years."
Several participants in the chat session asked why banks had become so interested in sweep accounts. Mr. May responded the accounts were a banking industry response to corporations that increasingly pump excess funds into brokerage firms.
"Banks have seen the need to offer a sweep service to counter this trend and retain their customer relationships," he said.
Mr. Carfang added that sweeps help reduce bank reserve requirements since, "money market funds and trust sweeps move customer funds off balance sheets."
"This is a benefit which both the customer and bank share."
Another participant asked if corporations were willing to cede higher rates of return in other more lucrative investments for the ease of a sweep account.
"Yes," Mr. Carfang responded. "People are willing to sacrifice a reasonable amount of basis points for the convenience of an automated sweep."
Although NationsBank is one of the first banks to host an on-line chat, observers expect similar services to follow.
Joseph Kusheta, director of Internet Services for Online Resources and Communications Corp., McLean, Va. described NationsBank's and Treasury Strategies' efforts as "leading edge," while noting that the chat line allowed participants to use a single browser to receive and post questions.
"NationsBank is a leader" in this area, he said.
Given the popularity of the sessions, a growing number of providers have launched or are developing new forums to provide structured roundtable discussions on-line.
America Online and Prodigy, for example, host weekly live events on various topics, said Ms. Simpson of Jupiter Communications.
These networks regularly provide financial services experts, Internal Revenue Service officials, and others to field questions from users.
Harley Ungar, a senior analyst at Jupiter, noted that Time Warner Inc. operates an Internet-based on-line service called Pathfinder. The company is actively pursuing chat-oriented content.
