McLane High School students in Fresno, CA, have opened the first fully functional student-run bank at its campus, a joint venture of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., the Fresno Unified School District and County Bank. Students win "the opportunity to gain invaluable career skills while simultaneously" learning how to be financially savvy, notes a press statement.
How much is five seconds worth to a bank? Check out the 2007 Wait Time Study by the Mystery Shopping Providers Association. The study found that consumers at banks wait an average of 4:13 (four minutes and 13 seconds) and that the average wait time is 1:37 longer than that at fast-food restaurants. The fastest responses were at LaSalle Bank, First Federal, PNC Bank and Comerica Bank, which all reported under two minutes' wait time. Worst performers were National City Bank, which had a time of 6:52; Key Bank, with 5:29; and Huntington National Bank, with 5:27.
Just what banks need: more competition. This time, it's from fund families. Fidelity, the mutual-fund group that recently became the biggest brokerage firm in the U.S., is pushing into consumer banking by launching a checking account. Fidelity also offers a credit card, but has no branches.
The Maryland Association for Bank Security, which has taken robber-catching into its own hands, celebrates its first birthday next month. With support from law-enforcement agencies in the Washington, DC, area, MABS runs a Bandit Gallery of thieves, with photos taken by bank security cameras, at bankbandits.org. Through the site, MABS has nabbed a dozen suspects and spent $12,000 in rewards.
