For quite a while now, I’ve been readingabout BankSimple and their value proposition -“Banking Shouldn’t beHard.” Each time I read an article or see an interview from one oftheir executives I have to wonder what is interesting about this?Is banking difficult? But, I think this question of simplicity isactually a red herring – the real question is – how convenientshould banking really be?
Just as a reminder, a few years ago getting a mortgage was verysimple. Some people didn’t even need an income. How’d that workout? At the same time, lots of responsible lenders continuedprocessing mortgage applications with all those annoying andinconvenient paperwork requirements. I’m not criticizing BankSimplesince I don’t know what they propose to offer consumers to makebanking simple, (surprise! mobile appears to be a big part of theirstrategy). However, as far as I understand it, BankSimple isn’t abank; it’s a service provider front with an actual bank operatingbehind the scenes.
So, here’s where it all starts to become a little foggy if I’m aconsumer. For example, if BankSimple “fails” what happens to myaccount? Is this something that modern consumers really think aboutor are we becoming so tolerant of being in the cloud that we simplyassume that we’re safe?
I’m interested in seeing how BankSimple deals with this question,but I suspect they probably won’t because that would be difficultand contrary to their message. I hope they prove me wrong – I’llfollow up when the launch takes place.