A direct bank (sometimes called a branch-less bank or virtual bank) is a bank that offers its services only via the Internet, mobile app, email, and other electronic means, often including telephone, online chat, and mobile check deposit. A direct bank has no branch network. It may offer access to an independent banking agent network and may also provide access via ATMs (often through interbank network alliances), and bank by mail. Direct banks eliminate the costs of maintaining a branch network while offering convenience to customers who prefer digital technology. Direct banks provide some but not all of the services offered by physical banks. [1] [2]
Direct bank transactions are conducted entirely online. Direct banks are not the same as "online banking". Online banking is an Internet-based option offered by regular banks.
In the United States, direct banks are defined as online/branchless institutions with federal banking charters, with either the Federal Reserve Board, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency or the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as their primary regulator. Many direct banks are insured by the FDIC and offer the same level of protection for the customers' funds as traditional banks, although it is important to verify if this is true. [3] As of 2022 [update] , 27% of banking customers in the United States use a direct (i.e., online-only) bank. [4]
In the United States, direct banks are distinctly different from neobanks. Neobanks are online-only banking providers without federal banking charters. Thus, deposits are not insured by the FDIC. Their customers tend to be younger people who are more price sensitive to bank fees.
One of the world's first direct banks was First Direct, which launched telephone banking in the United Kingdom on 1 October 1989. A subsidiary of the then Midland Bank, it pioneered the concepts of no branches and 24-hour service through a call center. The commercialization of the Internet in the early 1990s was the biggest driver in the creation of fully direct banking models.
In the 1990s, internet-only banks or "virtual banks" appeared. These banks did not have a traditional banking infrastructure, such as a branch network, a cost-saving feature that allowed many of them to offer savings accounts with higher interest rates and loans with lower interest rates than most traditional banks. However, there was initial consumer hesitation in conducting monetary transactions over the Internet, especially with an entity that they could not deal with face-to-face.
One of the first direct banks in the United States was the Security First Network Bank (SFNB), launched in October 1995, and was the first direct bank to be insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. [1] While SFNB did not make much profit in its initial years, it demonstrated that the concept of direct banking could work.
Some direct banks focused only on online savings accounts, providing higher interest rates than traditional banks for customers who were happy to only have access to their account on the internet. One of the first and most successful adopters of this was ING Direct that launched Tangerine Bank in Canada in 1997, expanding this to the United Kingdom, Australia, and the United States before its owner sold them around 2010.
Asia's first direct bank was finatiQ, a division of the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) of Singapore, launched in April 2000. It was shut down in 2011 and its operations merged into the mainstream banking structure with its parent OCBC saying that "Internet Banking has since become a core part of OCBC Bank's multi-channel strategy – which also encompasses branches, ATMs and Mobile Banking". [5]
The direct bank model was used by many of the challenger banks created in the UK during 2015–2018.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is a United States government corporation supplying deposit insurance to depositors in American commercial banks and savings banks. The FDIC was created by the Banking Act of 1933, enacted during the Great Depression to restore trust in the American banking system. More than one-third of banks failed in the years before the FDIC's creation, and bank runs were common. The insurance limit was initially US$2,500 per ownership category, and this has been increased several times over the years. Since the enactment of the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act in 2010, the FDIC insures deposits in member banks up to $250,000 per ownership category. FDIC insurance is backed by the full faith and credit of the government of the United States, and according to the FDIC, "since its start in 1933 no depositor has ever lost a penny of FDIC-insured funds".
In the United States, banking began by the 1780s along with the country's founding and has developed into highly influential and complex system of banking and financial services. Anchored by New York City and Wall Street, it is centered on various financial services namely private banking, asset management, and deposit security.
A transaction account, also called a checking account, chequing account, current account, demand deposit account, or share draft account at credit unions, is a deposit account or bank account held at a bank or other financial institution. It is available to the account owner "on demand" and is available for frequent and immediate access by the account owner or to others as the account owner may direct. Access may be in a variety of ways, such as cash withdrawals, use of debit cards, cheques (checks) and electronic transfer. In economic terms, the funds held in a transaction account are regarded as liquid funds. In accounting terms, they are considered as cash.
Online banking, also known as internet banking, virtual banking, web banking or home banking, is a system that enables customers of a bank or other financial institution to conduct a range of financial transactions through the financial institution's website or mobile app. Since the early 2000s this has become the most common way that customers access their bank accounts.
A savings and loan association (S&L), or thrift institution, is a financial institution that specializes in accepting savings deposits and making mortgage and other loans. The terms "S&L" or "thrift" are mainly used in the United States; similar institutions in the United Kingdom, Ireland and some Commonwealth countries include building societies and trustee savings banks. They are often mutually held, meaning that the depositors and borrowers are members with voting rights, and have the ability to direct the financial and managerial goals of the organization like the members of a credit union or the policyholders of a mutual insurance company. While it is possible for an S&L to be a joint-stock company, and even publicly traded, in such instances it is no longer truly a mutual association, and depositors and borrowers no longer have membership rights and managerial control. By law, thrifts can have no more than 20 percent of their lending in commercial loans—their focus on mortgage and consumer loans makes them particularly vulnerable to housing downturns such as the deep one the U.S. experienced in 2007.
Manulife Bank of Canada is a wholly owned subsidiary of Manulife. As a direct bank, it offers high-interest chequing & savings accounts, credit cards, lines of credit and mortgages, including Manulife One. Since it was established in 1993, Manulife Bank has grown to more than $29 billion in assets and serves customers across Canada. Manulife Bank headquarters are in Waterloo, Ontario.
President's Choice Financial, commonly shortened to PC Financial, is the financial service brand of the Canadian supermarket chain Loblaw Companies.
Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation, Limited, often known as OCBC Bank, is a Singaporean multinational banking and financial services corporation headquartered in OCBC Centre, Singapore. OCBC Bank was born out of the Great Depression through the consolidation of three banks in 1932 — the Chinese Commercial Bank Limited, the Ho Hong Bank Limited and the Oversea-Chinese Bank Limited.
A bank teller is an employee of a bank whose responsibilities include the handling of customer cash and negotiable instruments. In some places, this employee is known as a cashier or customer representative. Tellers also deal with routine customer service at a branch.
NetBank, formerly named Atlanta Internet Bank (1996) and Net.B@nk (1998), was a direct bank.
Bank regulation in the United States is highly fragmented compared with other G10 countries, where most countries have only one bank regulator. In the U.S., banking is regulated at both the federal and state level. Depending on the type of charter a banking organization has and on its organizational structure, it may be subject to numerous federal and state banking regulations. Apart from the bank regulatory agencies the U.S. maintains separate securities, commodities, and insurance regulatory agencies at the federal and state level, unlike Japan and the United Kingdom. Bank examiners are generally employed to supervise banks and to ensure compliance with regulations.
A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets.
Nevada State Bank, a division of Zions Bancorporation, N.A. Member FDIC, is a full-service bank with branches statewide. Founded in 1959, Nevada State Bank serves 20 communities across the state of Nevada. Zions Bancorporation, N.A. operates in nearly 500 local financial centers across 11 Western states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Texas, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. Zions Bancorporation, N.A. is included in the S&P 500 and NASDAQ Financial 100 indices.
The New York State Banking Department was created by the New York Legislature on April 15, 1851, with a chief officer to be known as the Superintendent. The New York State Banking Department was the oldest bank regulatory agency in the United States.
Wright-Patt Credit Union (WPCU) is a US credit union or financial cooperative headquartered in Beavercreek, Ohio. The credit union was originally headquartered in Fairborn, Ohio; however, it relocated in early 2014. WPCU is registered as a state-chartered type credit union, is the largest member-owned credit union in Ohio, and is one of the 50 largest credit unions in the United States. As of February 2022, WPCU has over $7.1 billion in assets, and over 446,000 members. WPCU is federally insured by the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), which insures accounts in federal and most state-chartered credit unions in the United States. Deposits with Wright-Patt Credit Union are insured to $250,000.
The Insured Cash Sweep or ICS service is used by banks and savings associations that are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). In 2021, the service was reconfigured with several others offered by IntraFi Network into IntraFi Network Deposits and IntraFi Funding.
Simple was an American neobank based in Portland, Oregon. It was recognized as the first neobank and operated between 2009 and 2021.
Axos Bank is an American federally chartered savings and loan association and direct bank headquartered in San Diego, California. It is the main consumer brand of Axos Financial.
Good Money is an American digital online banking platform, often called a neobank, founded by Gunnar Lovelace. Good Money directs 50% of its profits toward environmental and social justice initiatives through impact investments and charitable donations. As a digital platform, Good Money takes no ATM or overdraft fees. The platform's customers vote on where Good Money will invest profits, but their options only include sustainable investments. It is based in San Francisco.
Current is a New York City-based financial services and software development company (FinTech). It provides mobile banking services through its partner bank, Choice Financial Group, Member FDIC.
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