PFM Meets Social Networking?

There was an interesting article this morning in American Banker called, "E-Banking, Meet Social Networking." After reading the article I came up with 2 conclusions: - Banks need to improve their personal financial management offerings (PFM). The article talks about how Geezeo is offering a white label version of its PFM software to banks. While many banks have PFM tools that they make available to their customers, they pale in comparison to those offered by non-banks in this space (e.g. Mint.com, Wesabe, Geezeo). I would like to see a few banks come up with more competitive offerings (either on their own, or using a 3rd party). Customers really value these tools and they are being demanded, particularly in tough economic times when folks carefully track their spending. - Social networking can be an interesting component of PFM but is not an absolute requirement. This is a nice to have feature, but not one that will keep customers coming back, particularly in the short term. Basic community features would be nice, or at least some spending stats from the overall user base. However, I see customers gravitating more towards the functional component of PFM as opposed to the social networking aspect. In fact, some banks may be scared off if they have to deploy PFM and social networking features in one swift motion. Banks will want to have the option of choosing the features they want to turn on or off.