U.S. Bank Deposit Point II: Will Pay-for-Deposit Last?

In March, U.S. Bank launched two consumer/small business products after extensive pilot testing: • Deposit Point, a desktop RDC product bundled with its online banking solution. • Deposit Point Mobile, Initially available to U.S. Bank Mobile Wallet users who have an iPhone. Following up on my previous post, Celent finds two aspects of the product launch noteworthy. 1. U.S. Bank is making both desktop and mobile RDC available to its consumer and small business retail banking clients 2. It is charging $.50 per deposit for the service. The last post addresses the former. This post address U.S. Bank’s move to charge for the service in an environment where most banks charge monthly fees for commercial RDC products while offering consumer RDC free of charge. Some have proclaimed U.S. Bank’s price point for Deposit Point a non-starter. Celent offers two responses: • We don’t think so, and • We hope not We don’t think so: To call the idea of charging consumers and small businesses $.50 per deposit a non-starter denies RDC’s concept strength. RDC saves time and money – and it’s “green”. All three benefits are compelling to many consumers and small businesses. It’s not clear how much testing U.S. Bank did prior to establishing a price point for its Deposit Point. Obviously, some customers will pass on the idea once the price point is known. Fine! Alternatives are available for those customers preferring to drive to a branch or ATM and stand in line. More importantly, launching Deposit Point with an associated fee establishes that the convenience of RDC indeed has value. The bank is free to bundle Deposit Point with other services or to discount the product in the future. We expect it to do so. In the meantime, the bank should be able to enjoy some early-mover benefits. To do otherwise would be leaving money on the table. The fee structures accompanying PayPal, Popmoney and ZashPay suggest there may be some sustainability to a pay-for-deposit RDC model. We hope not: Will the pay-for-deposit model survive? One thing is certain, a raft of large banks are gearing up to launch mobile and consumer desktop RDC products of their own in short order. But for the next year or two, these financial institutions will be in the minority. And most that do launch consumer RDC products will not make them available to the mass market because of the perceived risk in doing so. Most consumers won't have access to RDC. This opens up a sizeable market for third party, bank-neutral solutions – as long as there is revenue to be had in return for the risk taking. The next six months will be telling.