Wingspan Bank was a U.S. bank operating solely via the Internet from 1999 to 2000. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank One. The CEO was Jim Stewart, previously of the parent bank's First USA division.
The bank began operations in June 1999, with the marketing slogan "If your bank could start over, this is what it would be." An aggressive online marketing campaign was carried out to promote the bank, which also received wide coverage in mainstream financial press. The venture also benefited from its parent's existing marketing agreements with major web portals such as America Online, MSN, and Excite. A marketing agreement was also entered into with then-major search engine/portal Lycos. An additional incentive was the promise of a $100 reward to the first 10,000 customers.
Despite being owned by Bank One, an existing brick and mortar banking institution in the Chicago area, Wingspan was branded wholly separately and with minimal acknowledgment of the relationship. As a result, Wingspan's online-only operation effectively competed with Bank One's own online presence, particularly as the online bank's lack of physical presence allowed it to provide better fees and rates for customers. The bank provided most traditional financial services from interest-bearing checking accounts to credit cards, Individual Retirement Accounts and HELOCs. It also provided bill pay, with on-time payment guarantee, although the payment was physically done via the bank mailing a check to the payee in most cases.
The lack of physical presence was ultimately a negative for the bank. While customers were able to use Bank One ATMs for free, they could not use any physical bank branches. Non-electronic deposits had to be made via postal mail. The bank refunded up to $5 in ATM fees per month for customers not living near Bank One locations.
By September 2000, Bank One discontinued the Wingspan brand and rolled the online bank's customers into Bank One's existing online service as regular account holders. The parent company cited the online bank's inability to attract a sufficient number of customers as the reason for its closure. The reintegration of Bank One's online venture followed a similar action by Citibank with its Citi/fi brand, and other online banks such as Telebank merged with or entered into service agreements with physical banks.
CEO Jim Stewart left Wingspan in late 1999 to form Juniper Financial.
See also
- Online banking
- Bank One
- NetBank
References
- WingspanBank (1999-12-01). "Wingspan Bank presents Wingspan Product Management Group". LiveWorld . http://www.liveworld.com/transcripts/WingspanBank/12-01-1999.1-1.html .
- Jim Bruene (1999-06-05). "Bank One Unleashes the First Net Banking Powerhouse". NetBanker.com . http://www.netbanker.com/wingspan_bank/ .
- Candee Wilde (1999-10-18). "WingspanBank.com Reinvents Online Model". Information Week . http://www.informationweek.com/757/wingspan.htm .
- Maria Trombly (2000-09-25). "Bank One's Wingspan Fails to Take Off Online". ComputerWorld . http://www.computerworld.com/industrytopics/financial/story/0,10801,51189,00.html .
- Erin Schlough (2000-05-25). "First USA Founder and Former Wingspan CEO Team With Top Banking Industry Veterans to Form Juniper Financial". Spark PR . https://www.juniper.com/app/ccsite/about/press/pr_24May2000.jsp .
- Megan Barnett (2000-05-15). "Broken Wing". Industry Standard . http://theindustrystandard.com/article/0,1902,14667,00.html .
With Online Bill Pay you can:
With Online Bill Pay you can: Pay on time, every time: Most payments can be made by the next business day. * Save money: Paying your bills online saves you up to $60 a year on ...
Bank of America Achieves Highest Adoption of Online ...
Bank of America Achieves Highest Adoption of Online Bill Pay Among Leading Banks Bank of America leads Wells Fargo, Chase and Wachovia in online bill pay penetration, according to a ...
Bank of America Free MyAccess Checking® when opened ...
Online Banking with Bill Pay. You want more than one way to bank: get mobile banking AND unlimited online bill pay. ... Privacy & Security Bank of America, N.A. Member FDIC. Equal Housing ...
Bank of America | Newsroom - Press Releases
Bank of America won the Webby Award and Webby People's Choice Award in 2006 in the online banking/bill pay category. Global Finance magazine named bankofamerica.com the best ...
SunTrust vs. Bank of America Online Bill Pay ...
I've narrowed our choice of new banks after the move down to SunTrust and Bank of America, but now I need your help. One of the critical features that I'm
Bank of America Achieves Highest Adoption of Online ...
comScore is a marketing research company that provides marketing data and services to many of the Internet's largest businesses.
Online Banking from Bank of America: Open an Internet ...
Use Bank of America's Online Banking service to view and track your ... credit card account activity, pay your bill online and more. Save time and postage when you use bill pay.
Online Banking : Bill Pay : Make a Payment : Overview
In this section, you will learn how to Make A Payment from the Bill Pay Center. Here you can pay your phone bill, or the electric company, and even the baby-sitter.
Online Banking : Bill Pay : Receive Bills ...
In this section you will learn how to request an e-Bill. An e-Bill is an an electronic version of your paper bill. You can receive and pay your bills online and even set them up to ...
Pay Bills Online - Enroll in Bill Pay Services from ...
With Bill Pay from Bank of America, you can pay bills online quickly and easily. Best of all, our online Bill Pay service is free. Enroll at bankofamerica.com and discover how ...