Copyright ABN AMRO N.V. 2007

Banking in the virtual world of Second Life

Pascal Spelier, New Business Development Manager

Developing And Exploiting The Branch Self-ServiceAnd ATM Network, London, 17 september 2007

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A short history on (Branch) Self Service

World's first ATM machine launched 40 years ago - at Barclays Bank, Enfield, London

In the early 90’s, the internet gained a public face Late 90’s internet banking came into existance

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Self Service led to less customers in branch

43% of the Dutch consumer don’t visit branch office anymore

Self Service lack in creating a dialogue with the customer

We continuously look for new ways of communication

– 24/7 Call Centers– Live (video) chat and Skype for Young Professionals– Checking the balance of your account by MSN, Xbox, Playstation– Voice Response systems with biometric voice recognition – Internet Banking based on AJAX-technology

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It’s all about interaction

Internet is the ideal Self Service and transaction channel→ Do-it-yourself-banking, for example:

- Payments & investments- Applying for a debit card- Copy of your balance statement- Changing the limit of your overdraft or loan- Applying for a mortgage- Changing your address- Etcetera

But 2D internet lacks of interaction

To regain or to increase interaction with customers is the biggest challenge

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3D Social Internet: filling the gap

Internet functions intermingle

Human-machine interaction evolves to human to human interaction again

+ ++ + =

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What’s Second Life?

A virtual 3D world via internet — with a social component

A combination of web, MSN, online gaming techniques and VOIP

Second Life isn’t a game, because…– There’s no specific goal, you can’t win, there

nothing to accomplish like in a game– No central content, content is user-generated– You can buy / rent (virtual land an build anything

you can imagine (intellectual property)– You can easily pay somebody else with Linden Dollars

You can experience things / places together → rich experience

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How to become a Second Life resident?

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Who do you want to be?

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Where do you enter the virtual world?

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How do you want to look?

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How do you want to look?

Be who you want to be!

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How do you want to look?

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You are ready for Second Life!

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What people do you meet?

Age Range Percentage13-17 (Teen Grid) 1,00%

18-24 26%

25-34 38%

35-44 22%

45 + 12

Country Active Avatar Count

%

United States 149055 26,55%Brazil 48023 8,55%Japan 44847 7,99%Germany 44483 7,92%United Kingdom 38876 6,92%France 31723 5,65%Italy 28415 5,06%

Canada 17615 3,14%

Netherlands 18807 3,35%Spain 18589 3,31%

Number of residents

September 2006: 801.860

September 2007: 9.388.717

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So… Second life is just a marketing tool?

Marketeers are sceptical:

“ Who has time for this all?”

“Second Life is a hype…”

“It’s not a mass medium…(yet)”

“Second Life is for nerds only…”

People react on Second Life just like Internet 10 years ago

“The Internet? We are not interested in it" -- Bill Gates, 1993

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Who has time for this all?

People spend more and more time on the internet and in online virtual(gaming) worlds

The youth spends more of therefreetime behind the computer than behind the television screen

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Second Life is a hype

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Second Life is for ‘nerds’

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The Second Life is interesting

Slightly more women than men ‘live’ in Second Life

Average age 30 years

Many residents hava a creative or IT background

A normal social life (work, family, many friends)

Happy in ‘first life’

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In retrospective

Be ThereBe There

Learn & DevelopLearn & Develop

Towards Real Towards Real BusinessBusiness

Expand view

Okt 2006 Jan 2007 Apr 2007 Okt 2007

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Be there: European’s first bank in Second Life

Idea resulted from “innovation challenge”

GO for presence in Second Life was given in October 2006

Highly motivated team did the job in 6 weeks

Opening december 7th, 2007

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Learn & develop

Is it possible to communicate more personal and direct via the internet?

How do customers behave in virtual worlds?

How do customers search for information and in what way do they want tobe informed or advised?

Can we involve customers in developing new financial products and services (co-creation, crowd sourcing)?

Learning means experimenting, investing without strict targets and without a great risk (of reputation)

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We learned a lot by doing: a short clip…

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Towards real business

Attracting residents to our islands → generating leads

Introducing Second Life Balance → checking the balance of you account

Introducing Second Life ATM?

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Expand view: ABN AMRO’s vision

Second Life is a first example of 3D social internet, however most likely not the last

Internet and the real world intermingle more and more, they are becoming a hybrid interreality

Usage of “internet” shifts; today no one “surfsthe internet”, we‘re just connected 24/7

Second Life community is an attractive target

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Long term view: new features

Advise dialogue → customer contact with which interaction and / or non-verbal interaction is important

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Long term view: new features

Conferencing → easy accessible contact with customers or colleagues, no physical limitation (no travelling, just behind your computer)

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Future Virtual Worlds

Barriers disappear– Better computer hardware (game consoles, PC’s getting faster)– Broadband internet

Increasing acceptance of virtual worlds– Youth is already experienced (for example Habbo Hotel)– Avatars will become quite common appearance in user interfaces

Three scenario’s – Large companies will dominate (Sony, Microsoft, Google) → no mutual compatibility– Several smaller virtual worlds → mutual interfaces, niche/locak approach– Standardization

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Thank you for your attention!

Second Life Team