Maybe you know some of these points. But you do not know allunless you were there at the Washington Convention Center for theOctober BAI Retail Delivery confab. And even then, were you payingattention?

1. The Big Banks Are Primed for a Fall

Keynoter Richard Branson – the self-made billionaire of Virgin fame – is bettingheavily that his Virgin Money bank can wrest huge market share fromthe handful of mega banks that dominate the United Kingdom. “Theirbrands have been damaged,” said Branson at BAI, and the plain pointis that between their high pay packets and the financialshenanigans perpetrated by bankers, Branson believes an historicopportunity exists to profit from their misery.

He has bet over $1 billion – spent purchasing Northern Rock, afailed bank, from the government. And he said at BAI that VirginMoney now is originating one in three mortgages in the U.K.

He also coyly put out that he is scouting for bank opportunitiesin the U.S.

Branson's theme: He loves playing David against plodding,unlikable Goliaths. And what's more Goliath than a mega bank? Hisstrategy will be to highlight their failings and simply to make funof them (look at what he has done with British Air).

The unasked question at BAI: what is preventing credit unionsand community banks from doing likewise with the money center banksin the U.S.?

2. Sir Richard Will Do Anything to Close aDeal

What will you do?

Guy Kawasaki, the onetime Apple evangelist, woke up the crowd atBAI when he flashed a photo of the multi-billionaireBranson on his knees polishing Kawasaki's shoes.

The occasion: they had met in a speaker ready room at a Moscowevent where both were scheduled. Branson asked Kawasaki if he flewVirgin. Kawasaki said no, he always flew United. “What would ittake to get you to try Virgin?” Branson asked.

Kawasaki hemmed and hawed and Branson got down on his knees andstarted polishing Kawasaki's shoes.

The point: Committed leaders stop at nothing to get thedeal.

A Kawasaki parenthetical comment: “You cannot imagine – don'teven try – Steve Jobs [for whom Kawasaki had worked at Apple]getting down on his knees for anybody.”

3. Good Mobile Banking Apps Hunting

A fact: today's mobile banking apps may be popular with usersbut just about everybody concedes they are bland, boring, and notkeeping up with the current generation of apps that tap the fullrange of substantial power built into late model iPhones andAndroids.

They do their jobs. Barely. And do little more to win usermindshare or loyalty.

But souped-up versions – call this mobile banking 2.0 – arestarting to come into the frame.

Developers at BAI talked about building in powerful digitalwallet functions.

They also have begun to take steps to open their apps to feature content from third-parties, saypayments tools from Dwolla or gift cards from BlackhawkNetworks.

The push also is on to monetize mobile – to bring in dollarsfrom the service – and building in new content figures high in thisstrategizing.

2013 will, suggested the experts at BAI, be the year when manyinstitutions wake up to their need for more powerful and engagingbanking apps.

4. PFM Tools Are Great – Too Bad No One UsesThem

Personal finance managers – think Intuit's Mint – have gottenslick. On a panel – featuring senior executives from Bank ofAmerica and Canada's BMO – the consensus was that those who use abank-provided PFM are stickier, more profitable customers.

But usage is anemic, in the single digits of online bankingcustomers.

Customer ignorance about PFMs is cited as a primary barrier.

But nobody has a good plan for upping usage.

Nobody has a plan they will talk about for building a PFM into amobile banking app either and that is the obvious nextfrontier.

Bottom Line: if no one uses your institution's PFM tools, knowyou are a member of a not very selective club.

5. Bluebird Is No Threat to Bankers (or CreditUnions)

People at BAI were buzzing about Bluebird – the essentially free financial account from Walmartand American Express – but the prevailing opinion is that this willgore somebody else's ox.

The target market is the unbanked and under-banked. The workingclass. Few banks and not many more credit unions have made a fullcourt press to sell into that market because the profits aren'tobvious.

That has left fertile – and profitable – turf for non-banks suchas Green Dot with its pre-paid cards.

Many bankers at BAI seemed to think Bluebird is a non-event forthem but a nightmare for Green Dot and its brethren because theirofferings typically are fee laden. And those fees are what Bluebirdtakes aim at.

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