River City Bank
www.rcbank.com

River City Bank (Sacramento, CA; $382 million) is testing a new Web-based online banking program dubbed Online Banker with 200 users. If all goes well, the program will be rolled out to its 22,000 customers in August. Account access is free-of-charge. Optional pay-anyone bill pay is $5.95/month for unlimited payments. SVP Robert Wood, justifiably proud of his creation said, “(Online Banker) fits right in with (recent articles) on customizable user interfaces and control, and demonstrates the capabilities of online banking using current technology.”

VeriSign’s authentication symbol is displayed on the bottom of the log-in screen.

Other features of Online Banker:

• encrypted messaging
• allows the entry of transaction descriptions and budget categories
• customizable user interface
• three year transaction archive
• budget, tax and financial reports
• real-time statement generation

River City is the first bank we’ve seen displaying the Verisign “authenticity” logo (screenshot above). According to VeriSign’s Web www.verisign.com, River City is the first North American Bank to participate in the authentic site digital certificate program. Two other banks also use the program: Philippine Commercial and International Bank and Grupo Financiero Bital of Mexico.

Contact: Robert Wood is SVP Director of Technology, 916.567.2701, RWood@RCBank.com.

The first screen shows ledger and available balance. Showing both balances may be more confusing than it’s worth. But if you go this route make sure you provide clear explanations of the two.

Online Banker includes preformatted reports.

Users can edit transactions on this screen and input descriptions (1) and budget categories (2).

River City’s “research” function is the best we’ve seen at helping users run reports or research past transaction activity, rivaling full-fledged PFMs in some ways.