Looking for a low-cost way to generate new ideas and meet like-minded financial geeks? You have three opportunities during the next four weeks:

• March 29: BarCampBankSF -- Berkeley, CA (9AM to 5PM)
• April 5: BarCampBankNE -- Manchester, NH
• April 12: BarCampMoneyNYC -- Manhattan (9AM to 5PM)

As of today, there are 34 people signed up for San Francisco, a dozen for New England, and 24 for NYC. Cost is minimal, max of $25. Register in advance on the respective websites.

I attended the first U.S. BarCampBank held in Seattle this past July (previous coverage here). It was an interesting day that brought together a fascinating cross section of financial providers (mostly credit unions, no banks showed up) and technologists. However, other than Jason Knight of Wesabe, it didn't have that entrepreneurial energy that I expect at the BarCampBank San Francisco (BCBSF). And for those not wanting to trek across the country, there's BarCampBank New England (BCBNE) the next weekend (more info here).

BarCampBank San Francisco

  Date: 9 AM, March 29-30, 2008

  Location: UC Berkeley's Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology

  Time: 9 AM to whenever on Saturday followed by a half-day session Sunday

  Cost: $25 (register here)

  Agenda: None (see below)

  Scheduled speakers: None (see below)

  More info:

The aim of BarCampBank is to foster innovation and the creation of new business models in the world of banking and finance. Previous BarCampBanks have been held in Seattle, as well as London and Paris.

To ensure that the event is highly relevant for all those attending, the agenda will be discussed online beforehand (http://barcamp.org/BarCampBankSF) and then set by the participants the morning of the event.

Due to the large number of financial services startups in the San Francisco Bay Area, BCBSF will have a particular focus on bringing startups and industry together. So far, participating organizations include Wesabe, Boulevard R, NetBanker, Wikinvest, EverythingCU and Cake Financial.

The event, which is organized by volunteers, welcomes participation from anyone who would like to help with event logistics or spreading the word.

This past weekend, NetBanker sponsored an event called BarCampBank in Seattle. It's an unusual name for an unusual event. The name derives from an international network of events, which Wikipedia defines as "open, participatory workshop-events, whose content is provided by participants." It usually refers to "early-stage Web applications, and related open-source technologies and social protocols." In this case it was a loose, collaborative unconference about "innovation in banking, credit unions, social lending, or finance." It attracted close to 40 people—credit unions, banking experts, consultants and suppliers across the United States and Canada. It was unfortunate that there was no representation from actual banks.

The topics discussed included the use of social media, credit relief for third world countries, branching strategy, expectations of Gen Y and Millennials, mobile banking, and open-source core processors. Over the weekend, as discussions opened and progressed, the ideas were distilled down to a few themes.

• Banks and credit unions don't really know what it means to be customer-centric.
• The disintermediation that the industry has been seeing on the horizon for years seems to be occurring, and financial institutions had better get on board or lose market share.
• Are social media (blogs, social networks, wikis) an effective way to market and promote banks?
• What would a bank look like if one was built from scratch today?

There was a lot of talk that banks and credit unions only look after their own needs and don't pay enough attention to serving their customers effectively. There is a lack of bravery and responsiveness to their customers' needs. To most consumers, banking is a chore like going to the grocery store or the post office (and in the worst examples, the dentist). People want easy access to their money and sound financial advice; in many cases, that is not what they receive.

There were some very interesting and disruptive ideas. One big one that kept coming up was the banking equivalent of local number portability. You get an account number the first time you create a bank account, and you can move it from bank to bank to bank. An amazingly customer-centric idea. You neither have to change your bill-pay info, nor your direct deposit or pre-authorized payments. This is one of the main factors that keep people where they are, and would force the banks to differentiate based on service and product innovation. The pain of switching would be eliminated and people could change banks when they found a better option for them and not wait until they get so frustrated with their existing bank that they overcome their inertia.

Another theme that emerged, which will come as no surprise to NetBanker readers, is the brilliance of Wesabe.com's model. There is real passion in the way the founder and CEO Jason Knight describes the mission of his organization, which helps consumers make better decisions with their money. With a focus on showing consumers where their money can get them the most value, he doesn't see himself competing with banks at all, but offering a complimentary service. I wonder how many banks see the value Wesabe adds, and will work with it to give customers deeper insights into how they spend their money.

The people in the room were keenly aware of the echo-chamber effect created by being surrounded by those who feel similarly about social media. We were mostly proponents of the relevant use of social media to further the goals of a financial institution. But adoption of blogging, social networking tools and Web 2.0 technology by financial institutions is slow at best, and the number of successful implementations of these tools is few and far between. That honesty was refreshing.

There was an overwhelming feeling in the room that banking is ripe for a revolution. Interesting to come back from BarCampBank and see this insightful article on GonzoBanker about the demise of the banking industry as we know it. Many of these same themes were reflected in our dialogue. Money is too crucial in our lives to avoid big shifts ahead in the financial services sector. BarCampBank demonstrated that this is definitely an interesting time to be in banking.

Tomorrow, the most unusual conference in the banking industry, BarCamp Bank kicks off at 9 AM in Seattle's Pioneer Square historical district. It costs approximately 1/50th of a normal conference ($35) and has no set speakers, agenda, or sales pitches. It's just an excuse for a bunch of creative types to get together and talk about the future of money and banking. I'm very much looking forward to it.

Thanks again to Jessie Robbins for organizing the event. If you can make it to Seattle tomorrow or Sunday, you can still sign up here.  

The first thing we'll do tomorrow is brainstorm topics for group discussion. Here's my short(ish) list: 

• Outside the box: If you were to design a financial institution from scratch, disregarding all current regulatory constraints, what would it look like?  
• Alt delivery: Is online account access already old-fashioned? Do customers really want to log in to their bank multiple times each week or is there an easier and less intrusive way to keep consumers abreast of their financial lives?
• Social networks: Will social networks such as Facebook spawn their own virtual credit unions to serve the financial needs of members? Or will existing financial instructions step in to serve the need?
• Mobile finance: Mobile banking and payments are on their second trip up the hype curve. Is it real this time? If so, will mobile services be extensions of existing solutions, replacements for them, or an entirely new type of service?  
• Security: Financial security and privacy concerns remain top-of-mind with consumers. What role should financial institutions take in education, prevention, and resolution?
• Opensource marketing: With 15,000 financial institutions in the United States alone and most of them setting up shop online, it's absurd to think that your customers aren't looking around for the best prices. Why not follow the Progressive Auto Insurance model and actually enable price searches from your site?

I'll do my best to let you know what we come up with.  

Being somewhat older than the 20-something coders the frequent the Silicon Valley/Toronto/Paris/Austin BarCamp scene (Wikipedia definition, website), I'm not quite sure what to expect when the banking version, BarCamp Bank, comes to Seattle next weekend (July 21/22).

But simply knowing that the Trabian gurus, Brent Dixon and Trey Reeme, will be in attendance assures that it will be eye-opening and fun. There's also the king of banking social media, Ed Terpening of Wells Fargo as well as William Azaroff, Pierre Burns, and Monica Mashal from pioneering Vancity and Ben Morales the creative thinker behind many cool initiatives at Washington State Employees Credit Union. And so far, just one representative from the hot personal finance space, Marc Hedlund from Wesabe (here's the full registration list so far).

The idea is to gather a bunch of innovative thinkers in one spot, drink coffee, eat pizza and try to change the world, one payment at a time. All in one weekend.

It's beautiful in Seattle this time of year, if you can make it, drop your $35 into this form ASAP and I'll see you next week. Otherwise, we'll be writing about it of course.