User:Realblix

WikiBank

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A WikiBank is a next generation of online community banking, offering banking functions in the hands of the online community. A WikiBank, often called a Banking 3.0 organization, is an evolved peer-to-peer or person-to-person lending (Banking 2.0) organization that enables members to not only to lend and borrow to and from each other, but also allows members the availability of a wide range of banking functions previously only provided by legacy, mainly brick-and-mortar, financial institutions.

Origin of the word

The English word “bank” has an Italian roots, meaning “desk” or “bench” and was first used by Renaissance era Florentines who transacted business above the desk covered by tablecloth[1]. While modern banking originated during the Renaissance, banking related activities have been known since Babylonian and Roman times [2]. Wiki” is originally a Hawaiian word for “fast”. The term was first associated with the World Wide Web in 1995 when the first wiki was installed on the Internet [3]. Wikis were first known as collaborative websites set up to allow users editing and adding of content. [4][5], but the definition has changed over the years. In the early 2000’s Wikis were increasingly adopted in enterprise and collaborative software applications as a method to keep communities of users informed [6] and to allow the user community to update the associated information. Wikis are also increasingly being defined as “open to everyone’ user communities. WikiBanks are next-generation online community banks open to everyone.

Models

A WikiBank is the next generation of online community banking offering almost all of the services offered by legacy banking institutions in the hands of the online community. WikiBanks are often called Banking 3.0 organizations. The WikiBank environment allows anyone to seek to borrow from, lend to, or offer any other banking related service to any other member of the WikiBank. Additionally, within the WikiBank environment numbers can also receive the services directly from the WikiBank itself.

Traditional person-to-person lending, (also known as peer to peer lending and social lending) primarily involves only lending and borrowing between individuals (“peers”) without the intermediation/participation of a financial institution, WikiBank members are offered a wide variety of services including but not limited to, domestic and international wire transfers, savings and checking accounts, auto loans, credit repair services, and even traditional consumer loans from the institution itself. See also disintermediation.

Whereas in a traditional banking environment [7] where the customer does business directly with the financial institution, a WikiBank is different in that the customer can either borrow or lend directly to the financial institution or to other customers of the WikiBank. A WikiBank offers all of the services of the traditional organizations (the peer to peer, or person-to-person lenders) in addition to a variety of other products and services, such as certificates of deposit (CDs), auto and home mortgage loans and referrals, credit repair services and a variety of other banking and credit related products.

WikiBanks and peer-to-peer lending organizations [8] hold great promise to bring a variety of new banking and financial related services to consumers worldwide. Because the size of the user community of a WikiBank is potentially equal to the number of total users within the Internet community, WikiBank members are presented far more transactional choices than can possibly be presented by traditional banking institution. WikiBanks hold great promise to significantly reduce transactional costs and to enable consumers to find the very best deals possible.

Within a WikiBank it is the individual that is in control and responsible for making his or her own financial choices as opposed to within the traditional banking environment where a professional banker or banking committees make centralized decisions that affect all of the members of the bank.

A major defining characteristic of a WikiBank is the ease with which members can interact and seek to loan to or borrow from other members. WikiBank membership is open to all consumers regardless of geographic location, income, net worth, creditworthiness, or financial liquidity. WikiBanks make extensive use of Web 2.0 technologies and services to facilitate information sharing and collaboration and exist only on the Internet.

History

Two main forces had driven the evolution of the banking industry toward the concept of the WikiBank and Banking 3.0 organizations. The first of these was the creation of the Internet, which has enabled near ubiquitous access between peers. The second of these was the banking and financial crisis of 2007-2009. As the financial crisis deepened, traditional banks retrenched decreasing consumer access to credit and other banking services [9]. Additionally, the financial crisis damaged confidence in these traditional financial institutions, spurring a wave of consumer demand for alternative service providers, [10] such as WikiBanks. Several WikiBank's are currently organizing (as of January 2009) in order to provide the financial services desired by a growing number of consumers and small businesses, but increasing unavailable from traditional banking sources.

References

1.De Alburuerque, Martin (1855) Notes and Queries – London: George Bell. Pp.421. - http://books.google.com/books?id=uIrWLegNZxUC&pg=PA431&lpg=PA431&dq=bank+italian+bench&source=web&ots=gp-um7BxxP&sig=r8eVJxS5-aLx3dmb_BmFxYuvW-U

2. Matyszak, Philip (2007). Ancient Rome on Five Denarii a Day. New York: Thames & Hudson. pp. 144. ISBN 050005147X

3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki

4. Oxford English Dictionary (draft entry, March 2007) Requires Paid Subscription ^ a b c d "wiki".

5. Encyclopædia Britannica. 1. London: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.. 2007. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1192819/wiki. Retrieved on 10 April 2008

6. Stanford University Social Innovation Review May 2008 http://www.ssireview.org/opinion/entry/wiki_adoption_in_nonprofits/

7. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank

8. Harvard Business Review, 2008. Erik Brynjolfsson, Yu Jeffrey Hu, .... Dipti Desai: Peer-to-peer lending;

9. Business Week - Peer-to-peer lending grows in bad economy - Business Exchange http://www.businessweek.com/peer-to-peer-lending/peer-to-peer-lending-grows-in-bad-economy/951776190400286/ - 20k - Cached

10. The Wall Street Journal 'Peer' Loans Ease the Credit Crunch - WSJ.com Dec 6, 2008 ... As a registered user of The Wall Street Journal Online, you will be able to: ... Room to Grow. Peer-to-peer lending companies are in their ... online.wsj.com/article/SB122862542958985749.html - 111k