With so many people jumping into online banking these days, financial institutions may simply assume that all of their customers are Internet savvy. This is a generalization and a mistake; there is a huge segment of the public, mostly older folks (and especially the newly retired) who may want to use online banking services, but aren’t confident that they know enough to do so.

American Bank, which is based out of Corpus Christi, Texas, is offering a free e-banking class at two of their locations. According to the bank’s website, American’s class shows customers how to access e-banking, manage accounts online, and learn how to pay bills monthly on the Internet, among other things.

In researching online for various bank programs and products, American Bank’s free e-banking class struck me as both surprising and somewhat obvious. I am surprised that more banks don’t offer such a thing; after all, the big banks who are growing their online banking segments could be growing a lot faster if they helped to educate customers on the functions and benefits of e-banking. Banks are seeking to cut costs. Especially in an industry that is due to become even more closely regulated than ever, e-banking can reduce the reliance on traditional bank branches. Those branches, with their rent, utilities, and employee wages, are expensive compared to online banking solutions.

Obviously, most of our readership isn’t in the Corpus Christi area to take advantage of these free classes. But I wanted to post about American Bank’s innovation because other financial institutions would do well to imitate this program. The more customers who go online, preferably full time, for their banking needs, the more efficient the banking industry will become. Then maybe some of those profits can trickle down to increase deposit rates, and that is something in which I know our BankShout readers are interested.