They do, however, have strong brands and skills at pulling together information. OnMoney, for example, has tools to help users select an online broker. The challenge for portals is how to profit from these tools. Users will not be a direct source of revenues, since few are willing to pay even a token fee for the service, according to Forrester Research. Advertising is currently a significant source of revenue, but longer term the economics may depend heavily on commissions and referral fees.
Financial institutions have customer relationships and multiple channels.
They can win aggregation business based on their existing checking, savings, investment, and mortgage relationships. Branch networks, for example, are reassuring places where customers can meet advisors and learn about new offerings. This suggests banks can use their physical and telephone channels to satisfy the needs of customers who do research online but buy offline. These issues already show signs of limiting the growth of aggregation, according to Forrester. Consumer protection and overall risk management must be bullet-proof.