The company sees those people who now use credit cards to purchase goods and services online as the most likely candidates to move into online banking. NextCard recently received a patent on its automated procedures for allowing a credit card user to transfer balances from an existing credit card to a NextCard Visa. The patent illustrates that providing both online credit cards and banking services requires developing expertise in providing such services. NextCard CEO Jeremy Lent, for example, recently told the E-Commerce Times that success in the online financial services market has only come after developing special procedures for instantly issuing credit to customers without compromising security. He said that his firm can now issue credit cards instantly online with no more credit losses than when the company was manually evaluating credit and approving the cards in several days.
Online banking is also more than a U.S. phenomenon.
The two firms are currently trying to determine the cost of launching the venture. Earlier this week, Deutsche Bank, Europe's largest bank, announced an alliance with SAP and AOL Europe to jointly provide financial and trading services for electronic business transactions. Deutsche Bank has reportedly teamed with AOL to set up a platform for online banking and brokerage services. AOL Europe has 3.8 million members across the continent.