1. Competitor Banks Research
David Otero – August 2016
Webpage Content and Navigation
Most banks such as People's United, Bank of America, Citizen’s, Webster, NY Community, and
more have similar page layouts to navigate their website. This layout is normally simple,
common, and easy to find the functions or features being searched for. The webpage typically
has four main tabs with the following subtabs:
 Personal – Banking (Checking & Savings), Loans, Investments, Credit Cards
 Small Business – Finance, Business Services, Cash Flow/Money Management, Credit
Cards
 Investments/Wealth Management – Retirement, Education, Insurance, Guidance/Help
Services
 Commercial – Bank/Treasury, Finance, Expertise/Resources
Chase, a mainstream bank, has a webpage that is somewhat different. Their webpage features an
interactive tab containing all of the more popular services, including:
 Credit Cards
 Checking & Savings
 Loans
 Mortgage
 Investing
 Business and Commercial Banking
This tab Chase’s website has makes it much easier to find the service being looked for, and it is
very appealing to the eye of potential consumers.
M&T Bank’s website is set up much differently. It features four main tabs with subtabs as well,
but it is in a reverse style of presentation. It is creative, and the easiest of these banks to navigate.
The page content features the following tab set up:
 Banking – Personal, Business, Commercial
 Mortgage & Loans – Personal, Business, Commercial
 Investments & Insurance – Personal, Business, Commercial
 Business – Business Banking, Commercial Banking

2. Checking Account Services and Fees
The monthly rates and start up fees for these banks vary greatly. Banks who already offer no
monthly charges for their standard accounts do not offer college student special accounts (First
Merit, Huntington, and Key). Although, some banks that do charge per month do not offer
student checking accounts. These banks for the most part, like NY Community, M&T, and
Citizen’s, are much larger than others; therefore, probably do not need to offer student accounts
in order to attract young consumers.
Standard(permo.-startupmin.) Student Advantage/Plus(permo-startupmin.) Premium/Platinum(permo.-startupmin.)
People'sUnited(CT) $12-$25 Free $25-$25 $30-$25
BankofAmerica(NC) $12-$25 Free $25-$100 N/A
Chase(NY) $12-$25 $6 $25-$25 $35-$100
Citizen's(RI) $9.99-any N/A $25-any $25-any
Webster(CT) $5-$50 Free $12-$50 $21.95-$500
M&T(NY) $6.95-N/A N/A $14.95-N/A $24.95-N/A
NYCommunity(NY) $2-$1 Free $6-$100 N/A
Associated(WI) $11-$100 N/A $25-$100 N/A
FirstMerit(OH) $0-$50 N/A $10-$50 $15-$50
Huntington(OH) $0-N/A N/A $5-N/A $25-N/A
KeyCorp(OH) $0-N/A N/A $7-N/A $25-N/A
Synovus(GA) $10-$100 $3 $10-$100 $25-$100
Signature(NY) $3-N/A N/A $20-N/A $30-N/A
Zions(UT) $0-$100 Free $10-$100 $25-$100
Comerica(TX) $13-$50 Free $18-$50 $22-$50
EastWest(CA) $5-$100 Free $10-$100 N/A
FirstHorizon(TN) $7-$50 N/A $9-$50 $12-$50
Umpqua(OR) $3-$25 N/A $12-$200 $20-$200

3. Mobile Apps Comparison Chart
All banks apps contain some of the same common features that you would expect: view account
balance, view transaction history, transfer money between accounts, deposit checks, pay bills,
and locate ATM and branch locations. Some banks have an edge on other banks with features
including, text banking, touch/fingerprint ID login, and advertising the ability to use Apple Pay.
Bank of America proves to have a standout app by allowing the ability to lock or unlock a card
right from the app for security purposes, as well as the ability to schedule or modify
appointments with a representative.
People'sUnited BankofAmerica Chase Citizen's Webster M&T NYCommunity Associated FirstMerit
ViewBalance&History ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
Transferbetweenaccounts ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
LocateATMorBranch ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
PayBills ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
DepositChecks ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
TextBanking ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
TouchIDLogin ● ● ● ●
Lock/UnlockCard ●
ScheduleAppointments ● ●
Apple/Android/SamsungPay ● ● ● ● ●
Huntington Key Synovus Signature Zions Comerica EastWest FirstHorizon Umpqua
ViewBalance&History ● ● ● N/A ● ● ● ● ●
Transferbetweenaccounts ● ● ● N/A ● ● ● ● ●
LocateATMorBranch ● ● ● N/A ● ● ● ●
PayBills ● ● ● N/A ● ● ● ● ●
DepositChecks ● ● ● N/A ● ● ● ● ●
TextBanking ● ● N/A ● ● ●
TouchIDLogin N/A ●
Lock/UnlockCard N/A
ScheduleAppointments N/A
Apple/Android/SamsungPay ● N/A

4. Appealing Features for Consumer Usage
All banks offer the ability to locate branches or ATM’s closest to the consumer. Being able to
do things online is very much a consumer preference now a days; especially, the most common,
to open an account. Also, to talk to a representative without having to be face to face by having
a 24/7 call line or using the “Live Chat” function, which only 4 of the 18 banks do provide.
People'sUnited BankofAmerica Chase Citizen's Webster M&T NYCommunity Associated FirstMerit
Branch/ATMLocator ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
Call24/7 ● ● ●
LiveChat ● ●
ScheduleAppointment ●
OpenAccountOnline ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
Huntington Key Synovus Signature Zions Comerica EastWest FirstHorizon Umpqua
Branch/ATMLocator ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●
Call24/7 ● ●
LiveChat ● ●
ScheduleAppointment
OpenAccountOnline ● ● ● ● ●

5. Financial Banking Literacy and Education
Few banks have put together websites or pages intended to educate consumers on how to bank
and how to be responsible with one’s money.
Bank of America has a website called “Better Money Habits” that teaches about how to be smart
with money through charts and animated videos for situations including how to save for:
 A Car
 A House
 Future Education
 Future Vacation
 Budgeting for regular expenses
“Better Money Habits” also educates consumers on money life skills such as:
 Building/repairing a credit score
 Money Management for Couples
 Difference between Checking and Savings Account
 Teaching one’s son/daughter the value of money
 Preparing for Tax Returns
 Paying off Student Loans
 and more
Chase’s homepage displays a “News and Stories” section. Its intention is to publicize some
people’s success in the business world. There are articles about people starting from nothing but
an idea, and then turning it into a reality and a success story. There happens to be one article
regarding protection of fraud. The article attempts to teach how to protect oneself from potential
identity theft, something “Better Money Habits” did not provide. Also, the site contains an
article teaching what to do prior to financing a home, such as checking your credit and being
knowledgeable of the money and budget.
Third-Party sites such as “The College Investor” and “Millennial Money Man” are primarily
blogs where people try to teach others about how to invest, save money, and escape debt based
of knowledge or past experience. One cannot actually take a loan or bank their money through
these sites; it is strictly intended to be informational.

6. Point of View
As a sophomore in college, I used myself as a demographic throughout this research project. I
questioned to myself: “As a college student searching for a bank to join, what can I find that
appeals or does not appeal to me.” With the information and opinions I collected, here is my
feedback for each aspect.
Webpage Content & Navigation: I am a fan of People's United Bank’s webpage. The tabs are
common like most others and the ability to navigate the site is very easy. A few banks’ pages
that actually were confusing or challenging to navigate were Signature, Key, and Bank of
America. Signature provides very little to their consumers and little information on the website.
Key’s page is very bland. Bank of America, although may be the strongest bank in the nation,
has a website that I found to be somewhat challenging to find what I was looking. The website
does not provide details out front, the consumer has to dig deep in order to find them. M&T’s
website layout is one of my favorites because of the way they layout their tabs, but their site was
also a bit challenging to find what I was looking for at times. Finally, Chase’s website is one of a
kind and was definitely enjoyable to me.
Mobile Apps: When it comes to mobile apps, Bank of America blows the competition away with
the so many features they provide right in the palm of the consumer’s hand. The abilities to lock
or unlock one’s card and to schedule face to face appointments with a representative at any time
are what set their app apart from the others. Some banks’ apps that are up there in quality are
People’s, Chase, Citizen’s, Webster, Huntington, and Associated. While some that should look
into doing more may be Key, Umpqua, Zions, NY Community, and Signature.
Appealing Website Features: In today’s world, it is most convenient to do what you need to do
through technology. So having the ability to locate an ATM, chat with a representative, or open
an account right from your computer are very appealing features for potential consumers. Once
again, Bank of America stands out with its feature to schedule appointments online, but they do
not have a Live Chat function. In fact, only 4 of the 18 competitor banks do provide this function
and they are People’s, Associated, Huntington, and Key. Also, to have the ability to call a 24/7 is
extremely convenient, but not many banks have this either.
Financial and Banking Education: To me, this part of the research was fun. I spent a lot of time
on Bank of America’s “Better Money Habits” page. At first I clicked on pages and articles that I
felt may apply to me, but then later found myself toying around the whole page curious to

7. everything the page had to say. I would strongly recommend this site to be used as a resource for
People's United Bank’s future development of its “Know-How”. Another useful source would
be Chase Bank’s page containing News and Stories. They are mostly about people who turned
nothing but an idea into a reality and a profit. There are also articles about how to save money or
finance the right way, but they are not as effective as “Better Money Habits”.
The use of Third-Party sites was not appealing at all to me. These were just people sharing their
personal experience with investments and debt escape. Although they may be interesting to read
about at times, I would, personally, not take these into account for decision making.
Conclusion
After a month of research, it appears to me that Bank of America may very well be the strongest
bank in the United States. But, as a college student looking to create an account, People’s United
Bank appeals to me very much, as well as Citizen’s, Associated, and Huntington. Personally, I
would not open an account with Bank of America or Chase because they are too mainstream to
me. I prefer to stay local and that is why I did open an account with People's United Bank. My
decision was because of two main factors which were Student Plus Checking is free for college
students, because the bank originated in Bridgeport just like I did and I know tons of people with
a People’s account who have no complaints.
I feel that some banks that should be looked at as higher competitors than others, excluding Bank
of America and Chase, are Citizen’s, Webster, Huntington, and Associated. Something that
caught my attention very early in my research is Citizen’s Bank has lots of branches in
Connecticut, yet People's United Bank has zero branches in the state of Rhode Island which is
where Citizen’s headquarters.