1) The document discusses ABN AMRO Bank's presence and activities in the virtual world of Second Life, including opening the first bank in Second Life in 2006. 2) It explores how Second Life allows for new forms of human-to-human interaction online and how the bank is using it to learn from customer behaviors and develop new financial products and services. 3) The bank envisions Second Life as an example of future 3D social internet worlds that will further blend the online and physical worlds, becoming an important new channel for interacting with customers.

1. Copyright ABN AMRO N.V. 2007
Banking in the virtual world of
Second Life
Pascal Spelier, New Business Development Manager
Developing And Exploiting The Branch Self-Service
And ATM Network, London, 17 september 2007

2. 17 september 2007 2
A short history on (Branch) Self Service
World's first ATM machine launched 40 years ago - at
Barclays Bank, Enfield, London
In the early 90’s, the internet gained a public face
Late 90’s internet banking came into existance

3. 17 september 2007 3
Self Service led to less customers in branch
43% of the Dutch consumer don’t visit branch office anymore
Self Service lack in creating a dialogue with the customer
We continuously look for new ways of communication
– 24/7 Call Centers
– Live (video) chat and Skype for Young Professionals
– Checking the balance of your account by MSN, Xbox, Playstation
– Voice Response systems with biometric voice recognition
– Internet Banking based on AJAX-technology

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It’s all about interaction
Internet is the ideal Self Service and transaction channel
→ Do-it-yourself-banking, for example:
- Payments & investments
- Applying for a debit card
- Copy of your balance statement
- Changing the limit of your overdraft or loan
- Applying for a mortgage
- Changing your address
- Etcetera
But 2D internet lacks of interaction
To regain or to increase interaction with customers is the biggest
challenge

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3D Social Internet: filling the gap
Internet functions intermingle
Human-machine interaction evolves to human to human interaction
again
+ ++ + =

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What’s Second Life?
A virtual 3D world via internet — with a social component
A combination of web, MSN, online gaming techniques and VOIP
Second Life isn’t a game, because…
– There’s no specific goal, you can’t win, there
nothing to accomplish like in a game
– No central content, content is user-generated
– You can buy / rent (virtual land an build anything
you can imagine (intellectual property)
– You can easily pay somebody else with Linden Dollars
You can experience things / places together
→ rich experience

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How to become a Second Life resident?

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Who do you want to be?

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Where do you enter the virtual world?

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How do you want to look?

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How do you want to look?
Be who you want to be!

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How do you want to look?

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You are ready for Second Life!

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What people do you meet?
Age Range Percentage
13-17 (Teen
Grid)
1,00%
18-24 26%
25-34 38%
35-44 22%
45 + 12
Country Active Avatar
Count
%
United States 149055 26,55%
Brazil 48023 8,55%
Japan 44847 7,99%
Germany 44483 7,92%
United Kingdom 38876 6,92%
France 31723 5,65%
Italy 28415 5,06%
Canada 17615 3,14%
Netherlands 18807 3,35%
Spain 18589 3,31%
Number of residents
September 2006: 801.860
September 2007: 9.388.717

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So… Second life is just a marketing tool?
Marketeers are sceptical:
“ Who has time for this all?”
“Second Life is a hype…”
“It’s not a mass medium…(yet)”
“Second Life is for nerds only…”
People react on Second Life just like Internet 10 years ago
“The Internet? We are not interested in it" -- Bill Gates, 1993

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Who has time for this all?
People spend more and more time on the internet and in online virtual
(gaming) worlds
The youth spends more of there
freetime behind the computer
than behind the television screen

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Second Life is a hype

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Second Life is for ‘nerds’

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The Second Life is interesting
Slightly more women than men ‘live’ in
Second Life
Average age 30 years
Many residents hava a creative or IT
background
A normal social life (work, family,
many friends)
Happy in ‘first life’

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In retrospective
Be ThereBe There
Learn & DevelopLearn & Develop
Towards RealTowards Real
BusinessBusiness
Expand view
Okt 2006 Jan 2007 Apr 2007 Okt 2007

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Be there: European’s first bank in Second Life
Idea resulted from “innovation challenge”
GO for presence in Second Life was given in October 2006
Highly motivated team did the job in 6 weeks
Opening december 7th, 2007

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Learn & develop
Is it possible to communicate more personal and direct via the internet?
How do customers behave in virtual worlds?
How do customers search for information and in what way do they want to
be informed or advised?
Can we involve customers in developing new financial products and
services (co-creation, crowd sourcing)?
Learning means experimenting, investing without strict targets and without
a great risk (of reputation)

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We learned a lot by doing: a short clip…

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Towards real business
Attracting residents to our islands → generating leads
Introducing Second Life Balance → checking the balance of you
account
Introducing Second Life ATM?

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Expand view: ABN AMRO’s vision
Second Life is a first example of 3D social internet, however most likely
not the last
Internet and the real world intermingle more and more, they are
becoming a hybrid interreality
Usage of “internet” shifts; today no one “surfs
the internet”, we‘re just connected 24/7
Second Life community is an attractive target

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Long term view: new features
Advise dialogue → customer contact with which interaction and / or non-
verbal interaction is important

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Long term view: new features
Conferencing → easy accessible contact with customers or colleagues,
no physical limitation (no travelling, just behind your computer)

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Future Virtual Worlds
Barriers disappear
– Better computer hardware (game consoles, PC’s getting faster)
– Broadband internet
Increasing acceptance of virtual worlds
– Youth is already experienced (for example Habbo Hotel)
– Avatars will become quite common appearance in user interfaces
Three scenario’s
– Large companies will dominate (Sony, Microsoft, Google) → no mutual compatibility
– Several smaller virtual worlds → mutual interfaces, niche/locak approach
– Standardization

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Thank you for your attention!
Second Life Team