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player ready...Bank One Corp. has a problem with bureaucracy, and knows it.
What officials might not have realized was how willing employees are to share their thoughts about fixing it.
Judging by responses to a recently launched internal Web page called “Bureaucracy Busters,” on which workers can post ideas about cutting red tape and saving money, employees have more than 5,000 ways to smooth the workings at Chicago’s largest bank.
There are such abundant possibilities, in fact, that Bank One’s bureaucracy had a hard time dealing with them all. The site was closed for 10 days in August so managers could process the submissions.
Roughly 15 ideas have been accepted. Each suggestion blessed by corporate management brings a $1,000 award, and one employee boasts two awards.
Jeff Rosinia, quality and financial analyst for corporate real estate in Chicago, suggested looking more closely into government records for funds that might be owed Bank One or its predecessor companies.
His second idea was to assign a point person to ensure that anytime Bank One vacates a facility, the company makes a clean break–like shutting off the water and electricity.
Who knew Bank One needed to be told that?
“They’re in the trenches, and they know what things we could be doing better,” said spokesman Thomas Kelly.
“Big companies have a habit of creating bureaucracy that frustrates their employees and slows down their customer service,” he said.
Then, in a nod toward the mantra of Bank One CEO Jamie Dimon, Kelly added, “We want to make the company better, faster and smarter.”
Encroaching banks: The borders between banking and insurance services continue to dissolve, with the percentage of banks selling life insurance growing to 58.9 percent from 50.8 percent during 1998 and 1999.
Banks offering accident and health insurance grew to 45.2 percent from 36.5 percent, according to an American Bankers Association survey.
Property and casualty insurance rose to 30.1 percent from 20.6 percent.
That’s banks selling insurance, not underwriting it. The underwriters, such as Northbrook-based Allstate Corp. and State Farm Insurance Cos. of Bloomington, Ill., take the risk while the banks take the fees.
And the numbers are just coming in on how much insurers can expect to lose on the multistate devastation of Tropical Storm Allison in June. The total bill is estimated at $2.5 billion, according to industry researchers at Insurance Services Office Inc. Estimated losses more than doubled in the past month because of new assessments on flood damage in Texas. The storm also battered Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Another $1.9 billion in losses is estimated for an early April thunderstorm catastrophe that whipped through 16 states.
Bank notes: U.S. thrifts posted a record $2.5 billion in earnings for the second quarter, despite losses from Superior Bank FSB in the Chicago area. The bank was taken over by regulators a month after the quarter ended.
– Second-quarter earnings for seven leading credit-card issuers rose an average of 21 percent from a year earlier, giving them some of the best performances among any financial services companies, the American Banker reported.