Financial-Services Executives Disagree On Role of Internet.Chief executive officers in different sectors could not agree on what role the Internet Internet Publicly accessible computer network connecting many smaller networks from around the world. It grew out of a U.S. Defense Department program called ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), established in 1969 with connections between computers at the would play in the coming years, even as the Glass-Steagall act The Glass-Steagall Act, also known as the Banking Act of 1933 (48 Stat. 162), was passed by Congress in 1933 and prohibits commercial banks from engaging in the investment business. was being repealed and regulatory walls between financial-services sectors tumbled, a recent survey of top executives found. CEOs from the fields of investment management, banking, life insurance and personal-lines property/casualty insurance were surveyed by management consultant Tillinghast-Towers Perrin General Perrin may refer to:
Three-fourths of insurance executives, both life and property/casualty, saw the Internet as a means of educating and servicing customers, such as providing product and account information and handling routine service requests, rather than as a major vehicle for product sales. By contrast, nearly the same percentage of banking and investment-management CEOs said the Internet would be a major channel for product sales. Both banking and insurance executives said they expected the Internet to counter the pre-eminence of "one-stop shops One-Stop Shop A company or a location that offers a multitude of services to a client or a customer. The idea is to provide convenient and efficient service and also to create the opportunity for the company to sell more products to clients and customers. ," saying that it offers the consumer more information from a greater number of sources in an increasingly convenient format. Product differences are a primary factor behind this variance The discrepancy between what a party to a lawsuit alleges will be proved in pleadings and what the party actually proves at trial. In Zoning law, an official permit to use property in a manner that departs from the way in which other property in the same locality of opinion, said Howard V. Dempster, a Tillinghast-Towers Perrin consultant for the property/casualty insurance industry and co-author co·au·thor or co-au·thor n. A collaborating or joint author. tr.v. co·au·thored, co·au·thor·ing, co·au·thors To be a collaborating or joint author of: "He and a colleague . . . of the survey. "Simpler financial products -- those that are essentially commodities--are most likely to be sold online," Dempster said. "But many life insurance products are more complex and require a greater level of human interaction and counseling." Executives from all sectors in the survey agreed that "hybrid" or integrated approaches to customer acquisition and development would grow the fastest. These give the customer a variety of ways to connect: in person, by telephone, by Internet or by mail. A majority of CEOs believe that almost everyone will get into everyone else's business and that insurance executives were less certain than others that information on sales commissions and related charges would be disclosed to consumers at the point of sale. Of the more than 800 CEOs in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. and Canada that Tillinghast-Towers Perrin surveyed from July to October, 137, or 17%, responded. |
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