Watchword for the New Millennium: "Let the Seller Beware".

A new report by Cap Gemini Ernst & Young tells the banking industry what it has already begun to suspect for itself: The dawn of e-commerce has given birth to a new breed of consumer, as knowledgeable as the experts and not about to take any guff.

"It is increasingly difficult for financial firms to maintain an edge--innovative products and services are easily copied, while the customer has become empowered through expert information freely available through e-commerce channels," says Philip Lawrence, director of strategy for Cap Gemini's financial services sector. "Moreover, the banking, securities brokerage and insurance sectors keep encroaching on each other's territory."

What this means to the industry, the report concludes, is that financial institutions must adopt a broader, more customer-oriented approach to marketing and must provide what the report calls a "Thematic Customer Experience."

"Instead of seeing the world from the company's point of view, it's time to look at everything through the lens of the customer experience," say the authors of "Electronic Commerce: A Need to Change Perspective." "This perspective has enormous implications, as it is truly the driving force behind the sale of products and services."