Article: Opening Accounts on the Web: Make It Simple.(Brief Article)(Industry Overview)

Most U.S. banks have made big strides in automating nearly all aspects of consumer banking - except for opening an account.

Putting pen to paper in a branch is still the most common way for consumers to open deposit accounts, bankers say. It is also the least efficient and most error-prone, because the handwritten data must be keyed into computer systems manually.

But some banks have been encouraging customers to open accounts over the Internet. The best way to persuade them, bankers say, is to make the process as simple as possible.

"We've taken a number of strides to make it easier and easier," said Catherine Palmieri, the managing director of ...

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