Remember when banking was broadly embraced as an honorable profession? That idea seems to have been lost among most businesses and consumers these days. Hardly a day goes by without a news story about some sort of alleged bank impropriety. In sharp contrast, Celent seeks to celebrate financial institutions doing things well. Each year, we honor a hand-picked selection of financial institutions who model excellent utilization of technology in banking. Celent Model Bank 2011 winners received recognition at our annual Innovation and Insight Day this past May in Atlanta, GA.

So, forget the depressing daily news and think about great examples of technology innovation at your institution (or one of your clients if you’re a technology provider). Share your story with us using our online nomination form. We’ll welcome nominations through January 31, 2012. A panel of analysts will review all nominations based on three criteria: 1. Degree of difficulty 2. Degree of innovation, and 3. Measurable, quantitative business results achieved Success stories are welcome across the spectrum of financial services disciplines, from: infrastructure and architecture, product development, marketing/sales, distribution / channel management, transaction processing, loan processing, customer service / support, and security and risk management. Nominations can be made online at: http://www.celentmodelbank.com. If you’d like, e-mail me and I’ll send you an excerpt from last year’s report, Celent Model Bank 2011: Case Studies of Effective Technology Usage in Banking.