Creating your best competitor

National Australia Bank (NAB) is its own best competitor. They've created a stand alone subsidiary called UBank, a branchless bank that is growing by leaps and bounds, well ahead of plan. There are many fascinating things about this initiative.

1. NAB has chosen to create its own best competition rather than wait for it to come and poach customers.
2. The bank is separately branded from its corporate parent.
3. The bank is using its own technology infrastructure, based on Oracle FLEXCUBE, rather than using legacy NAB infrastructure.
4. U Bank can open a new account in two to five minutes versus five days for NAB.
5. The bank is planning to use this new technology platform across NAB over time.

The results? The 2 year customer goal was met in six, with over 80,000 customers. The twelve month deposit goal was met in two months. Does your bank need to create its own best competitor or will you wait until someone else does it for you?