Bending the rules - without breaking the bank.(bank marketing)

"There are no exceptions to the rule that everybody likes to be an exception to the rule."

- Charles Osgood, journalist

If you look at the glossy pages in most banks' annual reports, you'll find a fairly consistent emphasis on customers and relationships. You'll read about "empowering our people to meet the customer's needs," "turning our people into knowledge workers," and "customer relationship management." All things that can bring flexibility and personalization to the customer relationship.

Yet a lot of the new technology is highly roles-based. ATMs, VRUs and e-commerce provide flexibility of access but are fairly rigid in terms of rules, …