Dutch bank ABN Amro's experience in virtual worlds is an interesting one to follow. An early mover into Second Life, the bank pulled back this year. It still has a consumer-facing build in Second Life, but it's begun using Activeworlds for internal collaboration because, as Head of 3D Experience Popke Rein Munniksma told e-consultancy, "it requires a lot less power from your desktop computers and puts less of a strain on your infrastructure." It's still interested in consumer work, adding a more interactive experience to its 2D transactions, but laws, the lack of control over virtual world servers, and avatar anonymity have proved problematic so far. It's working on plays to soon sell its services through the virtual world, possibly integrated with the 2D Web and mobile devices as well.
"Certainly not in 2008," said Munniksma. "I am working on plans now which, if everything goes well, should allow us to have a virtual application up and running in 2009. It’s a question of getting the right security and confidentiality to sell products and go into personal financial advice. But I am not saying we will do that in 2009, just to make that clear." [via e-consultancy]
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