The 2008 Bailout of banks has cost more than many major government projects such as The Louisiana Purchase, NASA’s all-time budget, the Iraq war and more.

And, yes, these numbers are inflation adjusted.

Amazon.com has announced that its Amazon application for iPhone and iPod touch is now available on the Apple App Store. Amazon says its app “offers an easy way for users to search and browse for products offered by Amazon and thousands of retailers like Target and Macy’s, access Amazon’s popular shopping features such as Customer Reviews, and purchase using 1-Click Shopping and Amazon Prime.”

A collection of links and resources to help you manage your money better during a recession

Customer loyalty can grow when banking sites provide better personalized service with planning tools, personalized dashboards, self-service options and other Rich Internet Applications. Sites with a great customer experience are the drivers behind organic cross-selling: selling more by providing personalized advice rather than pushing products.

This webinar gives practical examples that show how banks have increased customer retention & cross-selling by improving their websites and web applications.

Click here for more info & Registration >>

See also our question in the Q&A section

US person-to-person lending exchange Prosper has paid $1 million to US state securities regulators to resolve a probe into the sale of unregistered securities over the site.

Financial Insights is predicting an overall reduction in IT spending for North American banking in 2009, and negative growth for five years afterwards.

The US government has bailed out financial services giant Citigroup by agreeing to guarantee approximately $306 billion in risky assets and $20 billion in cash infusion in addition to the $25 billion that was earlier provided by the US Treasury under the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Pretty cool idea, probably too expensive for most insitutions though. But hey, innovation is innovation right?

http://thefinancialbrand.com/2008/11/24/robotic-safety-deposit-boxes/#comment-1126

Bank of America, the nation’s leading provider of online and mobile banking services, today announced the release of the SafePass Card.

Ron Shevlin details 3 different things that banks need to do to better their reputation with customers. Good read – check it out!