Welcome to the brave new world of banking: national banks offer Alaskans alternatives.

• Author: Lavrakas, Dimitra

As one of the most wired states, Alaska is ready to enter the world of "virtual" banking. It seems a natural.

"With 9/11, people were waiting for their checks by mail, and it really thrust electronic banking into the forefront," said Tony Alvarado, CEO of Alaska Operations for National Cooperative Bank (NCB) in Anchorage.

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Alvarado said the manner in which the bank serves its customers because of it being a co-op is that its customers are really its members.

A VIRTUAL BANK

At NCB, a member can do anything online they can do with a branch bank, except take out money. That can be done at one of its contracted Allpoint automated teller sites, one of America's largest surcharge-free ATM network with more than 32,000 ATMs across the country. There are 62 Allpoint teller sites within a 100-mile range of Anchorage with teller locations displayed on its interactive Web site at www.allpointnetwork.com.

In order for commercial members to deposit money, and this is a pretty revolutionary thing, the bank provides a device that processes check deposits with "remote capture" by reading the check and automatically posting the deposit.

For personal account members, services include electronic access to checking and savings accounts, and the capability to transfer funds between accounts, pay bills online, export into Quicken and create reports. Commercial members also can access checking, savings, sweep accounts and lines of credit, as well as transfer funds between accounts, perform wire transfers, manage payroll, perform stop payments and export into QuickBooks.

All loans are applied for on line.

"One of the advantages of a large bank is they are in the forefront of technology," Alvarado said. "It causes a trickle-down effect, with other banks forced to catch up technology-wise."

COOPERATIVE BEGINNINGS

For banks in Alaska, NCB is a relatively new one.

In 1978, Congress passed legislation creating the National Consumer Cooperative Bank (NCCB) that would serve consumer and small business cooperatives, particularly the huge housing cooperatives in New York City. The Bank Act also called for the creation of the Office of Self-Help Development and Technical Assistance to provide start-up and development aid to new housing cooperatives.

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In 1981, legislation privatized NCB as a cooperative financial institution owned by its member-stockholders. Three years later, it opened an office in Anchorage to meet the needs of...