There are actually laws prohibiting non-banks from using the word "bank" in their name. A lot of bank holding companies (which are not, technically, banks) got around this by replacing the "k" in "bank" with a "c" -- such as "BancAmerica Corp". I'm sure we all breathed a sigh of regulatory relief seeing that "c" there.

Yup. Those laws are pretty loosely enforced and vary on a state-by-state basis, but they're definitely a concern.

Is avoiding regulation as simple as changing what you call yourself?

UberCab becoming Uber is another pretty good example of this name switch to get ahead of regulators from a brand perspective.

If the regulation governs naming, then yes.

1-600-DOCTORB ("The B is for 'Bargain'")

Thanks Dr. Nick!

I'm a fan of the name Simple instead of BankSimple. I bank with ING and USAA at the moment, and I've never had any trouble with the fact that neither one has the name "Bank" in their brand.

I agree, calling it "BankSimple" feels limiting, and carries baggage from bad experiences I've had with banks in the past.

Now if only I could get an invitation to open an account!

Do you have to be in the military to have a usaa account or how we you able to use them? I've heard many good things

USAA is available to military and their families. You don't have to be active duty, once you're eligible, you're in for life.

If you do qualify, USAA is about the best company you'll ever deal with for insurance or banking.

Actually, USAA is open to anyone. You have to be military to access some of their loan products, but not for the basic stuff.

You can get some basic products from USAA, including some banking (no insurance though), but you can't be a full member unless you're military.

I have some idea of the regulatory nightmare that becoming a bank represents so I understand the approach, but is that on the long term radar?

It seems that a technologically driven bank could offer even more interesting services to individuals and businesses.

Edit: Or would love to chat in person over coffee (on twitter @scottmarkwell)

A non-bank entity cant have the word "Bank" in the name, but any other spelling is okay. BancSimple is legal.

The changed spelling is to indicate that it is not a bank and its accounts are not insured by the FDIC.

e.g. Banc of America Securities, U.S. Bancorp

Oh but I wish you were a bank or credit union. How my deposits are used is something we should be able to negotiate about.

I'm assuming you mean this in a "move your money" kind of way right?

Even though I sympathize with the problems having "bank" in a name, "Simple" is just too general to be useful.

http://simpel.com and http://simpel.nl disagree with that statement. http://simple.fr and http://einfach.com also are taken, but redirect.

Nitpicking: simpel.nl is actually a word joke, because they sell SIM-only cell phone subscriptions. So in effect their name does convey more meaning than "Simple" does, so it doesn't really belong in your list :)

Can I have your banksimple.com domain name when you're done with it?

Nope, sorry ;)