I just found this article on the clickz blog. It is a story of a woman who is responsible for her company's e-mail marketing campaign. With her job she travels to many different companies and deals with many different currencies. In short, while in London her ATM card did not work as she tried to take out some money. After calling her bank in New York, they informed her that they were upgrading their systems and money would not be available for a few hours. They did not e-mail this clients directly but instead sent e-mails to their customer's online banking site.

From personal experience, I rarely check my online statement. In fact, I'll go out on a limb and say that most people do not regularly check their online banking sites. So, if an important message was sent to me on a site that I rarely use, what good does that serve me? None. This bank clearly does not understand the importance of proper marketing techniques, this one being through e-mail.

Also, unrelated,

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