Speaking at the FST Media Technology and Innovation conference in Sydney on Friday Michael Weeding, head of digital banking for Citibank said that 'We are probably not going to have a business case at this point in time' for heavier investment in social media bank. But he reminded delegates that the same once held true for mobile phone investment.

In a very short period of time mobile banking has moved from novelty item to mainstream banking platform, and social media could well follow.

Stephen Bowe, head of user experience and digital media for UBank, said that although it wasn't possible to accurately measure the impact of social media investment as yet, that shouldn't hold banks back, as it was important to experiment. This was particularly the case speakers during sessions at the conference on Friday warned because the banks no longer owned the financial services space - but were increasingly being challenged by organisations such as Facebook itself, Amazon, PayPal, Google and potentially Apple.

Some banks are taking the bull by the horns and encouraging social networking by their customers. NAB last month for example unveiled a new social media experiment with the launch of its social commerce site, which invites customers to critique the operation of their cards and provide ratings - in what amounts to a banking equivalent of TripAdvisor.

The ratings and commentary can be accessed on the bank's website allowing potential customers to read comments (complete with spelling mistakes and barbs) about the different cards - so NAB's low rate visa card is at time of writing  ranked at 4.1 stars out of five, where its NAB Gold Qantas card scores 3.7 stars. (No one's bothered to rate its Platinum Qantas card as yet).

According to Sandeep Baruah, head of online direct banking at NAB, in the first three weeks of operation that site had attracted a large number of responses. The value to the bank was in the data itself he said, which was being made available to customers to help them identify which card best suits their needs.

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While the banks may still be grappling with social networks (Commonwealth Bank for example last month announced the Kaching app - although it's still not available on the Appstore - which will allow people to make payments directly to Facebook friends) there are other disruptive technologies that they may also have to tackle in the not too distant future.

Ed Terpening, vice president of social media at US bank Wells Fargo, said that in America IPTV was taking off, and in the future banks would need to consider whether 'People want to check their balance when watching Survivor.'

NAB's Mr Baruah said during the panel discussion that the key for the banks was to ensure they could support a multichannel experience so that it was possible for customers to start a transaction on one channel and finish it on another in a seamless experience. Mr Terpening agreed, but reminded delegates that banks no longer owned all of the channels, and needed to understand and cater for people who might want to check their balances from Twitter or Facebook instead of the bank's own secure web site.