First Direct, the revolutionary virtual-only banking arm of HSBC launched in 1989, appears to have slowed its pace of innovation.

First direct innovations come out of its first direct lab unit. The group has not launched a new innovation to “live test” since last May.

(That last innovation, called Little Black Book, is a social network for its customers, and can be found here.)

A ping to first direct officials found that the lab unit is still “active,” but in a sort of holding period.

“We are working on what we are going to add next,” a bank official told us.

No timetable was disclosed.