A Special Sneak Peek of FinovateEurope 2013 Presenters

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With FinovateEurope 2013 less than 2 months away, we’ve finally finished handpicking the cutting-edge companies that will be demoing their latest and greatest financial tech innovations at the conference.

The selection process this year was particularly competitive due to the tremendous amount of innovation going in Europe right now. Fortunately, with our expanded two-day format, we’re excited to be able to showcase significantly more innovations this year.

Before you head off for the holiday break, check out the small sneak peek below of the companies that we’ve selected. And we’ll be announcing a number of additional innovative presenting companies that are currently in “stealth mode” closer to the event.

A Sneak Peek of the FinovateEurope 2013 Presenting Company Roster:

  • Acuity Systems
  • Akamai
  • Azimo
  • Backbase
  • BBVA
  • Biletu
  • BörseGo
  • Cardlytics
  • Comarch
  • CR2
  • CurrencyFair
  • Dashlane
  • DEVICE IDENT
  • ERN
  • ETRONIKA
  • eWise
  • EZBOB
  • Fiserv
  • FreeAgent
  • GMC Software Technology
  • Heckyl
  • IND Group
  • ITSector
  • Kabbage
  • Kalixa Group
  • Kantox
  • LeanBanking
  • Liqpay​
  • Luminous
  • Meniga
  • Movenbank
  • PhotoPay
  • Pockets United
  • QuantConnect
  • rplan
  • SumUp
  • Temenos
  • The Currency Cloud
  • TransferWise
  • True Office
  • Trustly
  • TSYS
  • Virtual Piggy
  • VoiceTrust
  • Willstream
  • Xendpay
  • Yseop
  • And more to be announced!

If you’d like to attend and watch the cutting-edge of European fintech
debut via our fast-paced, demo-only format, early-bird tickets are still available at
the discounted price of £1,095.00 (£100 off). Tickets are limited so please lock in your seat today to guarantee your ability to attend (and these savings). We’ll see you in London in February!

FinovateEurope 2013 is sponsored by: Bluerock Consulting, Financial Technology Partners & The Bancorp

FinovateEurope 2013 is partners with: BankersHub, Celent, Financial Services Innovation Centre, The Financial Services Club, and Hotwire PR 

Lending Club Adds Larry Summers to Board of Directors

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As if the board of directors of Lending Club was not star-studded enough, the peer-to-peer lender recently announced that former Treasury Secretary Lawrence “Larry” Summers would be joining the team.

In a statement accompanying the announcement, Summers noted that “rapid adoption of technology and innovation” that was creating opportunities for companies like Lending Club.  Summers will join such notable as former Morgan Stanley CEO, John Mack, and legendary tech stock analyst, Mary Meeker.

Lending Club is a San Francisco-based peer-to-peer consumer lender.  The company recently surpassed $1 billion in total loans issued, and has doubled the volume of its monthly loans over the past eight months.  As of December 2012, the average loan amount is $12,300.

This comes even as Lending Club maintains fairly high standards. The typical Lending Club borrower has:

  • FICO score of more than 700
  • 15% debt-to-income ratio (excluding mortgage)
  • Personal income of more than $69,000
  • 14 years of credit history

Watch Lending Club’s Finovate demonstration here.

Swipely Expands Payment Acceptance Platform for Local Merchants

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Payment acceptance and rewards platform, Swipely, announced its Winter 2013 release this week.

The release brings three main upgrades:

1) Swipely’s CRM tool automatically updates a customer’s information each time they pay using a credit card. The tool creates a profile for credit-paying customers that details total money spent, number of transactions, average spend, and the customer’s lifetime value.

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2) Tablet-optimized merchant dashboard that now includes:

      • Simpler to use platform
      • Analytics on a store-by-store basis or in aggregate for retailers with multiple locations
      • Heat Map that indicates sales performance by hour
      • Daily Journal that shows merchants how weather, Facebook posts, and other factors impact buying patterns
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3) Expanded support of POS middleware solutions, including:

    • Breadcrumb
    • Comcash
    • Dinerware
    • First Data
    • Focus
    • Isis POS
    • PC Charge 
    • Authorize.net
    • Many others

The Rhode Island-based company has already upgraded existing merchants to the new release, and interested merchants will be upgraded with no extra cost.

In addition, Swipely informed me that it recently crossed the threshold of a quarter billion dollars in processing.

To learn more about Swipely, watch its FinovateSpring 2012 demo.

Finovate Alumni News– December 19, 2012

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  • Bolstr featured on Fox Small Business News.
  • InComm and Dollar General launch Microsoft Xbox LIVE Prepaid PIN on receipt service.
  • BMO Bank of Montreal and Monitise partner on mobile money solutions for BMO Customers.
  • Cachet Financial Solutions and PSCU partner to provide remote deposit capture technologies to Nation’s Credit Unions.
  • Dating service Soul2Match selects miiCard to combat fraud and help members prove they are real people.
  • MoneyDesktop develops partnership with CUBUS Solutions for online banking PFM integration.
  • Church Community Builder to integrate with ProfitStars Remote Deposit Capture.
  • SGEntrepreneurs.com talks TradeHero on the iPhone.
  • Fuze Network surpasses 3.5 million mark in processing cash-to-card transactions.
  • Motley Fool features BrightScope and the best 401(k) plans of 2012.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Design: Pelican State Credit Union Reinforces Auto Loan Mailer with Homepage Notification

image Integrating offline marketing with online fulfillment is a promising way to improve ROI. Pelican State Credit Union grabs member attention with a temporary yellow bar across the top of the page (see screenshot below). It directs members that received an auto loan direct mailer to an online application.

I like this approach. It garners attention for the offer, but the narrow banner disappears permanently once users click the X in the upper-right corner. 

However, this extra attention can be a mixed blessing. It’s great for those members that received the offer (and remembered they did). But for everyone else, they are left scratching their heads after clicking "more info." 

The landing page doesn’t mention how to check whether you were one of the chosen recipients or how you might otherwise qualify for the deal. It also does nothing to reinforce the offer, which apparently was for an auto refinance. The slim copy simply points everyone to the generic online application. 

Bottom line: The yellow bar across the top is a great way to grab attention. But, you need to answer basic questions about the promo or you risk irritating members (see note.

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Off topic: The CU is nicely decked out for the holidays with three timely messages among its five rotating promos: 

  • Visa Gift Cards, which unfortunately, require a trip to the branch to purchase (see first screenshot)
  • Double rewards points for using its Visa card in December
  • General holiday greeting, which leads to a YouTube picture collage with music

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Pelican State Credit Union adds an Auto loan promo reminder at top of page (18 Dec 2012
Note: The CU also is nicely decked out for the holidays.

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Landing page for Auto Loan Refinance mailer
Note: Blank box on left makes the page look like something is broken.

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Note:
1. The CU has a prominent "chat now" button, so interested members could potentially get a quick answer there, assuming CSRs manning the chat are equipped to determine eligibility.

Finovate Alumni News– December 18, 2012

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgDwolla launches the ability to send money over Twitter.
  • Planwise launches free online tool that’s like Google Maps for your money to visualize your future spending.
  • Intuit-owned Mint to collaborate with Monitise to enhance banks’ mobile apps with Mint functionality.
  • InComm buys majority stake in Adility. Financial terms have yet to be announced.
  • Equity Administration Solutions collaborates with SecondMarket so clients can more easily manage shareholder information.
  • PaySimple named Red Herring Global Top 100 winner.
  • Wonga launches PayLater, a service that offers users financing deals on online purchases with certain retailers.
  • BellaDati opens first international office in Seoul.
  • Experian announces IntelliView, a web-based query, analysis and reporting tool that gives 24-7 access to quarterly consumer credit data.
  • Diversinet’s mobiSecure SDK to power ultra-secure messaging in AirStrip Technology’s mHealth application.
  • Acculynk’s Payzur heads west as Washington credit union offers P2P service to members.
  • Long-term payments agreement announced between TSYS and Merrick Bank.
  • Bible Money Matters takes a closer look at the merger between Zecco and TradeKing.
  • BillFloat to provide handset financing options for MetroPCS customers.
  • Virtual Piggy signs agreement with CardinalCommerce to integrate its youth payment tech into their Centinel Universal Merchant Platform through Cardinal.
  • TechCrunch reports Concur to use Nor1’s eStandby Upgrade tech to make hotel offers available to their business travel customers via TripIt.
  • Simple shows off Android app teaser on Twitter and Facebook. The app to launch early next year.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Dashlane is a PC Mag Editor’s Choice for Security

Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for DashlaneLogo.jpgPC Mag finds a lot to like in Dashlane.

From the password manager’s “elegant interface” and ease of use, to the way it streamlines online shopping, Dashlane earned high praise in a recent review of security “must-haves” at PC Mag.

Dashlane enables shoppers to use their iPad or iPhone to login and checkout on any website in the world.  Combining instant checkout with total consumer privacy, Dashlane lets consumers move quickly through the payment process – from entering e-mail and contact information to password generation and payment options.

One feature that caught the eye of the reviewers at PC Mag was the way Dashlane’s password wizard helps build “memorable but unguessable” passwords. 

The password wizard is a boon for consumers weary of setting up new passwords and filing out the same old forms each time they shop at a new online retailer.  And anything that helps customers move from “found it!” to “own it!” faster and more efficiently is a bonus for businesses, as well.

Watch Dashline in action at Finovate Fall 2012 here.

BrightScope Featured in The New York Times

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Looking for a reliable guide to the top 401(k) plans? The New York Times is sending inquisitive investors in the direction of BrightScope.

An independent provider of 401(k) ratings since 2008, BrightScope provides an annual list of the top 30 401(k) plans. The company leverages the largest private database of 401(k) data to empower plan sponsors, advisors, and participants.

BrightScope incorporates 200 different factors into each individual 401(k) plan rating, making it easy to quickly evaluate and compare different plans. Importantly, as The New York Times points out, BrightScope makes it easy to compare plans by peer group, as well. This way a 401(k) plan participant can compare his or her plan to other plans in similar industries and businesses.

For more on BrightScope, take a look at the company’s Finovate demo here.

Waspit Brings in $3 Million from New York-Based Investors

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Student-targeted banking platform, Waspit, announced last week that it received $3 million in funding from New York-based private investors.

The interactive banking platform will use the funding to enhance its sales and marketing efforts and create new features for its registered user base of 5,500 students.

The names of the investors remain undisclosed.

To learn more about Waspit, watch its FinovateFall 2012 demo.

Finovate Alumni News– December 17, 2012

  • FiservThumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpg launches mobile app for UChoose Rewards.
  • Affinity Solutions brings “Big Data” capability to card-linked offers.
  • StockTwits launches a new app for HootSuite.
  • Business Insider looks at Expensify’s team building trip overseas.
  • HelloWallet launches financial wellness workforce assessment for employers.
  • Des Moines Register considers Giftly’s remote gift card giving app.
  • American Banker reports Lawrence Summers, formerly one of President Obama’s top economic advisors, joins Lending Club’s board of directors.
  • Tyfone is expanding into Latin America through a deal with Protege Sistemas of Brazil.
  • Gesa Credit Union chooses Andera’s oFlows platform.
  • Reuters recommends visiting Betterment, Personal Capital, and LearnVest for year-end money advice.
  • Bill.com launches new application platform powered by open APIs for third-party developers to integrate native apps with Bill.com’s software.
  • New miiCard DirectID Check allows SMBs & professionals to perform bank-level ID proofing online.
This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

Controlabill Wins $600,000 Grant from Commercialisation Australia

Controlabill.jpgControlabill‘s bill payments system has won the startup an A$600,000 (Aus. dollars) grant from Commercialisation Australia.

Controlabill is an authority-management service that makes it easy for customers to manage all of their payment relationships in one place. Taking advantage of the efficiency of direct deposit, Controlabill operates independently of the billing process to save time and guarantee on-time payment.

The Commercialisation Australia grant will help the company conduct customer trials, develop sales and support resources, and enlist the services of an experienced CEO.

Commercialisation Australia provides funding and support for innovators as they bring their projects to market. Since January 2010, Commercialisation Australia has awarded more than A$140 million to 360 recipients.

Watch Controlabill in action here.

Finovate Alumni News– December 14, 2012

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgBellaDati opens its first international office in Seoul.
  • Klarna co-founder and deputy CEO talks Square and the business of payment processing.
  • Sparkroom wins Readers’ Choice Top Product award.
  • Simple doubles per-transaction limit on its debit cards.
  • Investors Business Daily profiles FIS chairman and CEO Frank Martire.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter Account.