FinovateSpring: Behind the Scenes with Tactile Finance, Visible Equity, and Vorstack

FinovateSpring: Behind the Scenes with Tactile Finance, Visible Equity, and Vorstack

In our third FinovateSpring Behind the Scenes feature, we’re taking a look at three companies that demonstrated for the first time on the Finovate stage. We sat down with Tactile Finance, Visible Equity, and Vorstack to capture more information about their solutions.

If you missed our first and second Behind the Scenes features, you can check them out here:


TactileFinanceLogo
What they do
Tactile Finance’s Tacfi makes the mortgage process easy to understand and more transparent for borrowers. It helps the borrower navigate mortgage options and connect with lenders.
Stats
      • Launched in April 2014 at FinovateSpring
      • Tacfi’s target user is any home buyer, whose average age is 35 to 40 years old 
The experience
To sign up for Tacfi, users only need to provide their name, email address, and create a password.
TacfiSignup
They start by entering details of the home they’re interested in, such as the home price, property taxes, and other monthly expenses such as condo fees.
TacfiHomeBuilder
The calculator shows users what their mortgage payments will look like over time. 
TacfiBuilder2

From here, users can save the information about their loan, have the option to determine the amount of the home loan for which they are eligible, or can proceed to get a real quote from a lender, based on the information they entered into the mortgage calculator.



VisibleEquitySmall

Visible Equity

What they do
Visible Equity helps financial institutions determine their compliance with fair lending laws, which apply to all parts of the lending process including pre-application, underwriting, loan pricing, post closing activities, and modifications.

With the click of a button, its software can detect unfair and biased lending practices, which can often times lead to fines, degraded ratings, lawsuits, and negative impact on the brand. Visible Equity gives institutions a way to mathematically prove that their lending practices are in compliance.

Stats

    • Serves 300+ clients 
    • Analyzes over $120B in loans daily
The experience
Occasionally, financial institutions have lending policies in place that result in unintentional bias against certain groups such as age, race, gender, geographical location, etc.
The screenshot below shows a loan pricing discrimination analysis that has been generated to determine discrimination against race. The table shows loan count by race and breaks down the interest rate to show the difference between the actual rate and the expected interest rate. 
VisibleEquityPricingDiscrimination
Lenders can view all outstanding loans and are able to sort by loan attributes.
VisibleEquityLoans
Visible Equity’s responsive design web platform can be optimized for viewing on a tablet or mobile device, so lenders have a portable way to view and share metrics, data, and charts.
VisibleEquityipad

VorstackLogoNew

What they do
Vorstack is a cyber defense platform that helps online security professionals more efficiently target fraud. Its system helps them deal with the massive volume of emails they receive by automating reports based on the fraud in question.

Additionally, the open-source nature of Vorstack’s platform enables sharing of details under certain parameters with a trusted circle of other security professionals. Using this collective intelligence, Vorstack helps target fraud more quickly and efficiently.

Stats

  • Raised $5.2 million in Series A funding
  • 15 employees
  • Launched for financial services at FinovateSpring 2014
The experience
Security breaches, such as the recent ones reported by popular retailers, not only impact end consumers, they also take a toll on security professionals. Shortly after such breaches, security reps at banks can be inundated with emails asking if the institution should be concerned, and what areas are impacted.
The Vorstack platform functions as the graphic depicts below. Information is gathered, organized, analyzed, then is returned to the user, outlining potential areas of fraud concerns.
VorstackCOARGraphic
The screenshot below shows the dashboard where the security professional can view a break down of the number of fraudulent events they should be concerned with. It combines data from multiple organizations in order to give visibility of potential fraudulent activity before it happens.
VorstackDashboard
The Events section of the platform enables the security professional to take a closer look at both global and local events on an individual basis.
VorstackEvents

We’ll continue featuring more companies behind the scenes in the coming weeks so stay tuned.

Finovate Alumni News– May 20, 2014

  • Finovate-F-Logo.jpgMyBankTracker looks at PayPal’s new design.
  • Linkable Networks unveils multiple omni channel SKU-level card-linked offer solutions to support all retailer types and sizes.
  • European Bitcoin exchange Safello to integrate Jumio’s identity document verification technology.
  • Thomson Reuters announces enhancements, upgrades to Accelus Risk Manager.
  • FinovateSpring 2014: Lights! Camera! Demo Videos! See all 67 presentations from our San Jose conference.
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.

Best of the Web: Frost Bank Launches Actionable Two-Way Debit Card Alerts

imageFrost Bank is cool. The $25 billion regional bank has long been an innovator, pushing forward on multiple digital fronts (see notes 1, 2). Its latest innovation quietly rolled out to customers at the beginning of May, is the two-way actionable debit card alert. This service probably seems like a no-brainer to customers, especially those born after 1990, but it’s not at all easy for an FI to pull off.

imageWhile Frost is not the first to position alerts as a two-way communication channel (note 3), it is the first to allow customers to simply reply back to a text message to freeze their debit card against further charges. The action also triggers a call from a Frost banker to resolve the situation.  

Because this “raises the bar” for proactive customer communications around debit card use, we are awarding it our first Best of the Web for 2014 (note 4).

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How it works now (v1.0)
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image1. Consumer establishes alert thresholds and preferences (inset)
2. Bank sends triggered text-message alert
3. If the user suspects fraud, they reply back with the code provided in the alert (screenshot below)
4. Frost puts a temporary hold on the card
5. Frost banker calls customer and resolves (customer can also unblock account on their own)

 

image

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What’s next (v2.0)
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Frost Bank’s new feature is a great customer-centric solution that reinforces the bank’s position of consumer advocacy. It’s a perfect first step to a more proactive fraud-warning system.

But I do have some concerns there will be too many false alarms generated. It is so easy to forget pre-authorized debits; be surprised by charges made by your spouse; or legitimate, but strange-sounding merchant names.

Ideally, there would be a way to first ask for more info on a charge, rather than a black or white hold. It would be great to text back “huh?” and get a plain language explanation of the charge, for example:

  • This charge was made at 1:00 PM at the Subway near Northgate Mall. Are you sure you or someone in your family didn’t buy lunch there this weekend?

or

  • You began paying $9.95 per month to this merchant in February. This merchant markets a subscription music service. Did you, or anyone else in your family, start a subscription to it in the February timeframe?

BillGuard offers quite a bit of this “explanation layer” on card transactions, another reason to be looking at what they are doing (most recent post).

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Frost Bank’s debit alerts landing page (18 May 2014, link)

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Notes:
1. We first covered Frost in 2005, when it was offering lifetime statement archives at a time when most banks dropped your data off the site after a few months (June 2005 post). We also loved their PFM-ish Momentum checking account launched in 2008, about the same time as Mint launched (July 2008 post). 
image2. Earlier this month, Jeffry Pilcher called Frost Bank “… one of the most beautiful brand identities … .” (see right, post)
3. In 2010 (post), Chase Bank won Best of the Web for its 2-way text-message alerts; however, that was limited to initiating funds transfers through its normal text-banking service.  
4. This is the first OBR Best of the Web for Frost Bank. Since 1997, our Online Banking Report industr
y newsletter has been periodically giving OBR Best of the Web awards to companies that pioneer new online- or mobile-banking features. It is not an endorsement of the company or product, just recognition for what we believe is an important industry development. In total, 91 companies have won the award. Recent winners are profiled in the Netbanker archives.

FinovateSpring 2014: Lights! Camera! Demo Videos!

FinovateSpring 2014: Lights! Camera! Demo Videos!
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The demo videos from FinovateSpring 2014 are now available in our Video Archive. Check them out here.

Here’s your chance to relive FinovateSpring 2014 in its new home in what was a very sunny San Jose. Every single video from the two-day event is here, arranged alphabetically from Artivest to Zumigo

You’ll see and hear every presenter, every screen capture, every device display (from mobile payment fobs to smart watches and Google Glass), and every innovation that our 67 presenting companies had to share.
And if you’ll be checking out our presenters for the first time, then sit back and enjoy our unique, demo-only format in action.
This is also a great opportunity to see (or see again) just what it took to win the hearts and minds of our audience of more than 1,200 fintech professionals who voted for Best of Show. As a reminder, our FinovateSpring 2014 Best of Show winners are below. Click on the company logo to see the award-winning demo.
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Dashlane Raises $22 Million; Announces 2 Million Users; $1 Billion in Transactions Enabled

Dashlane Raises $22 Million; Announces 2 Million Users; $1 Billion in Transactions Enabled

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Starting the week’s fintech news with a bang is password management innovator, Dashlane. The company, which was recently highlighted by the Wall Street Journal’s Personal Technology column as “the best way to manage online passwords,” announced that it had raised $22 million in funding.

The major infusion of capital represents the company’s biggest single investment to date, and takes the company’s total funding to $30 million.

For the most part, the new investment comes courtesy of a new investor, Bessemer Venture Partners, who led the Series B round along with current investors, FirstMark Capital, Rho Ventures, and Dashlane co-founder Bernard Liautaud. Dashlane reportedly will use the capital to bring on more talent and to explore other product possibilities related to identity management and payments, as well as to assist in expansion into both Latin America and Asia.
Dashlane_homepage
Available on both PC and Mac, as well as on iOS and Android, Dashlane’s technology is renowned for its ability to help consumers store and manage passwords. Additionally, Dashlane also enables secure storage of credit card and ID information, provides automatic password generation, tools to test password strength, smart autofill, and alerts to let users know of possible security breaches to their online accounts.
Said Emmanuel Schalit, Dashlane CEO:
“Hundreds of millions of web users still manually register, login, and checkout on desktops and mobile devices, and leave themselves vulnerable to online security threats in the process. Dashlane elegantly solves this problem for consumers.”
As noted in Mashable’s report of the Dashlane funding, the company saw a surge of interest in its soutions shortly after the panic over the Heartbleed bug broke out earlier this year. Emmanuel said that although there was a spike in interest (and one that has “died down”), the company continues its rapid growth.
And as a testament to this growth, Dashlane also has announced that it has surpassed 2 million users of its platform, enabling more than $1 billion in transactions.
Founded in 2009 and based in New York City, Dashlane demoed the instant login and checkout features of its technology at FinovateFall 2012. See a video of the company’s presentation here.

Finovate Alumni News– May 19, 2014

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgGeezeo announces HTML5-inspired redesign of mobile PFM app.
  • Dashlane raises $22 million; announces 2 million users, $1 billion in transactions enabled.
  • Raymond James Bank N.A. chooses Fiserv for extensive enterprise banking.
  • MasterCard to acquire Indian payments processor, ElectraCard Services, for undisclosed amount.
  • Kony releases new Mobile Backend-as-a-Service
    (MBaaS)
    to reduce the cost and complexity of building enterprise mobile apps.

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.

Geezeo Announces HTML5-Inspired Redesign of Mobile PFM App

Geezeo Announces HTML5-Inspired Redesign of Mobile PFM App

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“In with the new” for fans of Geezeo’s personal finance management solutions.

The company announced today that it has leveraged HTML5 to redesign its mobile PFM app. The new design ensures that the company’s white-label PFM solution remains simple and easy to navigate, as well as being optimized for both iPhone and Android.

Geezeo_homepage
In addition to the redesign, the mobile PFM app now comes with Rapid Tagger. This feature allows users to tag transactions, gamifying the process of managing money, helping instill positive financial habits, and creating higher user engagement with the technology.
Integration into existing mobile banking platforms is one of the factors that sets Geezeo apart from its PFM peers. Said Geezeo CEO, Shawn Ward, “just like online banking, we strongly believe that PFM needs to be integrated into the existing mobile banking platform.”
“We offer clients flexibility because we can handle the product build or a client can roll their own.”
This approach has helped Geezeo win over a number of credit unions in the past year. We reported on an agreement with GRANCO FCU in January, deals with West – Aircomm FCU and Apex Community FCU last December, and new relationships with three different credit unions last fall.
Some of the features of Geezeo’s mobile PFM app are:
  • Cash flow calendar
  • Budgeted spending targets
  • Savings goals
  • Net worth tracker
  • Custom alerts
  • Account aggregation
  • Transaction tagging/categorization
Geezeo was last on the Finovate stage in 2010, demoing its Enterprise Marketing Platform as part of the Fall conference in New York. See video of the presentation here.

Finovate Alumni News– May 16, 2014

  • Intuit buys Invitco to help bookkeepers put bill processing in the cloud.
  • SocietyOne, an Australian peer-to-peer lender, mulls entering NZ market, is talking with ‘multiple parties’.
  • miiCard graduates from SixThirty accelerator.
  • Swipely tops $2 billion in annual sales managed; launches Summer ’14 release.
  • Bermuda Commercial Bank picks the T24 core banking system, Model Bank, from Temenos.
  • FinSMEs talks about BodeTree with CEO and co-founder Chris Myers.
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.

UI: Chase Bank Remodels the All-Important "Account Summary Alert"

image Here at Netbanker/OBR, we love to write about the digital future. But we know it’s even more important to address the digital now. If you don’t leverage current technology to your advantage, the future doesn’t much matter, since someone else will be running your business.

Today’s topic, one that we used to harp on constantly, is alerts (see previous “Alerts” posts).  Alerts are the way you maintain the relationship with customers between logins. But too many banks and credit unions take email alerts for granted, and are still using a template from 2004! Those templates were created prior to webmail, and, more importantly, before mobile viewership skyrocketed.

One bank whose messaging template was too long in the tooth is Chase (it’s looked the same since at least 2010; see note 1). But as part of their continued digital remodeling, the bank changed it last week. It’s not going to be confused with Simple or Mint, but it communicates the important information efficiently. And that’s enough for most brands. 

The Improvements 

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Following are the before-and-after shots on the desktop. As you can see, the old version was too wide for smaller laptops and lower-resolution computers. On my Mac it looked fine, but on my trusty old ThinkPad, it required horizontal scrolling to see the “total withdrawals.”

What changed:

  • All the information is lined up on the left side so it can be easily read on any screen size; this is especially important on mobile which was previously impossible to read (on iPhone) without pinching and zooming.
  • Got rid of the Go Paperless! banner. Talk about banner fatigue. I understand that it’s a great benefit to convert users to paperless, but really, four-plus years with the same banner? MIX IT UP, please!
  • Changed headline to position “Chase” as the first word instead of the last. That helps users scanning subject lines see that it’s from their bank. 
  • Added light blue background at top to give it a better look.
  • Cleaned up the data table for better readability.
  • Made the website URL more visible.
  • Added toll-free contact number.
  • Added more fine print and caveats (the only item that is a step backwards).

 

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Desktop 

Before (viewed through Gmail, 3 May 2014)

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After (viewed through Gmail, 12 May 2014)

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Mobile (screen captures from iPhone 5)

Before                                                          After

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Notes:
1. The UI described here is for a Chase checking account in Washington State (converted from WAMU). This email alert template may be different in other regions or for other account types.
2. For more info on alerts and messaging, see our 2010 Online Banking Report (subscription).

Swipely Tops $2 Billion in Annual Sales Managed; Launches Summer ’14 Release

Swipely Tops $2 Billion in Annual Sales Managed; Launches Summer ’14 Release

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Swipely is celebrating its new Summer ’14 release with an announcement that the company has surpassed $2 billion in annual sales managed for its customers. The high mark comes as Swipely reports a doubling of sales under management in just six months.

The Summer ’14 update will allow Swipely to work with larger hospitality and retail brands, says Swipely founder and CEO, Angus Davis. On four levels, focusing on customers, analytics, reviews, and access controls, the new features of the Summer ’14 release give merchants the ability to better track operating performance and manage customer relationships across multiple locations.
Swipely works for a large range of business types – from brick and mortar retailers and restaurants to ecommerce websites. The company says its technology provides insights into the behavior of more than 10 million consumers.
Swipely_homepage
Founded in 2009 and headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, Swipely has operations in more than 40 states and more than 500 cities in the U.S. With 103 employees, the company has raised more than $20 million in funding from investors including First Round Capital, Greylock Partners, Index Ventures, and Shasta Ventures.
Swipely demoed its Payment Marketing solution at FinovateSpring in 2012 See a video of the presentation here.

Best of Show Winner YourWealth.co.uk Acquired by Momentum UK

Best of Show Winner YourWealth.co.uk Acquired by Momentum UK

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Less than six months after its Best of Show winning demo at FinovateEurope 2014, Momentum (FKA YourWealth) has announced that it will soon be a part of Momentum UK.

Founder and CEO of YourWealth.co.uk, Toby Hughes said the acquisition would “fast-track development” of the company’s PFM technology. YourWealth.co.uk and Money Hub help users organize their entire financial life, from budgeting and aggregating accounts to accessing financial services and goal-planning.

YourWealth_homepage

Terms of the acquisition were not immediately available.

The acquisition includes Blue Speck Financial, the company that owns and operates YourWealth.co.uk, and the Money Hub app. Momentum UK is a division of MMI Holdings Ltd., a major South African financial services group. The purchase gives Momentum UK the opportunity to offer additional PFM tools to clients – and potential clients – in the UK.
Developed for individuals with a wide range in wealth (“anything from £5 to £50 million”), Yourwealth.co.uk and MoneyHub are designed to help people make better financial choices in three key ways:
  • Centralizing finances to make information more readily accessible
  • Enabling contact with financial services and financial professionals
  • Embracing a multi-channel approach, including smartphone, tablet and desktop
An attention to UX and UI that turns even financial minutiae into irresistibly viewable information further helps distinguish the technology from its PFM peers.
YourWealth.co.uk was named to the FinTech 50 2014 (along with a number of other Finovate alums). The company’s technology is available only in the UK.
YourWealth.co.uk was founded in 2011, and is based in Bristol, UK. Owned and operated by Blue Speck Financial, the company has served more than half a million users since the technology’s soft launch in 2013.
Watch Momentum’s demo video from FinovateEurope 2014 here.

Finovate Alumni News– May 15, 2014

  • Finovate-F-Logo.jpgArxan Technologies to offer all FS-ISAC & BITS members a complimentary, new iOS Mobile App Vulnerability Assessment.
  • Fiserv awarded patent for predictive modeling technology.
  • BillGuard launches on Android; unveils new data breach alert feature.
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.