CashEdge, one of the largest established providers of online funds transfer services to financial institutions in the United States (including Bank of America, Citibank, Boeing Employee's Credit Union, and Wachovia), recently announced that a major new financial institution, FNBO Direct, went live with its new POPMoney service on January 18.
FNBO Direct, a division of First National Bank of Omaha, is the third bank to offer the POPmoney program. The first two banks, First Hawaiian Bank and PNC, launched the service in December 2009. (See our Nebtbanker blog post here.)
The addition of FNBO is a significant coup for CashEdge. First National Bank of Omaha is a subsidiary of First National of Nebraska, the largest privately owned banking company in the United States. First National of Nebraska has more than 6.6 million customers and about $20 billion in managed assets. Signing up a major new bank should nicely expand POPMoney's user base, adding visibility and credibility to the program.
First National Bank of Omaha has incorporated POPMoney into its FNBO Direct line of online banking products. The service is available on the FNBO Direct site under the Online BillPay Account link (see screenshot below).
In order to educate consumers in the new mobile payment technology, FNBO Direct presents a branded website describing the POPMoney process, as shown below. The POPMoney service also provides FNBO Direct with a revenue opportunity, allowing the bank to collect transaction fees from users. (See highlighted section below.)
FNBO Direct charges $2.00 for standard three-day delivery and $10.00 for express next-day transfer service. How bank customers react to these fees will depend on how they want to use the service. While the fees seem reasonable for emergencies or large purchases, they may deter customers from using POPMoney for smaller transactions.
