Recently in BrightScope Category

Here are the news headlines we posted this week on Twitter (follow it here).

AlphaClone to Launch Investment Accounts -- Investment research firm AlphaClone announced that it plans to offer managed account services later this year. http://bit.ly/ayOI5t

BrightScope Partners with Acceleration Retirement -- BrightScope announced a partnership with Acceleration Retirement, a provider of marketing and lead-generation services to retirement plan advisors. The deal combines BrightScope's data and analytical tools with Acceleration's marketing and practice-management experience. http://bit.ly/c780Zs

CashEdge to Support HelloWallet -- CashEdge will provide financial data aggregation for new PFM website HelloWallet. CashEdge draws data from bank accounts, investments, retirement accounts, insurance plans, credit cards, mortgages and annuities. http://bit.ly/9xjRqD (Netbanker coverage of HelloWallet here.)

Check Point Wins Award from SC Magazine -- Security software firm Check Point was recognized with a Reader Trust Award from SC Magazine for its Security Gateway R7, which took the award for Best Enterprise Firewall. This is the sixth time SC Magazine has given Check Point an award for achievement in information technology and security. http://bit.ly/doRu4B

Expensify Offers App on Google Apps Marketplace -- Expensify announced that its small-business expense management app is now available on Google Apps Marketplace, Google's recently launched storefront for online products and services. The Expensify app enables users to import expense data from their credit cards, manage receipts online, and create expense reports. http://bit.ly/cYjDLq

Four Finovate Alumni in Panel Discussion at SXSW - Credit Karma, Lending Club, Mint, and SmartyPig will discuss banking industry innovation at the SXSW conference on March 13 in Austin, Texas. The panel discussion will include Rob Garcia, Senior Director of Product Strategy for LendingClub.com; Aaron Forth, VP of Product at Mint.com; Kenneth Lin, CEO of CreditKarma.com; and Bob Weinschenk CEO of SmartyPig.com. http://bit.ly/dbuYuR

GreenSherpa Upgrades -- GreenSherpa announced several upgrades to its web-based application, including changes to user collaboration and integration features, cash flow projection capabilities, and the graphical user interface. http://bit.ly/alnZeW

New Funding and Board Member for Home-Account -- Bills.com has doubled its financial investment in Home-Account. In addition, Mark Goines, a former director of Mint and a former Intuit executive, has joined Home-Accounts Board of Directors. Goines also made an unspecified angel investment in Home-Account. http://bit.ly/aJGuzs

Intuit Offers Payroll Suite on Google Marketplace -- Intuit is offering its Online Payroll suite of web applications on Google's new Apps Marketplace. Intuit also intends to make the payroll solution available through its own Intuit App Center. http://bit.ly/9dsR19

iPay Technologies Partners with Q2ebanking -- iPay Technologies and Q2ebanking announced a new alliance that will allow iPay to offer its bill payment solutions to Q2's customers. Q2 provides financial services technologies to community financial institutions. http://bit.ly/9T6CQ9

Tom Burgess Joins Micronotes' Advisory Board -- Tom Burgess, the founder and CEO of Third Screen Media, has joined the advisory board of online marketing company Micronotes. Burgess will serve as a marketing practices advisor. Third Screen Media was a wireless advertising company that was acquired by AOL in 2007. http://bit.ly/bUEd7Q

mFoundry Receives Paybefore Award -- mFoundry won the Best Virtual Prepaid Card category in Prepaid Media's fourth annual Paybefore Awards. mFoundry was recognized for its work on Starbucks Mobile, which allows consumers to use mobile devices to track activity on Starbucks cards. http://bit.ly/doCsP4 (Netbanker blog on Starbucks Mobile here.)

Mozo Launches Program for Students - Australian financial comparison company Mozo has launched a new service called the Student Room. The program helps university students find deals on banking services, including special offers designed for students. http://bit.ly/dBsgMu

S1 acquires PM Systems -- On March 4, S1 completed acquisition of PM Systems for $29 million. PM Systems provides internet banking, bill payment, and security solutions for credit unions. S1 announced the acquisition in its statement of its fourth quarter results. http://bit.ly/aF2Jvz

The Receivables Exchange Reports Sales Growth -- The Receivables Exchange, an online marketplace for receivables trading, reported 100% quarter-over-quarter growth in receivables sold in Q4 2009. http://bit.ly/asQqNm

On January 19, BrightScope launched a new online tool, the Personal 401(k) Fee Report, which is available free on the company website. The new tool provides individual investors and financial advisors with personalized data about retirement plans, comparing current fees to other options.

BrightScope is a 401(k) plan-rating company that collects data on plans to help sponsors, advisors, and participants improve their 401(k) plans. By compiling 401(k) data into detailed presentations, the company makes complex retirement plans easier to understand. (Finovate 2009 video here.)

BrightScope has amassed data on about 30,000 individual 401(k) plans, so in many cases generating the Personal 401(k) Fee Report is as simple as entering the name of your company and answering a few questions about your contributions to the plan.

In an interesting addition to BrightScope's standard 401(k) ratings, the report compares the cost and retirement results of the selected 401(k) plan against a typical low-cost IRA and indicates if switching would be beneficial. This comparison feature provides a valuable tool for financial advisors seeking to generate business by showing clients how much they could save by rolling their 401(k) into an individual retirement account (see screenshot #1, below). The report also offers more detailed information, including a breakdown of fees and a list of funds associated with the 401(k) plan (see screenshot #2, below).

BrightScope makes its money providing tools that enable 401(k) plan sponsors to monitor plan performance and evaluate whether the plan they have is right for their employees. The company also markets tools to financial advisors. The Personal 401(k) Report serves up a new way to draw individual investors and financial advisors to the BrightScope site. According to website-usage estimates from Compete.com, BrightScope ended December with 27,000 unique visitors, down from 35,000 in September.

Compete.com Jan.2010, traffic data here

BrightScope could also potentially generate additional revenue by allowing users to link directly to accredited advisors from the report, charging the advisors a finder's fee for each lead.

How it works

BrightScope collects data on 401(k) plans and ranks them in peer groups, making it easy to quickly compare and evaluate plans. The company considers a number of factors, such as fees, quality of investments, and corporate matching programs, in order to assign a rank to each 401(k). The quantitative ranking system measures how quickly a plan gets its users to a successful retirement. The new report adds another tool to individual workers who need to know if they are contributing enough into their retirement plans and whether they are taking full advantage of matching benefits programs offered by their employers.

#1. The Report Indicates Potential Savings

#2. Detailed Information on 401(k) Plans