Jim Bruene, Author at Finovate

Bank of America Launches Text Banking

By Jim Bruene Posted on April 12, 2010
Categories: Bank of America, Mobile Banking, Text banking

Your best excuse to delay your text-banking project ended today. Bank of America launched the mobile service via an interstitial ad to online banking customers (see below).

The new service may be rolling out in waves since it’s neither mentioned in online news sites, nor featured on the BofA site. And there is only a single Twitter message posted three days ago.

The signup process required the entry of a mobile number and a YES response from that mobile device (see screenshots below). While that’s not much to ask, it did seem unnecessary since I was already signed up for mobile banking through that number.

After responding yes from my mobile, I received a welcome text from the bank (see iPhone screenshot right).

That seemed like a nice touch until I clicked on the link and was taken to the regular webpage, rendered impossibly small on my first-generation iPhone, where I first had to select my state. That took me to another page full of barely readable mouse-type regarding text options (see last screenshot).

Action item: If you don’t support text banking yet, it’s time to move it up the priority list.

Bank of America online banking login splash screen (12 April 2010, 6 PM Pacific)

Landing page when selecting “Enroll now” above

Enrollment page (within online banking)

Page displayed while waiting for activation via mobile phone

Page displayed after activating via mobile and clicking “Check Activation Status” button (above)

Mobile help screen as viewed in first-generation iPhone

Note: For more on the importance of mobile banking and payments, see the most recent issue from Online Banking Report.

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Why You Should Build an iPad Banking App (Even Though You Don’t Need To)

By Jim Bruene Posted on April 11, 2010
Categories: Apple, iPad, iPhone, Mobile Banking

One week into the iPad era there are still no banks or credit unions with iPad-specific apps (note 1). There also aren’t any major PFM or other financial brands present, other than Square and E*Trade. Mint’s not even there yet.

What’s going on? On Friday, The Financial Brand’s Jeffry Pilcher tweeted the question that’s on a lot of bankers’ minds:

While I suspect Jeffry is mostly being provocative, it’s a question worth discussing. Should financial institutions build an iPad app?

The Web experience on the iPad is outstanding. It has a lightening-fast Safari browser built in. It loads my bank’s webpage as fast or faster than my MacbookPro or Thinkpad X41. The iPad virtual keyboard makes it easy to type username and password. And for the most part (Flash is a problem), websites look and perform perfectly on the iPad (use ipadpeek.com if you want to see what your webpage looks like in an iPad layout).

So yes, online banking works fine on iPads. But you can say the same thing about most evolutionary products. Telephone calls work fine on corded phones. Cars work fine without cup holders. Refrigerators work fine without ice makers. And so on.

An iPad app isn’t about utility, it’s about a great user experience. The ability to click on a banking button on the main iPad screen and launch a perfectly sized online banking app shaves 30 to 45 seconds off the traditional browser-based approach (open Safari, navigate to my bank, and find the login button). There are also things you can do with an app, such as location-aware ATM/branch finder, that make it a better experience (note 2).

So here’s why most major financial brands should have an iPad app now:

Free publicity (part 1): As of today, there are only 39 iPad apps in the Finance category. Each of the 562,000+ iPad owners, and millions of others browsing the iTunes App Store, would see your brand showcased there.
Free publicity (part 2): There was, and is, a tremendous amount of hype around the iPad. Being the first bank/CU in your country/state/region/city/neighborhood with an iPad app will net you numerous mentions online and in print.
It’s cool: While financial institutions are rightly focused on the basics right now, there is still considerable value in being seen as a technology leader.
It’s inexpensive: Building a basic iPad/iPhone app is a relatively simple project. If it did nothing more than connect to online banking and show nearby ATMs/branches, you’d receive most of the benefits listed above.
It’s the future: Apps and widgets will play a large role in banking info delivery going forward, especially in mobile banking. You should be designing apps for every significant platform. In the U.S. that means the iPhone and Android, then iPad and Blackberry after that (see note 3).

And one final note for the 67 U.S. financial institutions that already have iPhone apps. Yes, you still need an iPad one. While the iPhone app runs fine, it is displayed in a small window the size of an iPhone. Users can press a button in the lower-right corner to doublesize the app, but images and text become fuzzy, and it just doesn’t look right (although it is functional as you can see in the screenshots below).

Bank of America’s iPhone app displayed on iPad screen (5 April 2010)
Note: Click on the images below to see the quality difference

Normal size Double sized

Notes:
1. As of 11 PM Pacific April 10, the only major financial brand with an iPad app is E*Trade MobilePro, which is more about stock trading, not banking.
2. For more on financial apps and the iPhone, see our March 2009 Online Banking Report.
3. For more on the importance of mobile banking and payments, see the most recent issue from Online Banking Report.
4. Hat-tip to Banking Kismet for blogging on the subject.

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PNC Bank’s Virtual Wallet Offers Three Ways to Put Your Savings on Autopilot

By Jim Bruene Posted on April 6, 2010
Categories: Best of the Web, Deposits, Checking, Savings, CDs, Personal Financial Management, PNC Bank

If PNC Bank’s Virtual Wallet, launched in July 2008 (previous post), worked with any bank account instead of just PNC’s, it would have hundreds of thousands of users instead of the 60,000 or so estimated by Compete.

From the outside it’s hard to know whether the strategy has paid off for PNC. It depends on the profitability of these customers, how many were new to the bank, and how much was invested in the effort.

The Virtual Wallet contains several superb products wrapped in an inviting user interface. No wonder it’s won so many awards, including an OBR Best of the Web from us. The eight awards are shown in a scrollbar at the bottom of the homepage (see inset).

One thing the wallet does better than most is try to make savings less painful or even fun (see last week’s post about making banking fun). There are three ways users can boost their savings rate (see inset from PNC’s demo):

Establish automated savings transfers at various times of the month
Set up a savings amount to be transferred every time a bill is paid (same concept as Bank of America’s Keep the Change)
And my favorite, Punch the Pig. Every time you hit the animated pig, a certain amount of cash is transferred to the Growth (savings) account.

Note: For more information on the PFM space, see our Online Banking Report on Personal Finance Features (new report available in April). For more on deposits, see Online Banking Report: Growing Your Deposits in the Digital Age (Dec. 2008).

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Banks Shutout on iPad Opening Day, But Square is There

By Jim Bruene Posted on April 4, 2010
Categories: Alt Payments, Apple, iPad, Mobile Banking, Square

After months of hearing about the iPad, I finally got my hands on one Saturday afternoon. It’s a great piece of technology, but if you have an iPhone, you pretty much already know what it’s like.

While the iPad runs all 150,000 apps available for the iPhone, developers are encouraged to produce iPad-optimized versions to take advantage of the significantly bigger-screen real estate.

When you open the App Store on the iPad, it focuses almost entirely on iPad apps. You have to do a specific keyword search to find non-iPad apps that work on the iPhone.

And I was surprised that neither banks nor credit unions are represented among the 30 Finance category apps available on April 3 (see screenshots below), a situation likely to be rectified with a flood of banking and credit union iPad apps during the next few months. It’s definitely a place you want your brand represented (note 1).

The only big financial services brand that made it to bat on opening day was E*Trade MobilePro (which hit the store last Thursday), and another trading app, iStockManager, to be used with TD Ameritrade. Bloomberg, too, had its popular info app available on day 1 (see screenshots below for all 30 finance apps).

The biggest surprise in the iPad Finance category was Square, the much-touted card-to-card payments service from Twitter’s founder, which released its iPad app on April 1 (see inset). We’ll be testing Square this month and hopefully using it to take last-minute credit card payments at our upcoming FinovateSpring Conference. Square’s iPad app

The 30 iPad finance category apps available on the launch day (3 April 2010)
(Note: Organized by “featured”)
Page 1: Apps 1-12 Page 2: Apps 13-24

Page 3: Apps 25-30

Note: For more coverage of mobile banking and payments, see the most recent issue from Online Banking Report.

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First Finance Apps for Apple iPad Unveiled

By Jim Bruene Posted on April 1, 2010
Categories: Apple, Apps, iPad, Mobile Banking

Apple loaded iPad apps into the main iTunes store today (see screenshot below). Search is limited and apps by category are not yet available, but you now can browse the iTunes store for iPad-optimized apps.

I looked at all 2,400 and spotted three financial titles — a credit card merchant terminal, a stock-info tracker (see below), and E*Trade’s Mobile Pro — plus a few calculators

I was disappointed that no banks or credit unions were represented. But the iPad launch is still 36 hours away, so I may still win my bet that Bank of America will be there on the morning of April 3.

Apple iTunes App Store now features iPad apps (1 April, 5 PM Pacific)

E*Trade Mobile Pro for iPad (iTunes link)

Credit Card Terminal for iPad from Inner Fence
(for Authorize.net users; iTunes link)

MarketScan by Michael Foster (iTunes link)

Note: For more coverage of mobile banking and payments, see the most recent issue from Online Banking Report.

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Can Banking Be Fun?

By Jim Bruene Posted on March 29, 2010
Categories: Game-based, Strategies, Student Banking

You don’t often see banking and fun in the same sentence. According to Google site search, I’ve used the word fun 58 times in six years of blogging here. It usually appears in a negative sense, for example, when this or that task is “no fun” (see note 1).

A guest post in TechCrunch this weekend got me thinking about it. The author, Gabe Zichermann, who’s literally written the book on the subject, led with the provocative statement:

What if everything we did was a little more fun?

He even cited Chase as a large brand trying to add more fun to their offerings. And though he provided no specifics on Chase’s efforts, he did detail his thoughts on how FedEx could use game mechanics to make tracking shipments more enjoyable.

According to Merriam-Webster, fun is:

what provides amusement or enjoyment

By that definition, there is hope that the online and mobile channels are at least making banking tasks relatively more enjoyable than they were pre-Internet.

So how do we make banking more fun?

1. Reduce money worries: Financial stress hits every demographic segment. Is my money safe? Have I paid my bills on time? Do I have enough in my account to last until the next paycheck?

Ideas: Real-time alerts, mobile apps, dashboard controls, red/yellow/green indicators, location-based check-in to authorize a card transaction before you’ve even reached the counter

2. Create mobile magic: The best way to get someone excited about a new channel is to prove that it has new benefits, and it’s mobile’s time to shine.

Ideas: Deposit checks or capture receipts via mobile phone camera, 4-digit login, shake to logout, scan barcode to comparison shop, bump to pay

3. Make it a game: Make financial chores into a game you can win by making good choices (see last week’s post on In and Out Cash).

Ideas: Allow users to keep score against themselves and peers; earn points, honors, badges and discounts for credit-score improvements, savings gains, debt reductions and other measures of financial fitness and goal achievement

4. Keep score: Utility companies provide valuable score-keeping metrics on their monthly statements where at minimum you can see how your energy/water consumption compares to the same period a year ago.

Ideas: It should be easy to see how spending patterns compare to the previous year (a basic PFM function), as well as where your savings stand, how many times you’ve been late with a bill, how your credit score has changed and so on.

Note: There really is a Funbank.com. It’s a kid’s banking/shopping portal that says “patent pending” and “copyright 2003,” so it may not be operational. Many links, including About Us, were broken (29 March 2010)

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Great PR: Fast Company’s "One Bank to Love," Triodos Bank

By Jim Bruene Posted on March 25, 2010
Categories: Giving back, Green Marketing, Public Relations, Vancity CU

One magazine I always look forward to receiving is Fast Company, not only do they love the same companies as we, but their pages are chock full of ideas and real-world case studies. I find something inspiring in every issue.

But I was surprised to spot (April issue) this headline in the upper-left corner of the cover —

One Bank to Love

— and immediately thought of Vancity. But the object of Fast Company’s affection this month was Triodos Bank, a Dutch bank founded in 1980 (company timeline) with a mission similar to my Vancity friends in Vancouver. Wikipedia says Triodos is a pioneer in ethical banking and that it “lends only to companies and nonprofits with social or ecological benefits.”

And to prove that they follow this mantra, Triodos maintains an open database of the organizations it lends to. You can search by country and sector, or narrow your search to specific topics such as “wind farms” (see UK results below).

Search results at Triodos Bank UK for “wind farms” (link, 24 March 2010)

Relevance to Netbankers
While many negative stories have yet to run, the tide may be about to turn. The press will increasingly be looking for positive stories where banks and credit unions are helping customers and small businesses flourish. You can help by identifying individual success stories within your customer base.

Or go full bore with a searchable database of your commercial loan customers, especially those in nonprofit sectors. Naturally, this requires written consent from your clients, but if there’s something in it for them (e.g., free publicity), you should get quite a few takers.

If that’s a little too open, you could anonymously map commercial loan recipients (similar to the screenshot above). That would demonstrate your involvement in various communities/neighborhoods without a lengthy consent process.

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The Second New PFM of 2010 Launches at DEMO: In & Out Cash Management Systems

By Jim Bruene Posted on March 22, 2010
Categories: Launches, Personal Financial Management

Two weeks ago, we wrote about the first PFM in the class of 2010, HelloWallet. Now we have the second entrant: In & Out Cash Management Systems at <InOutCash.com> (press release). I had a first-hand look at the new program at the company’s booth at DEMOspring 2010 today in Palm Springs, CA. The company makes its debut tomorrow morning on the show stage (video will be released later this week).

The Yodlee-powered PFM concentrates on financial fitness with built-in coaching and a dashboard of ten financial-fitness measures, such as overall savings and credit limit utilization (see inset below).

Targeted to the younger, 18-to 35-year- old segment, the site includes social features and awards points based on taking positive financial steps and exhibiting fiscal responsibility. In the future, award points will be redeemable for various financial offers and merchandise discounts. A virtual game-like environment is also on the planning board.

The company behind the new service is Value-Centered Solutions, a 19-person, San Pablo, CA-based startup launched in 2006 by founder and CEO Michael E. Parker.

The company is planning a free ad-supported option, along with a $9.95/mo ad-free premium version.

Finally, InOutCash is being pitched as a money-making opportunity for those joining a separate $60/yr program at sister company, YouAreACEO.com (second screenshot).

My take: The product looks strong and the company has some novel ideas about social aspects, rewards, and monetization. But all the talk about the “business opportunity” takes away from the site’s focus on helping less-sophisticated users get a handle on their spending and debt. I’d like to see them ditch the make-money-fast piece and focus on building a solid Gen X/Y PFM.

InOutCash.com homepage (22 March 2010)

The product is also being pitched as a money-making opportunity

Note: For more information on the PFM space, see our Online Banking Report on Personal Finance Features.

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Citibank Launches a Blog at New.Citi.com

By Jim Bruene Posted on March 19, 2010
Categories: Blogs, Citibank, Social Networks

One of the things I enjoy about using Gmail are the one-line ads displayed across the top of the screen. It’s fascinating to see how Google’s algorithm attempts to figure out what’s on the top of my mind by reading my recent emails (goodbye privacy).

Last week, it correctly deduced that I’d be interested in a new initiative by Citibank; unfortunately, I didn’t capture the exact ad, but it pointed me to the URL <new.citi.com>, which itself was enough to get a click out of me.

To my surprise, new.citi.com is an online microsite aimed at sharing the things Citi is doing to bring itself back from the brink. And it’s being told in blog format. It started in February with seven posts on Feb. 1. There was no activity for two weeks, but since then the bank has posted 15 new entries, about 2.5 per week, a good pace.

The content is good. For example, yesterday they wrote about their no-overdraft philosophy on debit cards, a policy they’ve always adhered to. The bank even linked to Ron Lieber’s NY Times, Your Money column, “Overdraft Protection. Why Bother?“, just like a real blog.

The design is attractive and consistent with Citi’s brand identity (see screenshot below). But it’s a little over-indulgent for a blog. Above the fold, all you see are Citi executive testimonials and an undated post from CEO Vikram Pandit permanently anchored there. I recommend activating the upper-right mute button to obviate the annoying little jingle that plays each time you click a new page.

The bank allows comments, moderated of course. Most posts have just one or two, but the anchor post has 60.

It’s good to see another major bank blogging, especially after Bank of America killed its innovations blog (note 1). And it’s a solid effort, good for the bank and its brand. A little restraint in the design department and this would earn an A grade.

Citi’s corporate blog site (19 March 2010)
Note: You can get rid of the faces by clicking on minimize, and mute the jingle with the speaker sign, but few users are going to see those, or know what they mean.

Note: For an even better example, check out Truliant Federal Credit Union’s superb new blog. The CU has an internal team that’s been doing five relevant posts per week since Jan 27.

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Mobile Firsts: PayPal Launches Bump to Pay

By Jim Bruene Posted on March 18, 2010
Categories: Mobile Banking, Mobile Payments, PayPal

This month we’ve explored several new features that promise to propel mobile banking into the mainstream market. Unlike developing nations, where mobile is the ONLY way to conveniently bank, in the U.S. and other online-centric countries, mobile has to compete with online for awareness and usage.

There doesn’t seem to be a single killer app for mobile. But a growing list of things that mobile does better than online will eventually tip the scales in favor of the new channel. Here’s what we’ve seen so far:

Location-based ATM/branch finders (here)
Remote check depositing (here)
Simple login with 4-digit pin (here)
Insurance discounts after graduating from iPhone-based program (here)

The latest addition to the list:

PayPal’s Bump to Pay (see video below): Users of PayPal’s latest iPhone app can transfer funds to each other merely by entering the amount and moving their phones within close proximity of each other (see screenshots below).

PayPal demos bump to pay

As David Eads points out at Mobile Manifesto, bumping to pay has some drawbacks in the real world:

…..most of the time I want to send money to someone, I’m not standing beside them. And if I am, most of the time I would feel awkward actually touching the person. Imaging bumping someone for admission to a high school football game. Imagine bumping a street vendor for a newspaper or flowers. Imagine bumping a scalper for tickets outside the game.

My take: I agree with David that physically placing iPhones next to each other seems awkward today. But then again, so was writing paper checks back in the day when everything was paid for in cash/coins.

If so-called bump pay is super-convenient, fairly priced, and the perceived security issues are overcome, there’s no reason why it couldn’t become the predominant method of person-to-person payments. While it’s way too early to make any kind of prediction, I’m just saying, don’t dismiss it yet.

David’s closing remark is spot on:

The key for P2P is getting people comfortable with the idea of transacting electronically between individuals. Bumping and Zooming makes it more fun.

Bumping is now an integral part of PayPal’s iPhone app

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Off-topic addendum: As much as we like new bells and whistles, bump pay pales in comparison to the really big news at PayPal this week: the announcement that it’s teaming with China UnionPay and Singapore’s DBS Bank to offer payment services. The 2-year DBS deal will put PayPal in the hands of the bank’s four million customers, 1.3 million of whom are currently banking online.

How big are these deals? A good indicator is PayPal’s plan to double its staff in the region to 2,000 employees. Wow, has any financial company anywhere in the world added 1,000 to its staff in the past two years?

——————————-

Note: For more coverage of mobile banking and payments, see the most recent issue from Online Banking Report.

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Credit Karma Provides Free Credit Scores to Sears Cardholders with Private-Label Version

By Jim Bruene Posted on March 16, 2010
Categories: Credit Karma, Credit Reports & ID Theft Protection, Credit/Debit Cards

Finovate alum Credit Karma recently started providing a private-label version of its credit reporting service to Sears cardholders (see note 1). The service includes free credit scores and other data to help put those scores in an understandable context (see FinovateStartup 2009 video he re).

The new service, launched Sep. 2009, is delivered through a dedicated site, searscreditscore.com. Since Sears cardholders must make a purchase each year to use the site, it provides an ongoing usage incentive.

The Credit Karma-powered service is clearly branded as a Sears and Kmart offering (note 2, screenshot #1). Interestingly, Sears also takes the opportunity to offer targeted advertising space to financial companies (screenshot #3). It also markets the credit-analysis service on its own credit card site (screenshot #2).

While Credit Karma traditionally derived revenue from advertising on its site, this move into the private-label channel provides additional growth opportunities. The Sears private-label site had nearly 140,000 unique visitors in February, about one-third the total at Credit Karma (see table below). It’s a good deal for Sears, too: Offering credit-score analysis differentiates it from other retail card providers and conveys concern about its customers’ financial well-being.

Website traffic at searscreditscore.com vs. creditkarma.com
Source: Compete.com, March 2010 (link)

1. The Sears credit score site, powered by Credit Karma

2. Sears promotes the credit score service on its website

3. Sample page from Searscreditscore.com
Note ads for Citi and ING Direct

Notes:
1. Sears cards are issued by Citibank, one of the advertisers in the private-label site.
2. Kmart acquired Sears in 2004.

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Finovate Blog

Author: Jim Bruene

Bank of America Launches Text Banking

Why You Should Build an iPad Banking App (Even Though You Don’t Need To)

PNC Bank’s Virtual Wallet Offers Three Ways to Put Your Savings on Autopilot

Banks Shutout on iPad Opening Day, But Square is There

First Finance Apps for Apple iPad Unveiled

Can Banking Be Fun?

Great PR: Fast Company’s "One Bank to Love," Triodos Bank

The Second New PFM of 2010 Launches at DEMO: In & Out Cash Management Systems

Mobile Firsts: PayPal Launches Bump to Pay

Credit Karma Provides Free Credit Scores to Sears Cardholders with Private-Label Version