Jim Bruene, Author at Finovate

Fast Company Recognizes Eight Financial Startups in its NextFinance Column

By Jim Bruene Posted on September 17, 2009
Categories: BancVue, Finovate, Jwaala, Launches

Really, we weren’t looking for ways to plug our Finovate conference. Usually we just come right out and tell you to register now since it’s only 10 days away. But imagine our delight when we opened up the latest issue of Fast Company (Oct 2009) and Dan Macsai’s article included six Finovate companies in his list of eight startups “brimming with hope for the financial industry” (see screenshot below; note 1).

In Dan’s words, these companies are noteworthy as:

Web-based financial startups creating services that embrace transparency (even in their largely fee-based pricing) and improve the customer experience.

Congratulations to the eight winners (in order of their appearance in the article):

Tempo Payments: Decoupled debit (FinovateStartup 2009 alum, video)
BancVue: Community bank rewards checking and Kasasa national brand (upcoming Finovate 2009 presenter; FinovateStartup 2008 alum and Best of Show winner, video)
MarketRiders: Impartial mutual fund advice for $9.95/mo
Mpower Ventures: Providing financial services to the world’s unbanked.
SecondMarket: Helps companies auction securities and other illiquid assets (FinovateStartup 2009 alum, video)
BrightScope: Independent advice for 401k plan participants (upcoming Finovate 2009 presenter)
Jwaala: Personal financial management and online banking tools for small and mid-size financial institutions (Finovate 2007 charter presenter, video; FinovateStartup 2008 alum and Best of Show winner video; 2009 Finovate Startup alum, video)
The Receivables Exchange: Real-time auctions for accounts receivables (FinovateStartup 2009 alum, video)

Fast Company’s NextFinance column (Oct 2009, pp. 76-78, ad page omitted)

Note:
1. We’ll take a .750 batting average any time. But, we’ll also try to recruit MarketRiders and Mpower to future Finovate events.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

A Cautionary Tale: T-Mobile Forced to Cancel Plans to Charge a Monthly Fee for Paper Statements

By Jim Bruene Posted on September 16, 2009
Categories: Electronic Statements, Public Relations

According to today’s Wall Street Journal, T-Mobile has backed down from its plan to start charging its customers $1.50 per month for paper statements (see my 22 Aug Tweet, inset, and T-Mobile landing page, below).

Apparently, a customer backlash prompted the reversal, coupled with the threat of government intervention over the proposed change that was to go into effect this week (note 1) .

Lesson: Banks and card issuers are working hard to eliminate paper statements from their cost structure. But, be warned that consumers are not ready for an estatement mandate. It’s better to offer various enticements to go electronic rather than forcing a new fee or paperless policy on customers. See our previous coverage for ideas to incent estatement usage.

T-Mobile landing page for estatement signup (link, 22 Aug 2009)

T-Mobile account management Billing & Payments page (16 Sep 2009)
Surprisingly, T-Mobile doesn’t currently even have an option on its billing page to turn the paper statement off.

Note:
1. New York’s attorney general warned T-Mobile that it could not impose new charges without giving customers the option of ending service contracts early.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Is Mint Worth $170 Million?

By Jim Bruene Posted on September 14, 2009
Categories: Intuit, Mint, Personal Financial Management

The rumors broke yesterday and the confirmation came today. Intuit is buying two-time Finovate Best of Show winner, Mint for $170 million (see note 1). Few people are surprised by this move or the price. Mint’s latest VC investors had just invested at a $140 million valuation a few weeks ago, so $170 mil is in line with that. It’s also a 5x return to the total VC investment of $32 million, so everyone associated with Mint has to be pretty happy, especially in an environment where most assets have fallen by double digits in the past two years.

The bigger question is whether the startup is worth $170 million? To Intuit, I think the answer is definitely yes (see below).

Intuit shareholders were indifferent with no real movement in share price today (see inset) on lower-than-normal trading volume (note 2). Because of the deal, Intuit lowered per-share net income estimates by 2 cents ($6.5 million loss) for FY 2010, and says there will be no material impact after that.

Apparently, Intuit will keep the Mint brand, at least for now. Mint CEO Aaron Patzer will be general manager of Intuit’s personal finance products, both online AND desktop.

I’m no M&A expert, but here’s why $170 million sounds reasonable to me:

At Intuit’s current multiple (20x), Mint needs to generate approximately $10 million in annual profits to break even for shareholders. With 1+ million users at Mint, that’s $10 per user per year, less than a buck a month.
While Mint isn’t likely making that type of profit today, the combination of lower costs from Intuit back-end systems and additional revenues from upselling Intuit services (TurboTax, Cuckoos, and others), should elevate Mint to a $10 million-plus business unit relatively quickly.
Intuit needs an entree to the young-and-frugal segment, and Mint can be the starting point with users migrating to Quicken Online (which can be returned to a fee-based, advertising-free service), TurboTax, and/or QuickBooks over time.
Plus there’s a bunch of intangibles that are difficult to quantify until you see how Intuit handles the Mint.com user base. Even though there’s the usual grousing from Mint users today, in reality, Intuit’s trustworthy brand name should be able to retain current users and grow the base.

Here’s how I break down the purchase price:

$5 to $10 mil >>> Assets: Code, IP, employees, etc.
$10 to $20 mil >> Brand: Name, URL, traffic, awards, etc.
$100+ mil >>>>> Customers (1,000,000 at $100 each)
$25 to $50 mil >> Option value

Notes:
1. Mint won the audience voting for Best of Show at both our 2007 and 2008 Finovate conferences. If you want to see and meet the next Mint, we have a few dozen tickets left for Finovate 2009 on 29 Sep (purchase tickets here).
2. Last week, shares fell $0.40 or 1.4%.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Mobile Banking Awareness at Financial Institutions: The Grades Are In

By Jim Bruene Posted on September 11, 2009
Categories: Mobile Banking, Website Usability & Design

Two days ago (here), I wrote about Citibank’s smartphone banking awareness campaign on its homepage. Coincidentally, ABI Research yesterday published a rating of 17 U.S. major retail banks plus a dozen community banks (see note 1) on “discoverability” and “accessibility” of their mobile banking services (press release).

Surprisingly, ABI rated Citibank “average.” I’m not sure what Citi did wrong (note 2) to get a “C,” but one common technique of all ABI’s A-students (see table below), is a “mobile banking” link on the homepage (see screenshots below).

Observations:

Wells Fargo is the only bank to publicize a short mobile URL, wf.com (see final screenshot)
USAA is the only one of the six with an iPhone-optimized page rendered for users visiting its regular URL (see note 3) from the iPhone browser; this would be a minimal requirement for an A on our scorecard (if we were to make one)
Two of the six A-rated banks, BB&T and Northeast Bank, were also rotating a mobile banner ad on the homepage (see screenshots below).

Here are the ABI Research ratings:

Grade	Bank Names
A	BB&T, Eastern Bank, Fifth Third Bank, Northeast Bank, USAA, Wells Fargo
B+	Bank of America, Chase Bank
B	Capital One, US Bank, Huntington Bank
C	America First, Bancorp South, Citibank, PNC, Wachovia
D	Carolina First, 1st Bank, IBC Bank, Mercantile Bank, Regions Bank, SunTrust, Synovus
F	M&T Bank, Provident Bank

The A students (all screenshots from 10 Sep 2009)

Notes:
1. Another community bank with great mobile awareness is Farmers State Bank (click on inset right for a larger screenshot). Thanks to Laurie Goodlock at the bank for the tip.
2. We’ve requested the full report.
3. wf.com visitors also see a mobile-optimized site in their iPhone browser
4. Reference: Online Banking Report on Mobile Banking (Feb 2007) and Online Banking Report: Mobile Banking via iPhone (Mar 2009)

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Mobile Awareness: Let Your Customers Know They Can Bank Online via Smartphone Now

By Jim Bruene Posted on September 10, 2009
Categories: Citi Mobile, Citibank, Mobile Banking, Website Usability & Design

Yesterday, Apple announced it has shipped 50 million iPhone/iPod Touches in the past two years. And they are not even the smartphone leader. You can bet that many (most?) new smartphone-owning-online-banking-using customers haven’t a clue how to connect to their financial institution through their mobile. And even if they know how, there’s still that nagging doubt as to whether it’s a safe/smart thing to do.

Therefore, if you want to drive significant mobile usage, there are a number of steps to take (see note 1). But one of the most important is user education, especially through online information, screenshots, and demos.

Citibank recently elevated general smartphone awareness to its homepage (see first screenshot below). Yesterday, the bank was rotating an “Introducing CitiMobile for Smartphone” banner across the top of the homepage. The banner led to an educational page (see second screenshot, note 2), that led to clear instructions on how to bank via a mobile browser:

Open browser
Go to citi.com (note 3)
Log in using your same online banking credentials

While brevity is admirable, I think customers need a little more info than that. For a non-user, the process sounds almost too good to be true. The bank should elaborate on some key questions such as:

Is it secure? (see update below)
What does it cost?
Does it work on my phone?
What if I lose my phone?

Luckily, interested users can go to the well-designed demo that takes users through a semi-guided tour of the mobile banking functions. The Flash-based demo is partially interactive, allowing users to click buttons on a smartphone emulator (see third screenshot). After clicking on a new function, the demo takes over, completing the data entry and going forward to the next screen. Check it out here.

Update (22 Sep 2009): An email from a Citi Mobile employee pointed out that I missed the security and other info in the right-hand column of the landing page below. I apologize for the omission.

Citibank homepage (9 Sep 09)

Citi Mobile for Smartphones landing page (link)

Citibank mobile demo with interactive emulator

Notes:
1. For more info, see Online Banking Report on Mobile Banking (Feb 2007) and Online Banking Report: Mobile Banking via iPhone (Mar 2009)
2. The bank has separate pages for: Citi Mobile for iPhone and Citi Mobile for Other Models
3. Citi still has some work to do on optimizing the mobile Web experience (see update below). I navigated via my iPhone to its homepage (see inset) which looks terrible: The page is rendered impossibly tiny (requiring finger zooming), and because the two Flash-based animations don’t work on iPhones, the top of the page is dominated by two empty boxes.

Update (22 Sep 2009): The site is now rendering perfectly on my iPhone. I see a mobile-optimized site similar to the Citi iPhone app. I’m not sure what was going on Sep 10 when I took this screenshot. It’s possible I got the wrong page by navigating to Citi through the Google app.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

How Measly Online Banking Archives Almost Cost Us $300

By Jim Bruene Posted on September 8, 2009
Categories: Chase Bank, Electronic Statements, Fee Income, US Bank

One of my least favorite tasks as a business owner is filling out forms, and tax forms are the worst of the lot. Thankfully, Washington state has a relatively simple online form that I can complete at literally the last minute of the quarterly filing period.

So last week, with the midnight deadline looming, I went to download the previous quarter’s transactions into our accounting software. After doing so, I noticed a six-week gap in the data. Because of timing issues, it had been 130 days since I’d last downloaded. Guess what? My bank archives only 90 days of data for Microsoft Money users (note 1).

So, I went online and figured I’d retrieve the older transaction there. No luck. Again, only 90 days of past data are visible in online banking. Next, I tried the data-download function. Nope, same 90-day limit. Now realizing that I’d have to hand-key the data, I was getting frustrated, but I figured I could at least view my April and May statements online. Strike 4. My bank doesn’t post any estatements online UNLESS you’ve previously given up your paper statement.

So I had to paw through my paper piles to find the missing statements, then spend a half-hour hand-entering business transactions. Boy, did I feel like a fool. Luckily, I’d started the process earlier than usual and made the midnight deadline; otherwise, the lack of data archives would have cost me more than $300 in city and state penalties.

Fee opportunity for banks
Had I been a perfect customer and remembered to download my data within the 90-day window, this wouldn’t have happened. But really, now that you can buy a 1TB (1000MB) hard drive for $79, how can a bank justify a measly 3-month archive, especially for business clients? Even factoring in security costs, backup sites and other expenses, what is the marginal cost to store 18 months of transaction data? A buck per year? Probably more like a dime or less (note 2).

It no longer makes sense to arbitrarily limit online data archives. Put a price on it and let your customers decide how long they want to store their data. Many small business customers would pay $1 to $2 per month per year of back archives. Interested consumers might pay half that, e.g., $3 to $5 per month for a 7-year archive.

It can also be used a perk for going paperless. For example, Chase Bank offers seven years of online statements for its customers (see screenshot below); otherwise, users can access only the last 18 months online.

Finally, it’s one of the most cost-effective retention tools imaginable (note 3).

Chase Bank promotes the benefits of going paperless to its online banking users (1 Sep 2009)

Notes:
1. The lack of past data is especially annoying since I pay $5.95/mo for the data download service.
2. I do understand that increasing online archives is not a simple project. And even though storage costs are relatively minimal, the PROJECT costs, are certainly not. I’m sure it’s a multi-million effort that’s difficult to justify in an era where regulatory mandates eat up IT budgets like a power surge gobbling data.
3. For more info on estatements, refer to our Online Banking Report on Lifetime Statement Archives (June 2005) and Electronic Messaging & Statements (Feb 2003).

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

ING Direct Releases Home Loan Toolkit for the iPhone

By Jim Bruene Posted on September 4, 2009
Categories: Apple, iPhone, Mobile Banking, Mortgage, Refi & Home Equity

Have I mentioned that the iPhone is amazing? I’m not sure if it’s because it’s so useful having a computer in my pocket 24/7, or that it gives me so much material for Netbanker and Online Banking Report (probably the latter).

Now that we are beginning the second year of the App Store, we are starting to see some more interesting things on the finance front. For the first year it was all about tip calculators, balance inquiry, ATM locators, and manual-entry expense trackers.

This summer, we’re beginning to see the bigger potential with the launch of remote check depositing from WV United Credit Union and USAA (which also loaded helpful auto insurance features into its app). And Apple’s new OS 3.0, which supports push notifications, will be a boon to mobile banking apps.

But that’s just the beginning. There will be an app for anything you might want to do with your finances. The latest: a free Home Loan Toolkit for prospective home buyers from ING Direct Australia. The app appeared in the U.S. App Store yesterday (here). There’s no mention of it on the bank’s website yet, but Google pointed me to the well-designed microsite (here) supporting the app (screenshot below).

It’s pretty straightforward with just three functions:

Calculators to determine how much you can afford to borrow and what the payments would be
A call-me request form
Average home prices by area

Screenshots from ING Direct Australia’s new iPhone app (3 Sep 2009)

ING Direct Australia iPhone Home Loan Toolkit microsite (link, 3 Sep 2009)
Note: The five iPhone screenshots (above) rotate through the iPhone pictured below. Alternatively, users can scroll through the screens with the control under the phone.

————————————————————————-

Note: For more info on the native iPhone apps, see Online Banking Report: Mobile Banking via iPhone.:

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

American Express "Take Charge" Campaign Launches with Powerful Full-Page Ads but Weak Online Support

By Jim Bruene Posted on September 3, 2009
Categories: Advertising & Promotion, American Express, Credit/Debit Cards, Website Usability & Design

Evidently, there is still a disconnect between the print and online advertising groups at major advertisers.

Case in point: American Express kicked off a new campaign (press release) with an impressive full-page ad (p. A9) in Tuesday’s WSJ (see inset) and other print media (note 1). It was a timely ad, playing on money fears and overall security concerns. It concluded with the company’s new tagline:

Don’t Take Chances. Take Charge.

The call-to-action uses a new URL <takecharge.com> that leads to a new microsite (see second screenshot below). Wanting to look at it, I did what I always do, typed “take charge” into Google. Nothing (see first screenshot). I even Binged it. Again, nothing. Searches at Twitter and Facebook also came up empty. Even at American Express’s own website, site-search results do not include the microsite (note 2).

It’s hard to understand why AmEx would spend millions on a new campaign and microsite without Google AdWords support to help people find it, at least until the microsite starts appearing on the first page of search results (note 3).

But after looking at the Take Charge microsite, I can see why the company might not be ready to direct search traffic there. The site is a good example of what NOT to do. The Flash-based site is slow-loading (note 4) and sparsely filled with ten testimonial videos (notes 5, 6), a list of seven benefits for using a charge card, and a couple links out to the main AmEx site.

So far, the microsite looks like a pure branding play. There’s little there that would motivate someone to apply for a card on the spot. But with millions being spent on other media using that URL, it seems like a wasted opportunity, so far. It will be interesting to watch it evolve.

Google search results for “take charge” (9:30 AM Pacific, 1 Sep 2009 from Seattle IP address)

AmEx Take Charge microsite (1 Sep 2009)

Notes:
1. Here’s the initial media buy according to the company’s press release:

The marketing campaign launches (Sep. 1) with print advertisements in national newspapers, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and USA Today. On September 2, print advertisements will run in major regional newspapers, including Boston Globe, New York Post, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle and the Chicago Tribune. Television advertising will begin to air on major broadcast and cable stations such as CBS, FOX, NBC, TNT, A&E and the Discovery Channel breaking during the U.S. Open on September 5.

2. The search results do provide relevant links, just not to the microsite.
3. I haven’t tested it on other computers, but AmEx’s TakeCharge.com site just about brings my 3-year-old Thinkpad to a grinding halt. It’s not a good first impression. The company either needs more server bandwidth or a less demanding page, or preferably both. There should also be a link to a lower-bandwidth version.
4. Currently, the AmEx site does not come up within the first 10 pages. There’s also a remote possibility that Google won’t let AmEx use “take charge” in search ads due to the similar-sounding TakeCharge Financial. But I have to think AmEx lawyers have worked through that issue already.
5. There are small “apply now” links displayed at the end of each video.
6. Once it loads, the site is visually interesting (see screenshot above).

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Fifth Third Bank Bundles Free Credit Report Monitoring & Identity Theft Protection into Checking Accounts

By Jim Bruene Posted on September 2, 2009
Categories: Credit Reports & ID Theft Protection, Deposits, Checking, Savings, CDs, Fifth Third Bancorp, Pricing, Security & Privacy

Checking account profits are being attacked on several fronts. Near-zero short-term interest rates have destroyed the profitability of the balances. Regulators and activists are putting pressure on penalty fees. And consumers are loath to pay monthly charges for what’s been positioned as a free service for so long.

So how is it that Fifth Third Bank is able to bundle a service into its checking account that typically costs consumers $12 or more per month? They are bringing back the monthly fee (see note 1), charging either $7.50 or $15 per month for a so-called package account (see options below). It’s a strategy right out of Marketing 101: figure out what customers want, then build the product, package it right, promote it well, and price it for the value delivered.

I believe Fifth Third has taken the right tack with its checking accounts, though it should go even further (see analysis). The bank offers two non-interest checking account bundles (PDF comparison here), neither of which are free of charge no matter how high the balance (note 2). Instead of offering fee waivers, the bank has bundled full-service three-bureau credit report monitoring and identity theft services powered by Affinion (link to Fifth Third Identity Alerts). And the monitoring is available for BOTH names on a joint checking account (note 3).

Secure Checking at $7.50/month, comes with free credit report
monitoring and identity theft protection (valued at $9.95/month per person)
Gold Checking at $15/month, comes with the same free ID protection &
monitoring plus free nationwide ATM access

Analysis of Secure Checking
Now more than ever, customers are craving security and safety in all things financial (see yesterday’s post). Bundling identity theft/credit report monitoring in checking accounts is an excellent way to address customer concerns AND differentiate your account in the marketplace. And naming it Secure Checking helps drive home the key benefit.

I like what the bank has done. It would be even better if it highlighted more of its current security features available in mobile and Internet banking (note 4):

Email alerts
Mobile text alerts
Secure storage of estatements
Transaction monitoring for fraud and error
Other security protections as outlined on its security page

And down the road, they could enhance the account with additional features such as (note 5):

Out-of-band authentication via text message
Disposable credit/debit account numbers
Long-term (7+ years) secure transaction archives
Enhanced fraud protection guarantees
Dedicated security reps on call 24/7 to help out in the case of a suspected problem
Software and tools to safeguard online banking (e.g., Trusteer, Authentium, Check Point)

Fifth Third Bank non-interest checking accounts (link, 2 Sep 2009)

Secure Checking landing page

Notes:
1. Ref: Is This the End of Free Checking?, SmartMoney Magazine, 31 Aug, by Kelli B. Grant
2. The bank does offer an interest-bearing checking account with its $15 monthly fee waived with a $2,000 average balance in checking or $20,000 across all deposit and investment products. The bank also has a free non-interest checking account option.
3. I’m not sure the bank gets enough mileage out of covering BOTH account holders to justify the additional costs. To improve profits, the bank should consider a modest additional fee (approximately $5/mo) to cover joint account holders.
4. These benefits are hidden behind a tab that most consumers, including myself on my first two passes, will likely miss (see second screenshot above).
5. For more info on how to package security benefits into your services, refer to the following Online Banking Reports: Marketing Security (June 2005) and New Techniques for Securing Online Banking (Sep 2008).

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Who’s Innovating in 2009? Finovate Preview

By Jim Bruene Posted on September 1, 2009
Categories: Finovate, FINOVATE Conference

I’ve participated in dozens of online banking and technology conferences over the years, first as a banker, then as an analyst, and now as the host. Each time, I try to walk away with not only specific action items, but also overall themes that will drive product development over the next few years.

With 32 new products and services being unveiled next month at our Finovate Conference (see note 1) and with planning season just around the corner, I thought it would be a good time to review the themes taking shape this fall:

Control: More and more tools are being invented to help consumers and small businesses take better control of their finances, both on the credit and deposit side. The tools vary from very focused tools to manage health care expenses or 401(k) allocations, to broad tools that manage the big picture. This trend is expected to continue well into the next decade.
Mobility: Most simple financial management tasks, such as checking balances, authorizing purchases, and so on will move to mobile devices, another huge trend that will play out over the next 20 years.
Peer-to-peer: You can’t really cut out the middleman entirely in financial services; a trusted third-party is needed to authenticate both parties. However, the third-party may not always be a traditional financial institution.
Safety & security: This one never goes out of style. But more so than usual, consumers are seeking safe havens for their savings and investments. And they expect more from their financial service providers. It will be a long time before risk-taking reaches levels seen much of the past 10 years.
Segmentation (online): For the most part, online banking has been a one-size-fits-all service, since it came on the scene in the mid- to late-1990s. That’s not good enough going forward. There will be online, and mobile, services tailored for distinct segments. Initial efforts rolling out this year target youth markets, small- and micro-businesses, and savvy investors among others.

Guide to FINOVATE Companies
The following 30 companies (plus two more in stealth mode) will show their latest and greatest innovations in 7-minute demos at Finovate on 29 Sep in NYC. Here’s how our presenting companies describe themselves.

Backbase
Backbase enables organizations to leverage their understanding of valuable customer data into highly personalized eBusiness Portals and Applications. Branding, content, applications, and tools can be targeted to customers using profile-based personalization. Guidance and expertise can be proactively offered based upon specific customer needs. Customers can even be empowered to tailor their own user experience based upon their individual preferences.

BancVue/First ROI
These successful sister companies provide innovative checking accounts backed by dynamic marketing, data-driven consulting and powerful software to community banks and credit unions. BancVue and FIRST ROI aim to change the world of banking by launching a whole new product-delivery model for consumer deposit accounts and community financial institutions.

Billeo
Billeo gives consumers a fast, easy and intelligent way to exercise choice and control over their online purchases and payments. Billeo functions as the catalyst to make online purchases and bill paying as easy and financially rewarding as possible. Billeo was founded by experts from the EBPP, card issuer, banking, ecommerce and technology industries.

BillShrink
BillShrink is an unbiased, free online service that saves people money by continuously updating personalized recommendations on everyday bills. BillShrink monitors millions of wireless plans, credit cards and gas prices across the country to provide an apples-to-apples comparison of the best options available on the market.

Bling Nation
Bling Nation brings mobile payments to consumers and merchant points of sale, offering lower costs, increased efficiency and improved security compared to credit cards, debit cards, checks and cash. The Bling Nation service also enables financial institutions and merchants to offe
r consumers robust rewards programs and real-time redemptions, promoting loyalty and convenience and supporting “shop local” initiatives.

BrightScope
BrightScope is an independent data analytics firm that quantitatively rates 401k plans and gives employers, employees, and brokers tools to enhance plan performance and maximize retirement outlook. The BrightScope Rating™ developed in partnership with leading independent 401k fiduciaries, reviews more than 200 unique data inputs per plan and calculates a single numerical score which defines 401k plan quality at the company level.

Canopy Financial
Canopy Financial provides innovative technology solutions that power the Consumer-Directed Healthcare (CDH) programs of some of the world’s largest healthcare and financial institutions. Ranked #12 on the 2009 Inc. 500 list, Canopy empowers millions of consumers to take greater control of their healthcare dollars, enables price transparency for routine medical services, and increases the speed in which healthcare providers are paid.

CashEdge
CashEdge is the leader in Intelligent Money Movement™ services that enable financial institutions to engage customers in new ways. CashEdge’s Intelligent Money Movement services provide a single point of access, through an online banking or mobile application, for multiple easy-to-use consumer and small business transfer routes.

Credit.com
Serving as an educator, advocate and facilitator, Credit.com empowers consumers with easy-to-understand information about money, credit, loans and more. Credit.com is partnered with trusted financial experts and select companies in order to offer online consumers insightful tips, helpful tools and excellent deals.

Fidelity National Information Services
Fidelity National Information Services, Inc., a member of the S&P 500 Index, is a leading provider of core processing for financial institutions; card issuer and transaction processing services; and outsourcing services to financial institutions and retailers. FIS has processing and technology relationships with 40 of the top 50 global banks, including nine of the top 10.

Firethorn (Qualcomm)
Firethorn, a Qualcomm company, is the crucial link in the emerging mobile commerce ecosystem. As a pioneer in mobile banking, Firethorn is transforming the traditional wallet into a streamlined, efficient and protected mobile revenue channel that will bridge relationships among financial institutions, retailers, wireless carriers and consumers.

Fiserv
Fiserv, Inc. is the leading global provider of information management and electronic commerce systems for the financial services industry, driving innovation that transforms experiences for financial institutions and their customers.

Home-Account
Home-Account is a web-based mortgage finding service helping America’s 75 million homeowners take control of their largest asset– their home via their ‘home-account’. The service grades and analyzes homeowners and their mortgages, presents scenarios to improve their financial situation and then pinpoints the best realistic mortgage options in the market.

Infosys
Infosys defines, designs and delivers IT-enabled business solutions that help Global 2000 companies win in a Flat World. These solutions focus on providing strategic differentiation and operational superiority to clients. With Infosys, clients are assured of a transparent business partner, world-class processes, speed of execution and the power to stretch their IT budget by leveraging the Global Delivery Model that Infosys pioneered.

Intuit
Intuit Inc. is a leading provider of business and financial management solutions for small and mid-sized businesses; financial institutions, including banks and credit unions; consumers and accounting professionals. Their financial institutions division, anchored by Digital Insight, provides on-demand banking services to help banks and credit unions serve businesses and consumers with innovative solutions.

iPay Technologies
iPay Technologies is the leading independent provider of Internet bill payment services. Founded in 2001, iPay develops and fully supports consumer and small business online bill pay solutions for more than 2,800 financial institutions nationwide and in Puerto Rico. iPay offers a 99.93% payment success rate with more than 1,200,000 bill pay customers, and over 4,000,000 payments processed each month.

Kapitall
Kapitall is a rich web application that makes investing easy for everyone. Inspired by game design, Kapitall combines an intuitive and engaging graphic user interface with powerful tools that make it easier than ever to research companies, build portfolios, share ideas and get smarter about the market.

MShift
MShift, Inc. provides Mobile Banking solutions that offer the widest array of features, including Bill Payment, Presentment, Transfers, Account Summaries, History, ATM locators, and much more. MShift also provides the only available Facebook Banking application – online banking directly tied into the Facebook environment. MShift’s Facebook banking application won the Online Banking Report’s “Best of the Web” award for 2007.

On Deck Capital
On Deck Capital offers fair and fast financing to small businesses that do not meet traditional bank lending criteria. The company’s proprietary underwriting and loan processing platform looks deeper into the health of small businesses, focusing on the overall business performance, rather than the owner’s personal credit history.

Outright.com
Outright.com is incredibly simple, online bookkeeping specifically created for the 20 million Americans who work for themselves. Outright offers a streamlined, online solution, with the bookkeeping needs of the small business owners first. Outright’s goal is to keep financial records as simple as possible, helping small businesses accurately track all of their income and expenses to estimate and prepare their taxes. And yes, it works on a Mac too.

PayByMobile
PayByMobile is a virtual wallet that will let anyone text to pay when shopping online. Shoppers load money on their wallet at the same shops where they top up to buy airtime and then simply text to pay when shopping at their favorite online store. PayByMobile uses familiar prepaid mobile usability to deliver a simple yet secure online payment alternative for everyone who has a mobile phone.

People Capital
People Capital underwrites students without credit history by projecting individual income levels and ability to pay. Their Human Capital Score™ incorporates merit data such as GPA, standardized test scores, college and major to provide a true and unbiased, data-driven measure of economic value of an education. Their peer-to-peer lending platform allows students to finance their college educations through improved access to private student loans.

S1 Enterprise
More than 100 banks
and three million consumer, small business, and corporate users worldwide rely on S1 Enterprise solutions to access and manage their financial information. A division of S1 Corporation, S1 Enterprise is a leading provider of integrated banking solutions that deliver financial service providers a holistic view of their customers whether online, in the branch or in the call center.

Silver Tail Systems
Silver Tail Systems provides next generation fraud prevention to protect against business logic abuse – a rising threat on application logic costing financial institutions hundreds of millions of dollars and significant loss of trust. Silver Tail products use real-time behavior analysis to detect and alert on known threats and new behaviors, then enables the business to disrupt these attacks in real-time.

SimpliFi
SimpliFi is a free online financial planning and advice service that lets anyone plan for their financial future. The company was founded in 2004 as a tenant company in Wake Forest University’s Babcock Demon Incubator. SimpliFi is headquartered in Winston-Salem, NC, and has been providing white label financial planning services to credit unions since 2005.

Skill-Life
Skill-Life, Inc. began as CentsCity, LLC in January 2007 with the goal of building financially healthy youth and communities. Their initial vision of employing online gaming to teach financial skills has evolved into a more interactive, game-based, and comprehensive resource for awarding incentives and building life skills.

SmartyPig
SmartyPig allows customers to open goal-based savings accounts and to invite their friends and family to contribute to their goals. The system is based on proprietary, patent-pending technology and the latest in security standards. SmartyPig’s U.S. banking partner is West Bank, a subsidiary of West Bancorporation, Inc. The company’s Australian banking partner is Australian New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ).

Strands
moneyStrands is an innovative, easy-to-use online personal financial service that goes beyond providing financial analysis tools, with personalized money-saving advice and recommendations, and lets people anonymously compare themselves with people with similar backgrounds and financial goals. The interface is widget-based and highly customizable by the end user. moneyStrands is accessible via a full-capability mobile web version and a native iPhone application.

Yodlee
Leading financial institutions trust Yodlee to power critical online financial applications. Yodlee’s personal financial management, payments, and customer acquisition solutions unify all personal financial account information to deliver a simple, centralized and secure source for consumers to manage all of their financial tasks anytime, anywhere. Yodlee makes financial institutions’ websites essential to their customers and generates new revenue opportunities.

———————————————————————————-

Note: You still have until the end of the week to register for the conference and save $100. Current Online Banking Report subscribers can save even more. Email info@netbanker.com for more info.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Don’t Waste the Marketing & Communication Benefits of an iPhone App Update

By Jim Bruene Posted on August 31, 2009
Categories: Chase Bank, iPhone, Mobile Banking, USAA, Wells Fargo

I’ve written plenty about the importance of the iPhone App Store, both here and in Online Banking Report (note 1). But there’s one subtle side benefit I hadn’t thought too much about previously.

Every time a new version of a native app is released, users must take action to download it if they want the new features. While this process used to be a nightmare in the desktop software days where users had to use floppy disks, CDs or large downloads to reinstall the software, it’s an absolute breeze on the iPhone and usually takes less than a minute from start to finish. And there’s no restarting the iPhone or choosing installation options. It’s just a one-click process plus the input of your iTunes password if you weren’t already logged in.

So why is this process a benefit? Because each time a new release is available a little icon shows on top of the App Store icon (see screenshot 1 below). Users then press the App Store icon, choose update, and they see a list of applications with updates available (screenshot 2). At that point users choose to update them all or look at them individually.

We believe most users are interested enough in their financial apps to take a look at the update, at least until the novelty of the mobile app wears off some years in the future. This provides financial institutions a free marketing opportunity to not only explain the new features of the app, but also deliver other marketing messages. You are much more likely to make an impression with your customers during the update process, compared to sending out a random marketing email.

In the three bank examples below, only USAA (screenshot 3) uses the opportunity to further cement its relationship with mobile customers, touting its new remote deposit capabilities along with several other enhancements. Wells Fargo (screenshot 4) takes a matter-of-fact, “we’re fixing bugs” approach that is OK, but still misses the chance to communicate with users. But Chase (screenshot 5) completely annoys users with two sentences of marketing speak that says nothing about the update.

Lessons for financial & mobile marketers: Whenever you release an update for your mobile app (note 2), take the opportunity to communicate with your customers as follows:

Clearly explain the benefits of the changes to the app
Highlight one or two related benefits of the app
Mention any related news or promotions
Strike a good balance between disseminating technical info and marketing new benefits

Screenshots

1. Main iPhone screen shows                        2. The Updates page shows the 4 apps
    that 4 app updates are                                       that have new versions available.
    available (right side halfway down).

3. USAA’s latest update explains the specific changes made and provides several new benefits to using the app.

4 & 5. On the other hand, the Wells Fargo and Chase update messages are sparse. The Wells Fargo update appears to be a minor bug fix, so we’ll cut them some slack for the terse message. However, Chase, with a minor update (2.0.1 update) to its major 2.0 release (released Aug 25), says absolutely nothing in 24 words of marketing-speak:

We’re listening — You asked for a fully native iPhone banking application. This Chase iPhone app is built exclusively for iPhone and iPod touch users.

Seriously Chase, this is the best you could come up for the tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of iPhone users waiting for your updated app? At least the bank gets points for brevity.

Screenshot 4 Screenshot 5

Note:
1. For more info on the importance of a native iPhone app see Online Banking Report: Mobile Banking via iPhone.
2. The same advice holds true for communicating online banking improvements as well, although the communication methods are different (email, newsletter, statement insert, blog, interstitials, log-off messages, etc.).

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Blog

Author: Jim Bruene

Fast Company Recognizes Eight Financial Startups in its NextFinance Column

A Cautionary Tale: T-Mobile Forced to Cancel Plans to Charge a Monthly Fee for Paper Statements

Is Mint Worth $170 Million?

Mobile Banking Awareness at Financial Institutions: The Grades Are In

Mobile Awareness: Let Your Customers Know They Can Bank Online via Smartphone Now

How Measly Online Banking Archives Almost Cost Us $300

ING Direct Releases Home Loan Toolkit for the iPhone

American Express "Take Charge" Campaign Launches with Powerful Full-Page Ads but Weak Online Support

Fifth Third Bank Bundles Free Credit Report Monitoring & Identity Theft Protection into Checking Accounts

Who’s Innovating in 2009? Finovate Preview

Don’t Waste the Marketing & Communication Benefits of an iPhone App Update