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First Look: U.S. Bank’s New iPad App

By Jim Bruene Posted on May 2, 2012
Categories: Mobile Banking, US Bank

Yesterday, U.S. Bank became the fifth top-10 United States bank to release an iPad app and only the second to include remote check deposit (Chase was first). The new app is not listed on the bank’s website yet, but became available in the Apple App Store on May 1.

I’ve been testing it for a day now and find it attractive, well laid out, and practical. It’s a genuine native tablet app, and not an enlarged version of its iPhone app.

Here’s what I liked:

Remote deposit: A cool feature that creates a nice point of differentiation for now.
Person-to-person payments (which I didn’t test because I needed to first enroll online)
Different portrait vs. landscape mode looks: The layout changes slightly depending on what position you use the app.
Built-in calculator and calendar: The lower-right corner contains a calculator/calendar widget.
Pinned account summary: Account balances are displayed in the upper-right corner on all pages.
Offers section: The bank has created an offers area in the middle of the page. Presumably this is where the bank will display card-linked offers from its partnership with FreeMonee, along with bank-product specials. Unfortunately, it’s empty, at least for my account (note 1). Unless, the box can be hidden, there should be at least one offer in it at all times (especially at app launch).
Contact info: The bank’s phone number and email address are prominently displayed.
Integrated location map: In landscape mode, the nearest US Bank branch and ATM locations are always displayed in the upper right corner (note 2).
Branding/advertising in front of login: Not everyone who downloads your app, is ready and/or able to login. Talk to them. Service them.
Full site access via button in right-hand column.

What’s missing:

Simplified login: U.S. Bank’s table login is 25% harder than its desktop banking login. It uses full username and password. There’s no option to remember username. And unlike the desktop, where the curser is automatically positioned in the fields, tablet users must touch the empty box before typing.
Financial management/PFM: There is no ability to sort, annotate, or interact with the data in any way.
Chat: There is no way to interact in real time online.
Search: There is no way to search transactions or any other info.
Security assurances: No security section to assure users that it’s safe to bank via tablet.
Content (other than account info): There is little content outside bank account info and the ATM/branch locator.
Visual interest: The app is attractive and functional. However, it’s fairly bland by iPad standards. Within the secure site, there are no photos, no interesting graphics, along with the aforementioned empty offers box.

Final grade: The app supports the brand, is easy to navigate and does a great job covering the important basics. Plus it has a few advanced features: offers, P2P payments, and remote deposit. Overall, I’ll give it an A-. Nice work.

———————

U.S. Bank iPad app pre-login (2 May 2012)
Note: Graphical images promoting the bank and its remote deposit service

U.S. Bank iPad main "Accounts" page in landscape mode
Note: Empty "offers" box; link to full site; calculator in lower right

U.S. Bank iPad main "Accounts" page in landscape mode
Note: Empty "offers" box

———————

Notes:
1. I’m a long-time customer with six current accounts plus a closed home equity line.
2. While the map makes a nice visual, it doesn’t have much use for the 97% of the time the user is logging in to mobile banking from their home or work. So it might be too prominent. This is only an issue in landscape mode. In portrait mode, the map is not displayed.

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cbanc Network Launches Premium Subscription Services

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on May 2, 2012
Categories: cbanc Network

cbanc Network, a free, online network for banking and credit union professionals to collaborate and share knowledge, launched two options for premium services this week. The premium services will grant paying members access to special features that go beyond what the free service provides.

There are two levels of service:

cbanc Plus — $250/ year

Can access the Peer Trends feature to see what similar institutions are paying attention to
Receive 5 free content downloads
Receive a 1.5x Points Booster that allows them to earn 50% more points every time they complete a vendor review, survey, content review, or exam watch

2. cbanc Pro — $750/ year

Same benefits as cbanc Plus
One free registration to the webinar of their choice
Five additional Free Content Downloads
Access to the Vendor Management and Due Diligence software solutions

To learn more about cbanc Network, watch its FinovateFall 2011 demo.

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Finovate Alumni News– May 2, 2012

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on May 2, 2012
Categories: Expensify, Kabbage, Kony Solutions, PayPal, Pindrop Security, Silver Tail Systems, SimpleTuition, Yodlee, ZipZap

Bank Innovation names Kabbage CEO, Rob Frohwein, as 1 of 10 top innovators.

SimpleTuition’s SmarterBank announces $25,000 #CrushStudentDebt Sweepstakes.

Pindrop Security raises $1 million in seed funding.

Yodlee Interactive announces new accelerator/incubator programs.

Bermuda’s Royal Gazette features Expensify.

ZipZap to power cash payment service for Towah Group.

Silver Tail Systems announces partnership with Barclaycard Global Payment Acceptance. See Silver Tail Systems at FinovateSpring.

Kony Solutions is one of the first mobile platform vendors to support BlackBerry 10.

Bank Technology News reports Bancorp using PayPal for payments and account-opening tech.

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.

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Design: Three Fixes Needed to Make Mobile Banking as Widely Used as a Weather App

By Jim Bruene Posted on May 1, 2012
Categories: Mobile Banking, Security, Website Usability & Design

Today I noticed something in Square’s latest Card Case app that I’d missed when it was announced last month. It’s a feature they call "tilt to map" which means that if you turn the phone sideways you see a map of nearby locations using Square (see inset, note 1).

That’s one of those slick, mobile tricks (like remote deposit) that you can’t quite duplicate on the desktop. However, none of the mobile features have pulled me away from desktop banking, yet.

Why? Partly, it’s because I have a laptop with me 24/7 and am almost always in a wifi zone. But even so, I’ve switched to mobile for most other low-bandwidth information services such as weather, traffic, maps, sports scores, movie times, Twitter feed, flight tracking, concert calendar, renting movies, and so on.

What will it take to get banking on this list?

Three fundamental issues need to be solved (with relative magnitude in parenthesis):

1. Make it much easier to login (60%)
None of of the mobile info services I use regularly require any type of login (after initial registration). Banks often allow the username to be saved, which helps, but the typical 8+ digit alphanumeric password is still not a good user experience on mobile. A four or five-digit numerical PIN would solve 80% of this problem. Or even better, install read-only access to certain data.

2. Make it easier to navigate (30%)
There should be almost no navigation required to see my balance and transaction stream. Square’s "tilt-to" function could be used by a bank to display account balances in portrait mode and a transaction stream in landscape.

3. Provide security education & guarantees (10%)
This is not an issue for me. In general, I think mobile banking is more secure than desktop (see note 2). But the general public is still unsure about mobile security. You can change this by providing understandable security guarantees for mobile users.

—–

Notes:
1. ING Direct also uses the same trick, displaying links to its social media sites when the app is tilted to landscape mode.
2. For more improving security perceptions, see our latest Online Banking Report.

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Pindrop Security Raises $1 Million in Seed Funding

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on May 1, 2012
Categories: Pindrop Security

Pindrop Security, a startup that aims to stop caller ID fraud, announced today that it raised $1 million in seed funding. Investors include Andreessen Horowitz, GRA Venture Fund, New World Ventures, Sigma Partners, and Webb Investment Network.

According to the Atlanta Business Chronicle:

“Pindrop, backed by serial entrepreneur Paul Judge, expects to raise a $5 million to $8 million Series A round in mid-2012, is tapping into a mammoth market.”

Come see Pindrop Security demo its latest technology on stage at FinovateSpring next week.

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Bank Innovation Names Kabbage CEO, Rob Frohwein, As One of Ten Top Innovators

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on May 1, 2012
Categories: Kabbage

Bank Technology News recently named Rob Frohwein, founder and CEO of Kabbage, as one of the top 10 innovators of the year. Kabbage, along with yet-to-be-launched Movenbank, were the only two non-banks to make the list.

In the article, Rob and Kabbage are recognized for the unique business model that aims to provide working capital to small businesses in a matter of minutes.

Bank Technology News interviews Frohwein about the startup:

“Although the company is not profitable yet, ‘we could be profitable tomorrow,’ Frohwein says. ‘Our business is large and most of the people working here are working on improvements to the system and we’re absorbing some losses.’ Changing the strategy to focus on profitability is a simple decision, he says.”

It also provides some additional data:

Been in operation for 3 years
Helped over 4,000 small businesses
Extended over $14 million
20% of users have opted to allow UPS to share their shipping information with Kabbage. Read about that feature here.

To see Kabbage demo its newest technology, come to FinovateSpring. Also, check out its FinovateEurope 2012 demo.

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FinovateSpring 2012 Fintech Categories Revealed

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on April 30, 2012
Categories: FinovateSpring 2012

In preparation for FinovateSpring next week, the 64 presenting companies have been busy perfecting their 7 minute demos, while we have been learning about the fintech they’ll demo on stage.

We assembled this graphic to give you a taste of some different fintech categories you’ll see on stage at FinovateSpring:

Want to see these and more demonstrated live, on stage? Get your FinovateSpring ticket here.

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MiiCard Raises $2.5 Million USD, Launches Twitter Validation Service

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on April 30, 2012
Categories: MiiCard

United Kingdom-based miiCard, a startup that helps you prove your identity online, announced a second round of seed funding for $2.5 million USD today. Investments came from a mix of groups including New Wave Ventures, IQ Capital and Par Equity.

The startup plans to use the funds to expand its digital passport technology. On its blog, miiCard mentions:

“The substantial investment supports miiCard’s expansion into the US and will enable rapid growth of the business, across a range of markets including financial services, ecommerce, social networking and dating, where trust online is now critical.”

One of the social networking platforms miiCard is working on is Twitter. It launched a Twitter validation function last week.

Here’s how it works:

To learn more about miiCard, watch its FinovateEurope 2012 demo.

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Finovate Alumni News– April 30, 2012

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on April 30, 2012
Categories: Aptys Solutions, eToro, Hidden Levers, inStream Solutions, Keynote DeviceAnywhere, Lending Club, Pageonce, PayNearMe, Prosper, SoMoLend, Virtual Piggy

Netbanker features PayNearMe’s mobile app.

Fanlala and Virtual Piggy ink deal to provide secure online payments for U- 18 users. Come see Virtual Piggy at FinovateSpring next week.

Finextra reports United Bankers’ Bank implements Aptys’ data archiving system.

Hidden Levers is now easier to use with client portfolios thanks to TD’s open API initiative.

SoMoLend explains how it will position itself in light of the JOBS act. See its live demo at FinovateSpring next week.

Bank Innovation reports Pageonce will launch P2P payments functionality later this year.

Lucrative Lending compares Prosper & Lending Club returns.

Keynote DeviceAnywhere announces collaboration to give developers remote access to real devices from Sprint’s handsets.

Washington Business Journal features inStream Solutions.

eToro is named a winner of Red Herring 100 Award.

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.

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Feature Friday: Paying Online with Cash

By Jim Bruene Posted on April 27, 2012
Categories: Alt Payments, Feature Friday, Mobile Payments, Wal-Mart

I love headline alliteration and it’s good to have a shtick, so I will periodically post a “Feature Friday” here. It turns out I started last Friday with Capital One’s new mobile rewards feature, the ability to trade rewards points to pay for PAST travel (and they did it without resorting to time travel).

This week, old-school cash was in the news:

Finovate fan favorite PayNearMe launched a mobile version of its cash-based payment service that allows users to buy online then take the receipt to 7-11 to pay in cash (or card). Until now, the system relied on a printed receipt to hand over to the cashier. And printing is so 2009. The new mobile version (inset), does away with the printing, allowing users to show the cashier a barcode rendered on a mobile phone. From then on, the process is the same.
WalMart just launched a “pay with cash option” that works with its Walmart.com site (screenshots below). The company could extend the service to purchases at other ecommerce sites if it wants to drive more traffic to stores.

Relevance for Netbankers: While we don’t spend much time here discussing cash, it’s still important across most demographics. And banks have a huge stake in the game with their ATM bases and other cash-handling infrastructure.

Banks could do the same thing as PayNearMe, using their branch and ATM networks to take cash over the counter as payment. And many parents may prefer sending junior to the bank instead of the convenience store.

But I also wonder if we’ll see the reverse? Instead of handing cash over to the 7-11 clerk, parents can transmit a bar code to their kid’s mobile to allow them to walk out of the store with a crisp $20 for lunch and a bus ride home. And it would make sense to extend that capability to mobile-enabled ATMs and even branches.

Anyway, that’s all for this week, have a great one!

———-

Walmart homepage (27 April 2012)

Homepage popup lays out how it works

Walmart checkout
Choose “cash” icon under “enter a new payment method”

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Finovate Alumni News– April 27, 2012

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on April 27, 2012
Categories: FamZoo, Intuit, MoneyDesktop, SafetyPay

Intuit buys Demandforce for $424 million.

SafetyPay awarded its first patent.

Baxter CU to integrate member data into the MoneyDesktop PFM for a real-time look into finances. Come check out MoneyDesktop at FinovateSpring 2012 in San Francisco.

Finovate interviews Bill Dwight from FamZoo.

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.

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