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Balance Financial, a software suite for financial professionals, launched a solution called Portfolio Reporting today.
The new solution serves as a one-stop-shop for financial advisors, family offices, and CPAs to track and review their clients’ financial holdings.
Below is a description from Balance’s website:
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Secure payments startup, OpenCuro announced today that its payment module will be available in Zen Cart’s open source shopping cart.
The payment module is free and can be integrated with OpenCuro’s API. Merchants that already use Zen Cart can begin accepting payments on their checkout site via 
OpenCuro in minutes.
The module can be installed on the OpenCuro or Zen Cart website and requires no IT or programming skills.
To learn more about OpenCuro, watch its FinovateSpring 2012 demo.
Q2ebanking partners with cybercrime prevention company, Trusteer.
Yesterday, the Washington Post covered how BancVue’s Kasasa helped a credit union attract Gen-Y customers.
Money One FCU is using Kasasa’s Tunes program that allows members to choose iTunes downloads over interest (3.01%).
Of the credit union’s 12,400 members, 50 have opted into the Tunes program, while 900 chose to reap the 3.01% interest.
The program doesn’t have any fees, but members must meet two stipulations in order to benefit from it:
1) Use their debit card at least 10 times per month
2) Sign up for online banking
The credit union’s president and CEO, Debbie Connors, discloses that the number of new checking accounts has increased by 4 times in the past few months.
To learn more about Kasasa and BancVue, watch Kasasa’s Finovate 2009 demo and BancVue’s FinovateFall 2011 demo.
Q2ebanking, an ebanking solutions company, announced a partnership this morning with Trusteer, a cybercrime prevention solution company.
The partnership integrates Trusteer’s solutions into Q2ebanking’s products and will allow financial institutions to leverage Trusteer’s fraud protection solution to:
The Trusteer products are pre-integrated with Q2ebanking’s solutions in order to shorten implementation time for financial institutions.
To learn more about Q2ebanking, watch its FinovateSpring 2011 demo.
Des Moines Register reports Dwolla to establish small New York City satellite office.
Des Moines-based Social Money, the creator of GoalSaver technology and owner of SmartyPig, announced a partnership with ICICI Bank in India yesterday.
The 2,700-branch bank will have access to Social Money’s GoalSaver product (pictured right). While the bank has not yet disclosed how it will use the product, Bank Innovation shares an inside scoop:
“Broadly, GoalSaver hopes to enliven checking accounts with social networking features and a better user interface. The product boasts a goal feature, for example, which lets a customer share his goal savings progress with his networks on Facebook and Twitter, if he wishes.”
ICICI Bank, located in 20 countries, plays a large role in Social Money’s international strategy. It will launch the product later this year.
To learn more about Social Money, come to FinovateSpring and watch its live demo. To learn more about SmartyPig, watch its FinovateFall 2010 demo.
Last month, we blogged about a FreeMonee FAQ page for U.S. Bank that hinted at a partnership. Today the bank partnered with the national gift network, making this official.
“The FreeMonee Gifts are targeted to ensure they are relevant and valuable to customers. Cardholders redeem their gift by simply using their U.S. Bank Check Card when they shop at the specific retail store, website or restaurant named in their gift message. Once the purchase is completed, U.S. Bank automatically credits the cardholder’s account with the specified gift amount.”
U.S. Bank is the first financial institution to offer FreeMonee. As Clifford Cook, CMO for U.S. Bank Retail Payment Solutions states, “U.S. Bank is continually looking for ways to reward our loyal cardholders.”
Looking for a little Friday afternoon diversion, I visited the website of the recent winner in the humor category of CUNA’s credit union marketing awards, America First Credit Union.
I liked the clever homepage graphic for its loan “billion dollar loan sale” (inset above). But what inspired this blog entry, was the credit union’s recognition that thousands of its members will be slogging through their Federal income tax returns this weekend (note 1).
America First put a prominent orange band across the top of its website (on all pages) reminding members where they could find 2011 tax info on their accounts (screenshot below). And like many financial institutions this time of year, the CU posted a link to TurboTax online for those needing last-minute assistance.
America First Credit Union homepage (13 April 2012)
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Note: U.S. national income tax returns must be filed by April 17, 2012, by anyone in the country with any income last year.
Advisors4Advisors describes inStream Solutions as the future of professional wealth management software.
You can debate whether branches are dead or simply need a good pruning, but there is no argument about the importance of a well-designed website where prospective customers can learn about what you have to offer.
Financial institutions do a good job showcasing products, rates, and available accounts. But shoppers, especially ones not already familiar with you, want to understand what it’s like to bank with you and whether you’ll be there for them if there’s a problem.
That’s something you can get a feel for when visiting a the brick-and-mortar branch. But try figuring that out online. Product info is everywhere, but what’s it REALLY like to bank there?
So along with your usual product and line-of-business tabs, consider adding a tab on the primary navigation leading to a section highlighting the benefits of your bank or credit union. Many companies have an About page, but that’s often an afterthought and usually doesn’t make a strong case.
Here are two examples we found in a quick search, not coincidentally from web-only financial companies that don’t have the luxury of branch staff to explain their benefits:
Bottom line: It will be one of the more difficult sections to build. But also one of the more important.
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Ally Bank “Banking with Ally” (see screenshot below):
PayPal “Get to Know PayPal” (15 March 2012)
Dwolla redesigns dashboard page, reveals celebrity investor.
