Yodlee Partners with Open Solutions

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PFM startup Yodlee announced today that it has formed a partnership with Open Solutions, a supporter of community financial institutions and credit unions.

“Open Solutions will be the first channel partner to launch the Yodlee Platform with the FinApp Center to its community bank and credit union customers. Yodlee’s FinApp Center is a consumer-driven marketplace for personalized financial applications, or Yodlee FinApps…”

Open Solutions hopes to have the FinApps available by early 2012.

To learn more about Yodlee’s FinApps, watch its FinovateFall 2011 demo.

Multi-Channel Messaging is a Mess

Image licensed from Shutterstock Last month, I reported that my “aha moment” at BAI’s Retail Delivery was the realization of just how challenging it had become to manage customer messaging across multiple channels and products.

Consider this 9×12 matrix of 108 product/message options a bank could conceivably use to reach a couple about their banking and loans. The whiteboard in the marketing conference room just won’t cut it any more as the master scheduling tool. 

Product/
Channel

DDA

Card #1

Card #2

OLB

Loan #1

Loan #2

Mtg

Invest

Insure

Voice home                  
Voice mobile (Sue)                  
Voice mobile (Joe)                  
Email pers (Sue)                  
Email pers (Joe)                  
Email work (Sue)                  
Email work (Joe)                  
Website message                  
Text (Sue)                  
Text (Joe)                  
App (Sue)                  
App (Joe)                  

If that wasn’t complicated enough, unique regulations can govern each channel and/or product.  Some exa
mples: new mortgage rules for a single source of contact; time-of-day preferences (don’t text me while I’m asleep); and privacy issues (don’t alert my spouse to card charges).

And this table gets bigger if you add mail, in-branch, ATM messages or more products such as small business accounts, savings/CDs, and accounts held jointly with other family members. You could also add inbound vs. outbound calls/messages.

But one person’s mess is another’s opportunity. Fintech companies are hard at work on  solutions that turn multi-channel snarls into opportunities to increase satisfaction and/or cut costs.

imageOne key player is Seattle-based Varolii, which delivered my aha moment last month. In a followup last week, I had a chance to sit down with CEO David McCann and have a wide-ranging conversation about customer messaging in the age of the voice/email/text/notifications. I was impressed, both with the enormity of the challenge of coordinating customer messaging, and with the solutions it offers (note 1).

image Then yesterday, I met with Amit Ashman, Marketing Director at Nice, who happened to be here on a whirlwind visit from their headquarters in Israel. His company, which booked $200 million in revenues last quarter, provides call-center technology for large U.S. financial institutions. They have developed a very cool call-center/mobile-app solution about to be unleashed on the world. It blends self-service with agent support in a relatively seamless fashion that I suspect will be the industry standard five years from now.

It’s convinced me to write a report on Multi-Channel Customer Support for our Online Banking Report (note 2). We are also looking to recruit more companies in this area to 2012 Finovate events. So, please email suggestions for solutions providers and/or financial institutions who are tackling the problem.  

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Notes:
1. Great tagline, “Better return on interactions”
2. The multi-channel report won’t be published until early next year. However, we’ve tackled remote customer service and messaging a number of times in previous issues of our Online Banking Report. The last one was Live Help earlier this year.

Visa’s V.me Mobile Wallet To Compete With PayPal

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Yesterday, Visa unveiled its V.me mobile wallet that will compete with PayPal in “card number-shielded” online/mobile payments. 

Key features:

  • Use on PC, tablet, or mobile device
  • Use multiple cards
  • Need only username and password to checkout online

V.me hopes to differentiate itself from PayPal by also supporting payments at the physical point-of-sale. However, PayPal is working on that as well. 

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The service is currently invite-only in the U.S. and Canada, but Visa hopes to make it publicly available in early 2012.

To learn more about Visa, watch its FinovateSpring 2010 demo.

Finovate Alumni News– November 17, 2011

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  • Expensify listed as 1 of 10 innovative startups that rocked the Under the Radar Conference.
  • Reuters blog explains how Prosper and Lending Club are cutting out the banker middleman.
  • LearnVest offers free personal financial advice today. Use the code LVDAYPASS100 to get a day pass.
  • Xconomy reports: BillGuard, Backed by Khosla Ventures, Wants to Stop Sneaky Credit Card Charges.
  • Seventure Partners and Naxicap Partners invest 4 million Euro in Mootwin.
  • Michigan Farm Bureau selects Identity Theft 911 to provide members with ID Theft Protection & Resolution Services.
  • Betterment integrates its goal feature with Mint.com and Pageonce.
  • Visa’s V.me mobile wallet to compete with PayPal.
  • Jingit sees good uptake on U.S. Bank debit card.
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.

Affinion Group To Distribute Finsphere’s Mobile Transaction Monitoring Service

finsphere_logo.jpgFinsphere announced yesterday that the Affinion Group will serve as the exclusive distribution partner of its Mobile Transaction Monitoring service to financial institutions in the United States.

Here’s how it works:

“The service’s unique algorithm takes into account not only a user’s current location, but the historical location of the phone and previous financial transactions, as well as the transaction amount and merchant to determine whether the transaction is high-risk and whether to alert the user.  Once a user receives an alert, they can call the appropriate financial institution or an FCRA certified identity theft expert to get help in resolving any potential issues.”

The Affinion Group will offer the service as part of a suite that provides consumer protection from identity theft.

To learn more about Finsphere, watch its FinovateFall 2010 demo.

Finovate Alumni News– November 16, 2011

  • Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Finovate-F-Logo.jpgApparel Retailer Aeropostale selects CashStar to provide e-gift cards.
  • CU Insight reports that Geezeo partners with IBT, a financial services innovator.
  • Dynamics’ Chip And Choice Technology wins 2011 CARTES Best in Show Award.
  • NY Daily News recommends LearnVest and DoughMain as resources for financial education.
  • Lendio inspires future entrepreneurs with $2,500 scholarship.
  • Arroweye approved to digitally produce Discover Cards.
  • ABA Banking Journal describes mobile banking, citing Celent’s report, “Innovations in Mobile at Finovate.”
  • Affinion Group to distribute Finsphere’s Mobile Transaction Monitoring service.
  • Betterment CEO Jon Stein interviews with top investment bloggers.
  • Centuryware discusses SecondMarket’s success.
  • Wonga CEO named Entrepreneur of the Year by European Tech Tour Association.
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.

Square Updates its Merchant Platform

image In 15+ years of accepting credit cards, there have been few notable communications from our acquiring bank or payments gateway, other than normal transactional messages (note 1). Square looks to be changing that with a focus on merchant (and end user) experience.

For example, today I received an email outlining Square’s latest platform enhancements (see first screenshot). The message included an enticing Open for Business with an invitation to watch a 70-second video outlining enhancements to its merchant platform, including built-in rewards capabilities (note 2). 

The company has grown quickly. Basically starting at zero at the beginning of the year, they are now doing up to $11 million per day in card volume. More impressively, they are up to 800,000 merchants. Assuming a $65 to $70 average ticket, that’s around 150,000 transactions per day, or 4 to 5 million per month. But that also means the average merchant is only doing 1 transaction every 5 or 6 days. 

imageAnd the user experience is far from perfect. Square has suffered growing pains as it learns to manage a business fraught with fraud and uncertainty. We tried to use Square at Finovate last May and couldn’t get transactions authorized, apparently due to tight account limits in force then.

Four months later at FinovateFall, most transactions were authorized, much to the delight of attendees who used it. But unbeknownst to us (note 3), the money just sat in the Square account waiting for us to confirm our bank account. One small test-transaction had been sitting there since May.

Bottom line: The company flat-out does a great job with design and UX, very Apple-esque. I expect to see a lot of innovation out of Square given its funding, valuation, and celebrity founder. The promise of turning transaction receipts into a dynamic communication is especially interesting (previous post).

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Email from Square (received 1PM Pacific, 15 Nov 2011)

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Landing page (not logged in; link)

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Notes:
image1. It could be that I’ve simply forgotten messages received years ago. But I can say for sure that there have been very marketing/customer service messages, because I pay attention to them. My acquirer is not one of the major players. 
2. TechCrunch has a good rundown of the new features.
3. In fairness to Square, they did mention on the merchant receipt that we needed to verify the bank account. But during the heat of the conference, I never noticed that. Click on inset to see the company’s transaction receipt (highlighting mine).  
4. I wonder what it will take to convince Japan’s Square-Enix Holdings, creator of Final Fantasy (video game) to part with the Square.com domain name (which is currently unused). 

TrustedID Acquires Unsubscribe.com

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California-based TrustedID announced its acquisition of Unsubscribe.com, the creator of Social Monitor, an antivirus for social networks.

“Unsubscribe.com’s Social Monitor, the most advanced security tool for consumers using social networks, scans apps within Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter accounts to determine their risk. Social Monitor has evaluated over 100,000 apps to date, covering more than 90% of all Facebook app installs.”

The tool allows users to assess the risk level of individual apps and, if necessary, remove them from their social-network account.

To learn more about TrustedID, watch its FinovateSpring 2011 demo.

Lendio Works With LegalZoom To Bring Legal Resources To Users

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Yesterday, Lendio announced that it will work with LegalZoom to allow users to access legal resources on its platform:

“LegalZoom offers prepaid legal plans for individuals and small businesses at a cost of as little as $15 a month. Customers can obtain legal advice over the telephone and other services from an attorney licensed in their state.”

Bringing LegalZoom to the Lendio platform will provide users access to financing and legal resources in one place.

To learn more about Lendio, watch its FinovateSpring 2011 demo.

Finovate Alumni News– November 15, 2011

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  • FamilySearch now using eWise’s Secure Vault Payments Technology.
  • Business Insider recommends Credit Karma as a free way to learn your credit score.
  • Netbanker: WV United FCU offering both Square and Dwolla payments.
  • The Globe and Mail adds ticker content from StockTwits.
  • Brightscope holds off on adding yelp-like investor reviews in order to add a Q&A section to the site.
  • Wall Street Survivor launches affiliate program.
  • Williams-Sonoma works with CashStar to provide e-gift cards.
  • Lendio works with LegalZoom to bring legal resources to users.
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.

The Globe and Mail Adds Ticker Content from StockTwits

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The Globe and Mail announced yesterday that it has launched the StockTwits ticker stream on its website. Readers will be able to follow the news in real time and will be able to message the stream to Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Here are the three features that The Globe and Mail has included:

    1. StockTwits tab to the ticker page
    2. StockTwits widgets to the story page
    3. Ticker widget on the StockTwitsScreenShot.jpgticker page

The Globe and Mail joins Yahoo! Finance, CNN Money, Reuters.com and Bing Finance as StockTwits content distributors.

To learn more about StockTwits, watch its FinovateEurope 2011 demo.

FamilySearch Now Using eWise’s Secure Vault Payments Technology

ewiselogo9.1.11.pngeWise’s Secure Vault Payments technology was featured in Bank Technology News last Friday. The electronic payment network began working with genealogical site FamilySearch to provide a payment platform that will allow it to collect donation payments on its website:

“When processing donations via Secure Vault, financial institutions authenticate the payer and provide FamilySearch with fast authorization. Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank, which is the first top-ten bank to offer Secure Vault, is sponsoring FamilySearch International into the Secure Vault network, a role similar to that of a merchant acquiring bank.”

While there are no numbers on increased donations yet, there has been a reported increase in donor interest.

To learn more about eWise’s platforms, watch its FinovateSpring 2011 demo.