“Through this partnership, the Secure Vault Payments solution has been integrated into Jwaala’s Better Online Banking platform (BOB) allowing users to make payments to online merchants and billers through simple, secure and immediate ACH transactions.”
Kabbage Receives $17 Million in Series B Funding, Secures Patent
“We’re able to explore new territories; we can pursue additional marketplaces, new financial products and expand our model even further now.”
“The US Patent is an ‘apparatus to provide liquid funds in the online auction and marketplace environment.’ Basically, it’s a system that lets use an online merchant’s shop and selling history to best determine how dire a need there is of funds.”
Citibank Running Front-page WSJ Facebook Campaign
Citibank is using some of the most expensive real estate on the planet, the front page of the Wall Street Journal, to promote its Facebook page (see inset and below). The bottom-of-the-page banner invites readers to Like Citibank on Facebook to “find amazing ways to use your (ThankYou) points,” and directs them to Citi’s main Facebook page, facebook.com/citibank.
Visitors are shown a special page promising exclusive access to an upcoming Beyonce concert for Citibank ThankYou customers (see first screenshot). After, clicking the Like button, a new screen appears with a “coming soon” message (second screenshot).
As of 11:30 Eastern this morning, Citi had 34,500 likes, by midnight the total had grown by about 2,000 to 36,500. I don’t know where they started the day, but according Visible Banking, the Citi Facebook page debuted in mid-November 2010 with 7,000 likes, mostly from employees.
Bottom line: I like the idea of creating exclusive benefits for Facebook fans. And perhaps Citi’s goal is to make this into a “teaser” campaign. But overall, I was disappointed not to receive any immediate info to reward me for taking the time to visit/like the bank’s Facebook site.
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Citibank banner ad, bottom of first page of WSJ (Western edition, 16 Aug. 2011)
Citibank’s Facebook page, before “Liking” (16 Aug. 2011, 8:30 AM Pacific)
Note: This is the landing page displayed when using the primarily URL, Facebook.com/citibank
Citibank’s Facebook page, after “Liking” (16 Aug. 2011, 9:15 PM Pacific)
Xero Receives $4M R&D Grant from New Zealand Government
“Xero contributes significantly to New Zealand exports,” says Rod Drury. “The majority of our future growth will come from customers in Australia, the UK, USA and new territories. This grant helps speed up our export drive into these territories and beyond.”
peerTransfer Receives $7.5 Million in Series A Financing
“The funding will be used to increase headcount and infrastructure across functional areas to support growth as it expands the number of colleges and universities it works with. peerTransfer already works with over 30 leading institutions…”
ActivePath & Cardlytics Partner to Offer Transaction-based Marketing in Email Statements
“With this partnership, banking customers canreceive enhanced offer-carrying eStatementsdirectly into their inbox to be viewed and transacted from within in the email message at their convenience without the need to log on to the bank’s website or download the statement. Additionally, this partnership will provide banks and retailers with the ability to utilize transaction-based marketing in the eStatement, a win-win solution that can help increase transaction volume, enhance customer relationships and generate new revenue.”
ING Direct Raises the Security Bar Again with Checkbook Activation
ING Direct has brought a number of security innovations to the United States:
- Password entry via pin pad instead of keyboard
- Trusteer “safe login” browser plugin (previous post)
- Challenge questions at login (when needed)
Now add a fourth item to that list:
- Authorization required when a new book of paper checks is ordered (see update below)
ING Direct, which famously eschewed paper checks when it launched a checking account, Electric Orange, in 2007, recently began offering a paper-check option. True to form, ING Direct added a few twists to standard industry practices:
- Paper checks can be bought only in quantifies of 50
- Each order is just $5
- Only one set of 50 can be ordered at a time (but once they have been authorized, another set can be ordered)
- Before the checks can be used, the book of 50 must be activated online (similar to credit/debit card authorization)
- Because the order must be authorized, third-party paper checks will not work at ING Direct (another security improvement)
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How it works
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The bank isn’t exactly pushing paper checkbooks. There are no obvious links to the option on the primary or secondary navigation. Users must click on the Payments tab, then select Overview on the secondary navigation. That brings up a list of the ways to make payments, with “Checkbook” listed half-way down the page (see below).
New paper-check option at ING Direct (12 Aug. 2011)
And the bank’s order form is drop-dead simple, unlike most major banks which drop you to a third-party order-entry site.
One-click check-ordering process
Confirmation screen explains next steps
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My take
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Offering paper checks is a good move. Most U.S. customers still need the occasional paper check, and waiting 5 days for ING Direct to send one out on your behalf was slow and cumbersome.
And I really like the authorization feature. Since I was old enough to know about check fraud, I’ve always felt that a book of checks sitting in my mailbox was a bit disconcerting. This solves that worry.
Finally, the $5 per 50 pricing is consumer friendly and competitive. The lower quantity (compared to typical 150-200 orders) subtly discourages paper-check usage, but the price is in line with other financial institutions, which typically charge $15 to $25 per 200 checks (note 1).
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PS. ING Direct must be very close to launching remote check deposit. It has a “stay tuned” message posted under the “Deposit Checks” tab in secondary navigation (see below).
ING Direct’s website implies that remote check deposit is coming soon (12 Aug. 2011)
Update (16 Aug. 2011): I heard from Citibank today. Apparently, they’ve used checkbook authorization for online account opening since 2007.
Notes:
1. And you can pay more: Chase recently dinged me for $23 for a book of 50 money-market checks (which I didn’t ask for) when I opened a new business savings account. In comparison, I earned $0.40 (before tax) in interest on the balance. That means it would take more than 7 years to earn enough interest to pay for the book of checks. But I’ll give Chase credit for immediately reversing the fee after I dropped the unwanted checks off at the branch.
2. Apparently ING Direct changed its homepage navigation items earlier this year. The overall minimalist design remains unchanged. But now, in addition to View My Account, the bank offers three choices: Banking, Investing or Retirement. Previously, there were only two other choices: Open an account and Learn more.
Weemba Launches Social Lending Platform
“Profiles may include everything from the borrower’s income, education level and veteran status (individuals) to number of employees, annual sales or revenues, and articles of incorporation (business). Borrowers can upload images, videos and files that support their loan projects, better showcasing them for lenders.”
Amazon.com Shoppers Prompted to Select Discover Card as Default Payment Option, with a $1 Million Carrot
A few months ago, American Express provided five free song downloads as incentive for its cardholders to make Amex the default card option within the iTunes store (previous post).
Today, I noticed Discover offering an eye-opening incentive to get their card listed as the default option for one-click purchases on Amazon.com:
A chance to win $1 million every time you pay
This offer is part of the year-long Discover Everyday Giveaway usage sweeps.
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Discover Card’s $1 million promotion on Amazon.com (12 Aug. 2011)
Note: A small ad first appeared in the upper-right part of the screen, this is what it looked like after I chose “Expand”
How it works (link)
Note: This screen presented when clicking on “Learn more” from above banner
Lighter Capital Looking to Loan $500K to a Small Business in August
“We heard the banks were tightening credit, so we decided to do the opposite…. If the banks aren’t going to fund awesome, growing companies, we will, no matter what the market does.”
Expensify Launches New “Crop & Rotate” Feature
Truliant Federal Credit Union Gives Away iPads to Promote FinanceWorks PFM
There are three huge usability challenges with online personal financial management (PFM):
- It’s hard to get started
- It’s a pain to keep up with tagging transactions to make the data meaningful
- It can be disconcerting for many users to view spending summaries
That’s why so few Americans engage in PFM, despite its obvious benefits (note 1). One way to tackle the first problem: Offer a sweepstakes or bonus to induce trial.
Truliant FCU is doing that with a late-summer sweeps encouraging members to log in and give its FinanceWorks (powered by Intuit’s Quicken) program a try. Members who sign up for the PFM between July 6 and Sept. 29 are automatically entered into the sweeps. There is no cost for the service (note 2).
Prizes include:
- $100 awarded each week
- iPad 2 awarded each month
Total value of the prizes is about $3,000.
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Truliant FCU PFM sweeps (11 Aug. 2011)
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Notes:
1. For more on online personal financial management (OFM), see Online Banking Report (published May 2010).
2. We urge FIs to consider charging for value-added services such as online PFM. See our recent Online Banking Report, Creating Fee-Based Online & Mobile Banking Services (published May 2011) for the rationale.