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Finovate Events in 2010 Announced — Apply to Demo Now

By Eric Mattson Posted on December 3, 2009
Categories: Finovate

We’re incredibly pleased to announce our Finovate events for 2010 today. Over the last few years, our Finovate conferences have grown tremendously and become must-attend showcases of the best new innovations in financial and banking technology.

In 2010, we will again be organizing two great Finovate conferences. The first, FinovateSpring, will take place in San Francisco on Tuesday May 11 and the second, FinovateFall, will take place in New York City on Tuesday October 5.

Both events will showcase dozens of fintech innovations from established leading companies and hot young startups via our special demo-only (no slides allowed) format. Every company selected to demo at the events gets 7 minutes on stage to show their latest and greatest to the entire audience plus a plug-and-play demo booth during the intimate networking sessions to connect one-on-one with the attendees. The powerful blend of a ton of high-quality demos and top-notch networking in a single day that has won rave reviews year after year from both participating companies and attendees is back!

In 2009, the high-quality audiences of financial execs, press, bloggers, analysts, VCs and entrepreneurs at both conferences grew 20% and in 2010 we expect the events to be even bigger and better.

If you’re interested in doing a demo at one of the 2010 events, please email me today at eric@netbanker.com for more details. The application window for the spring event is now open and will close at the end of February (there are advantages to applying early).

P.S. Tickets for both events are on sale now at www.finovate.com. Register today to lock in your spot and the super early bird price!

Eric Mattson is CEO of Online Financial Innovations, the parent company of NetBanker, Online Banking Report and the Finovate Conference Series. He can be reached at eric@netbanker.com.

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Launched: PerkStreet Financial Focuses on Debit Card Rewards and Free Checking

By Jim Bruene Posted on December 2, 2009
Categories: Advertising & Promotion, Launches, Rewards Programs, Search Engine Marketing

With growing debit card usage, and few rewards programs with meaningful payment bonuses (note 1), the market seems right for a focused debit-card-rewards provider.

But the market has not evolved as fast as many thought. Capital One threw in the towel on its decoupled debit rewards program. Finovate alum (video here) Tempo Payments is refocusing on affinity-branded cards, which often have a reward component paid for by the affinity partner.

But a new entrant, PerkStreet Financial (powered by The Bancorp Bank) may have the right answer: reward levels on par with credit-card programs, 1% of spending value, 4x the average debit card program (note 1). The company emphasizes rewards paid via free coffee (nice tie-in to the name), music downloads (going after the youth market), or gift cards from name-brand retailers (adds retail interest to the account). See the first screenshot.

But with lower interchange, and no monthly fee (note 2), how can a bank afford such high rewards?

No branches
Rewards paid out on retail stored-value cards which are provided to the bank by retailers at prices less than face value
$30 overdraft charges (but it’s OPT-IN optional)

$50 new-account bonus: If you navigate directly to the website, there is no new account bonus (see screenshot 2). But if you use Google, it’s hard to miss PerkStreet’s ad (screenshot 3) or the affiliate deals. Going to the site through those options earns you a $50 bonus (screenshot 4), and in the case of the Google ad, an additional $50 qualified satisfaction guarantee (screenshot 5).

1. PerkStreet perks page (link; 2 Dec 2009)

2. Standard homepage with no offer, emphasizing free

3. Google search for “PerkStreet Financial” (2 Dec 2009, 5:30 PM Pacific from Seattle IP address)

4. PerkStreet homepage accessed via affiliate (Doughroller link)
$50 bonus with $25 opening deposit and three months of activity

5. Landing page offer (link, 2 Dec 2009)
$50 bonus now with direct deposit, and $50 more if not satisfied within eight months.
To qualify as not satisfied, you must have set up direct deposit within 60 days of account opening, made 10 or more debit transactions per month for six straight months, and have closed your account within eight months of opening.

Notes:
1. According to the fine print disclosures on PerkStreet’s homepage, 17% of debit cards provide rewards with an average value of 0.23% of spending (source cited: BAI/Hitachi 2008 Study of Consumer Payment Preferences).
2. The account has a monthly fee ($4.50) only if there is no activity.

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Finovate 2009 Demo Videos Available Free Online Now

By Eric Mattson Posted on December 2, 2009
Categories: Finovate

I’m excited to announce that the videos of all the demos from our Finovate 2009 conference this fall are now available free online.

It was an amazing conference with a ton of great innovations showcased on stage. We hope you enjoy watching the demos in video format as much as the 450 attendees enjoyed watching them live on the day of the event.

As usual, we’ve provided all the videos in both Windows Media and QuickTime formats. We’ve also added a higher-res download version so you can watch them in bigger-screen glory. To download the bigger-screen version simply right-click on the link that says QuickTime HD (hint: it’s located under the video player) and choose “save as”.

A huge thanks for all the demoing companies (listed below alphabetically) for participating at Finovate 2009.

P.S. If you’re interested in demoing at a future Finovate event, please reach out to me for more details.

Eric Mattson is CEO of Online Financial Innovations, the parent company of NetBanker, Online Banking Report and the Finovate Conference Series. He can be reached at eric@netbanker.com.

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Capital One Encourages Online Applications in Direct Mail for Student MasterCards

By Jim Bruene Posted on December 1, 2009
Categories: Account opening, Capital One, Credit/Debit Cards

My son is almost half way through his second year of college, so we figured it was time he had a credit card. He’s proved incredibly responsible with money, even avoiding dreaded debit card overdrafts so far. It’s a good time for him to start building his credit history. And because he flies cross-country to school, I feel better knowing he has an emergency line of credit in his wallet.

Unfortunately, his student checking account provider, Chevy Chase Bank, hadn’t offered him a preapproved MasterCard/Visa, so I’ve been watching his mail at home. It will come as no surprise that preapproved mailers to college underclassmen have been scarce. This summer he was courted by Discover Card and a higher-fee MasterCard (or Visa?). But I was hoping for a preapproved fee-free MasterCard/Visa for maximum utility.

This fall, Capital One (note 1) began to send my son MasterCard offers via snail mail. Right before Thanksgiving, the fourth or fifth piece in the series landed in our mailbox. He looked at it over the holidays and applied online for the card on Sunday. The fee-free card is no bargain for revolvers at 22.9%, but that’s to be expected in this economic and regulatory environment.

The mailer offered the option of applying by telephone, mail or online. But the latter was clearly encouraged with a red badge, a 60-second response time, and a personalized URL with my son’s name (e.g., John.Smith.getmycard.com).

Online application: The application process was a breeze. It was straightforward and fast and took less than five minutes, start to finish. The utilitarian online application design (screenshot 2) was easy to navigate and included ample embedded help, but no 800 number or online chat. The only unusual feature was the ability for users to select from about 16 different card designs.

Because he was applying from a direct mail piece that included full Reg. Z disclosures, they were not repeated in the online app.

In total, it took about 4.5 minutes to complete the app process, and approval was granted in less than 10 seconds. My only complaint, a 22-digit offer and access code combination. Here’s the exact timing:

30 seconds — Type personalized URL and load website
30 seconds — Type 16 digit reservation number and 6-digit access code
3 mins and 30 secs — Complete application form
10 seconds — Wait for credit decision

Onboarding: The initial onboarding process was almost nonexistent. Cap One didn’t even send a congratulatory email on what is a major milestone of someone’s banking life: their first credit card. All he received was the tiny “Congratulations! You’re approved” screen at the end of the online approval process (see screenshot 3 below) along with instructions that his card would arrive in 7 to 10 business days. And there’s no way to access the account until the card arrives.

Grade: Capital One gets an A for account-acquisition marketing and online app mechanics, but earns a B- for first impression, and an incomplete for onboarding so far.

1. Capital One personalized application screen (29 Nov 2009, 8 PM Pacific)
Note: To begin the process, the applicant enters a 16-digit reservation number and 6-digit code found on the snail-mail piece.

2. Online application

3. Congratulations screen

Note:
1. I didn’t realize until today that Chevy Chase is now owned by Capital One, which could be why my son has been receiving Capital One credit card offers. However, there has never been any mention of Chevy Chase or his checking account in the mailers. And one of the application questions was: “Do you have a checking account?”
2. For more info on how to create a winning online application, see our Online Banking Report: Online Account Opening published in June 2009.

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ING Direct Black Friday Screenshots

By Jim Bruene Posted on November 27, 2009
Categories: Advertising & Promotion, Deposits, Checking, Savings, CDs, ING Direct

As a followup to our pre-Thanksgiving post, here’s what the ING Direct website looked like on Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving).

ING Direct Black Friday homepage (27 Nov 2009, 1 PM Pacific)

Black Friday deals landing page <ingdirect.com/blackfriday>
Note: All the “Learn more” links went to the regular product pages

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Another Black Friday Banking Special: Service Credit Union

By Jim Bruene Posted on November 27, 2009
Categories: Advertising & Promotion, Deposits, Checking, Savings, CDs, Public Relations

ING Direct wasn’t the only one with a Black Friday promotion (yesterday’s post).

Portsmouth, NH-based Service Credit Union also took advantage of the U.S. vacation day to promote a special 10% APY 3-month CD ($1,000 max deposit) and 1% off loan rates (promo page). But unlike ING Direct, the CU’s special offers were redeemable only in its branches, which opened at 5 AM to mimic giant retailer early-morning specials.

The offer was promoted in a rotating banner on the homepage (see inset and screenshot below). And it had its own landing page (see screenshot below).

I like the creativity, so I’ll give them an A for effort. But seriously, opening at 5 AM? Maybe they were hoping for PR exposure, but it’s just not right (note 1). I understand (sort of), heading to Best Buy in the middle of the night to save a couple hundred on a TV. But who would go to their bank at 5 AM to make an extra $20 on a CD (note 2) or apply for a car loan (note 3)?

But there was one offer in the fine print that was more valuable for a typical Black Friday shopper, fee-free gift cards until noon. Although, I’m not sure why they limited the number to five per customer.

Hat tip: Bank Deals blog

Service Credit Union Black Friday promo page (link, 27 Nov. 2009, 9 AM Pacific)

Service Credit Union homepage

Notes:
1. Now if you have in-store branches, it’s another matter. Desert Schools FCU opened its 24 WalMart branches at 5 AM along with the retailer.
2. Extra interest on a $1000 CD for 3 months is about $7 per month, or $20 total. And that’s before tax.
3. The almost unreadable type on the bottom of the small banner mention great prizes and giveaways, but the landing page makes no mentions of prizes. Now, free stuff would make it worth a trip to the branch, so I wonder why the CU didn’t mention that on the promo page? Maybe they didn’t want people to show up only for the prizes?

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Holiday Themes: ING Direct Offers Up Anti-Black-Friday Tease

By Jim Bruene Posted on November 25, 2009
Categories: Advertising & Promotion, Email Samples, ING Direct, Wells Fargo, Zions Bank

Rarely does ING Direct disappoint when it comes to adding a little holiday pizzazz to its website. And it’s no turkey this year.

The bank’s homepage is given over entirely to a flash animation that starts with its trademark orange ball rising over a cityscape. Then a decked-out turkey joins the scene and its revealed that its a play on tomorrow’s NYC Thanksgiving Day parade balloons.

But the more interesting development is the small orange “Black Friday” sale tag in the upper right corner (see inset). ING Direct has four Black Friday specials that will be revealed at one past midnight this Friday at <ingdirect.com/blackfriday>.

We are sworn to secrecy on two of the deals, but we can tell you that there will be a $683 discount (the average amount American’s spend on holiday gifts) on ING mortgage products (currently 3.75%) and a 20% off ShareBuilder deal.

The Black Friday tease was also emailed to ING Direct customers this morning (see inset).

My take: The Black Friday promotion, which is being pushed out to media outlets in advance of Friday, is brilliant. It plays perfectly into the more-conservative budget mindsight in the country and gives the press something else to write about beside the long lines at Best Buy at 4 AM Friday.

Grade: An A+ and an extra helping of sweet potatoes to ING Direct for both timing and creativity.

In a quick survey today of the 25 largest retail banks, three others had holiday promotions or themes:

Zions Bank had a traditional Thanksgiving message on its homepage (see below)
Wells Fargo has a low-key bill pay message in a holiday theme (see below)
Comerica and Fifth Third Bank had holiday-shopping messages

ING Direct (USA) homepage (23 Nov 6 PM Pacific)

ING Direct black friday landing page (25 Nov 2009)

Zions Bank homepage (23 Nov 7 PM Pacific)
Note: Trusteer promotion on homepage

Wells Fargo homepage (25 Nov 2009, 1 PM Pacific)

Note: For future reference, this post was made on the day before Thanksgiving.

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Chase Bank’s Second iPhone App: Gift Planner

By Jim Bruene Posted on November 24, 2009
Categories: Chase Bank, iPhone, Mobile Banking, Personal Financial Management

A few days ago, we predicted there would be tens of thousands of financial institution iPhone apps as the big banks released dozens to support their major business lines. PNC Bank and Wells Fargo were the two examples we cited.

There’s another multi-app bank: Chase. In our search for an iPhone gift planner to replace the web-based Zions Bank service, we ran discovered the bank’s Gift Planner (iTunes link).

Version 1.0 was released in time for the holidays last year (3 Dec. 2008), but it looks like Chase didn’t take over ownership/sponsorship until release 2.0 in August. The app is supported by an excellent small website at yourgiftplanner.com that displays the app and solicits feedback.

The app and website are 100% Chase branded. The only indication that a third party is involved is a notation in the iTunes store that the app is sold by The Archer Group (inset), a Wilmington, DE-based digital agency.

Evidently, the app didn’t show up on our radar because it’s placed in the App Store Productivity category instead of Financial. The app doesn’t appear to be mentioned on the Chase main website. A site search there came up blank.

Review: It’s great looking app that can be used for any holiday. The app supports “shake for help,” an advanced feature. The integration with your contact list makes it easy to add new contacts without typing, although you must wade through your entire list. And, the process of adding gifts is a bit tedious. You have to add a gift to the master gift list, then go to each person and add the gift to their profile. It would be better if you could simply type a gift on the fly.

iPhone users have been relatively unimpressed, giving the latest version a 2-star rating out of five; pretty low for a professional app (see inset).

It’s a good branding tool for Chase, but it the app itself could use retooling.

Gift Planner iPhone screenshots (24 Nov 2009)

Gift Planner website (link)

Note: For more info on mobile banking on the iPhone see our March Online Banking Report.

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Zions Bank Replaces Holiday Gift Planner with eZ Budget Site

By Jim Bruene Posted on November 23, 2009
Categories: Personal Financial Management, Zions Bank

Last year, I discovered a cool little web-based PFM app from Zions Bank, the Holiday Gift Planner (see previous post). It helps plan and track holiday gift lists and purchases (see second screenshot below).

I used it to track 2008 holiday purchases for our kids. I credit the app with not only keeping us on budget, but making the process a little less harried. I liked it so much, I awarded it with an OBR Best of the Web award. My only complaint: it should be an iPhone app.

But this weekend when I clicked my bookmark for the site to enter my son’s “wish list”, I received an error message, “site not found.” I was afraid Zions had discontinued the service. After a search, I found that the site had been replaced by a similar, but more advanced PFM site, called Zions Bank eZ Budget (running on its own URL).

eZ Budget remains free and open to anyone, customers or non-customers. It still has the gift planner module which is very similar to last year’s model (second screenshot). One addition: integrated links to the Zions website to see savings or financing options (see top-left in screenshot 2). And like last year, a Zions banner ad runs across the top.

But it’s been expanded to have three other robust planning modules:

Monthly planner (screenshot 3)
Project planner (screenshot 4)
Event planner (screenshot 5)

Unlike last year when the gift planner was plugged on its homepage, there is no mention of the PFM module on the bank’s website. However, eZ Budget is prominently mentioned on the bank’s Facebook page (screenshot 6). And according to Compete, the new site has about double the traffic, 4,000 unique visitors, compared to 2,000 a year ago.

Source: Compete, 23 Nov 2009

My take: This is a simple and cost-effective way to provide basic budgeting tools to bank customers. I wish Zions had also kept the standalone Holiday Gift Planner which had an attractive holiday look and was less daunting to begin using. But I can understand why the bank would not want to support two planning tools. More importantly, the iPhone version is still on my wish list. More on that tomorrow.

1. Zions eZ Budget homepage (23 Nov 2009)

2. Gift Planner module
Note: Default setting is “Christmas”; but can choose Birthday, Valentines, Wedding, Mother’s day, Father’s day, Hanukkah, or create your own.

3. Monthly Planner module

4. Project planner module
Note: Default setting is “home remodel”; but can choose landscaping, baby room, or create your own.

5. Event planner module
Note: Default setting is “wedding”; but can choose birthday, vacation, or bridal shower or create your own.

6. Zions Facebook page (link)
Note: Zions is giving away a $100 Best Buy card each month to new Facebook fans.

Note:
1. For more information on the PFM space, see our Online Banking Report on Personal Finance Features.

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American Express Jumps on the Alt-Payments Bandwagon in a Big Way; $300 Million Acquisition of Revolution Money

By Jim Bruene Posted on November 19, 2009
Categories: Alt Payments, American Express, Credit/Debit Cards, Mergers & Acquisitions, Revolution Money

Frankly, I haven’t got my head completely around the latest acquisition in the alt-payments space (and I’m not the only one). I know that it makes my analyst life more interesting, but not sure what it means to the competitive landscape. Scott Loftesness over at Glenbrook Partners has the best analysis I’ve seen (also read the comments).

I’ll break it down here. Revolution Money has two products:

1. RevolutionCard: Alt-payment card for use at the point of sale, both online and in-store.(see inset below from SeattleLuxe.com where RevolutionCard logo is right below Visa; full screenshot below). Unique PIN-based card with no account number or name (see below).

2. Revolution MoneyExchange: A person-to-person payment service.

Neither product appears to be very large. In the Q&A of the announcement webcast (press release), Revolution Money chairman Ted Leonsis said the company had signed 8,000 customers per day during a 90-day marketing test about a year ago. In total, it registered about 400,000 consumers (note 1). They also said they’d built merchant acceptance to about 1 million locations.

The company declined to disclose the number of cardholders, but mentioned that each of its dozen marketing partnerships had brought in two or three thousand good cardholders. Leonsis said that given the current credit environment, they elected not to expand the cardholder portfolio, instead “doubling down” on platform features, such as ATM acceptance (note 2).

But according to traffic figures from Compete, few Revolution Money customers were actively using its services. The P2P service, MoneyExchange, was the most-visited of the company’s three sites with about 20,000 unique visitors last month, but that was down from 70,000 a year ago (during the marketing test). On the other hand, the Revolution Card volume was similar, just under 20,000, but up more than 50% year-over-year (see chart from Compete below).

Compete: 18 Nov 2009, link

American Express opportunities
On the call (replay here through next week), American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault outlined seven opportunities it would pursue when the transaction closes early next year. Notably absent, person-to-person payments:

1. Reloadable prepaid products for new segments

2. Compete with other alternative payment companies (aka PayPal)

3. Payment products in social media services

4. Mobile payment offerings

5. International markets

6. Offer through banks that issue American Express cards

7. Pin-based debit offerings

During Q&A, Chenault emphasized how the acquisition was all about getting the Revolution Money platform/engine to allow AmEx to do things faster and for a lower cost. There was little talk of RM’s brand, customers, or merchant base. The biggest discussion, during Q&A, was about reloadable prepaid cards.

My take: American Express purchased a platform they hope will allow it to get various new features/products to market faster and at lower costs to help head off total online-POS domination by PayPal. In addition, it acquired a proven team and management duo, and kept the whole works out of the hands of potential competitors such as Discover Card, Barclays, and others. While no one on the outside can understand the assumptions in the make vs. buy analysis, given its track record, American Express should be able profit from this $300 million IT investment.

Online cards are sprouting new payment options
SeattleLuxe offers ten choices plus a link to pay by check (18 Nov 2009)

Notes:
1. This is a registered user count, not necessarily a user of the service. Many of the new customers came for the $25 signup bonus or just to kick the tires. There was no cost or obligation to register.
2. On the call, Revolution Money said that 80% of ATMs accept their card.

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Happy 10th Birthday PayPal!

By Jim Bruene Posted on November 19, 2009
Categories: Alt Payments, Best of the Web, PayPal

In preparation for our upcoming report, I re-read our first report on P2P payments published almost 10 years ago to the day (29 Nov 1999). Although written early in the game, I was very impressed with PayPal, a service launched two weeks earlier (15 Nov 1999) by Confinity, the original name of its parent company.

We’ve made our share of incorrect predictions over the years, but this one we got right (note 1), annointing PayPal with one of the first OBR Best of the Web awards. Here’s our take from that original report, when PayPal was available as a payment option on just nine eBay auctions:

(PayPal) is not as well known as BidPay….but as soon as (eBay) participants discover (PayPal) is free and real-time, it should catch on quickly.

PayPal was originally developed as a payment mechanism between Palm Pilots, which explains the “beam money” call-to-action on top of the original user interface (below). But I wasn’t a Palm user, so what got me excited about the service was the use of the email address to facilitate payments:

Much of (PayPal’s) press coverage has focused on the Palm application…(but) it’s the email-payment program that has the huge potential.

The rest, as they say, is history.

PayPal “send money” interface at its 1999 launch (15 Nov 1999)

PayPal “send money” today (19 Nov 2009)

Note:
1. And truth be told, we predicted that PayPal would need to hook up with an existing payment player to get past trust issues. But luckily for them, the extremely deep-pocketed VCs in the bubble days floated PayPal a massive amount of cash so it could buy its way into the wallets of consumers.

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Giving Thanks to our NetBanker.com November Sponsors

By Eric Mattson Posted on November 19, 2009
Categories: About Netbanker

It’s November and Thanksgiving is almost upon us here in the US. It’s a great holiday, not only for the food, but also the concept that you should reflect and give thanks. And there are many things we’re thankful for — our families, our health, our country and our OBR/Finovate clients.

We’re also thankful for YOU, our loyal readers who make this blog great by reading the posts, sharing your thoughts in the comments and emailing us frequently with ideas. And last but certainly not least we’re thankful for our sponsors for helping us keep NetBanker the high-quality and free resource that you read and trust.

Please support our sponsors (listed below in alphabetical order) so that they continue to support NetBanker:

Digital Insight, an Intuit company — Showcasing their FinanceWorks (Online Banking + Quicken) solution. Check out a free recording of their recent webinar.

Trusteer — Complimentary white paper on “Addressing Customers’ [Security] Concerns from Financial Trojans.” Download it for free and see how banks like ING Direct use Trusteer to protect their customers from malware.

Worklight — Check out this new demo of how Worklight helps businesses securely engage their customers via widgets, social networks, iPhone apps and other consumer tools.

Yodlee — Download an new free whitepaper from Yodlee on “The Fast-Changing Market of PFM: What Consumers Really Want, And Why Banks Can’t Afford to Wait.

Now, back to the regularly scheduled blogging.

P.S. If you’d like to join these companies in supporting NetBanker, please drop me an email at eric@netbanker.com.

Eric Mattson is CEO of Online Financial Innovations, the parent company of NetBanker, Online Banking Report and the Finovate Conference Series. He can be reached at eric@netbanker.com.

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