Blog |

Wells Fargo launches native iPhone app

By Jim Bruene Posted on May 18, 2009
Categories: Mobile Banking, Wells Fargo

Twelve hours ago, Wells Fargo became the last of the “big four” banks to release a native iPhone app in the Apple App Store (see screenshot below; note 1). The bank, which has long been a pioneer online, let Bank of America reap much of the branding benefits of their association with iPhone banking for the past two years.

But we are glad to see Wells Fargo available and enjoyed checking our balance via iPhone for the first time. At just 0.1MB, the application was a quick download and compatible with my first-generation iPhone. There’s no need to first visit the bank’s website, as the app can be immediately used with your normal online banking username/password (see note 2).

While it won’t win any design awards, it’s simple to use with the typical online banking functions: balance inquiry, transaction listings, funds transfer, bill pay and GPS-enabled ATM/branch finder. Only the 12,000 Wells or Wachovia ATMs are listed in its database.

During the initial signon, the app encouraged users to create a short account nickname for easier reading on the small screen. And the bank also prompted me to sign up for text-message banking, something I hadn’t used at Wells before. When I agreed to do so, a six-digit confirmation code was texted to my phone, which I entered back into the app.

There is no mention of the new app on the Wells Fargo site.

Wells Fargo listing in Apple iTunes App Store (18 May 2009; link)

Notes:
1. Big four U.S. banks: Bank of America, Citibank, Chase/WaMu, Wells/Wachovia.
2. We’d previously registered our mobile number, which may have eased the activation hurdle.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Is USAA the second largest in mobile banking?

By Jim Bruene Posted on May 18, 2009
Categories: Metrics & Market Research, Mobile Banking, USAA

Last week, USAA released astounding figures on its mobile banking usage: The 10-month-old service is already used by 11.4% — about 800,000 — of its 7 million members, making USAA one of the largest mobile banking providers in the country (press release; see note 1).

The mobile platform has bagged more than 13 million logins in ten months, about 3% of its nearly 500 million annual customer contacts (note 2).

With the introduction of its own native iPhone app last week (note 3), USAA now supports the three primary methods for mobile access (see screenshot below):

mobile website at <mobile.usaa.com>
text-message banking (see inset above)
downloadable app for iPhone (link to app in iTunes) and other phones (via Firethorn)

Only Bank of America, with 2.6 million mobile users, has publicly revealed a larger mobile base. That makes USAA number two among known user bases. However, it is highly likely that both Chase/WaMu and Wells Fargo/Wachovia have cracked the one-million-user mark and are second and third largest.

USAA’s mobile landing page (18 May 2009)

Notes:
1. On a side note, USAA posts its press releases in blog format which allows visitors to comment and/or subscribe via RSS.
2. The 3% is approximated from data in the press release: 470 million customer contacts in 2008 and 13 million mobile logins since the service was launched in summer 2008.
3. Since last fall, USAA users could access their accounts via Firethorn’s multi-bank iPhone app.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Target Taps Customers via Facebook to Designate Recipients for its Corporate Giving

By Jim Bruene Posted on May 14, 2009
Categories: Facebook, Public Relations

Target is running a clever Facebook promotion that allows Facebook users to allocate the retailer’s $3 million weekly corporate donation among eight pre-selected charities. I heard about it in an email from the Red Cross encouraging its supporters to go to Facebook and vote more of cash its way (see screenshots below).

How it works: When Facebook users vote, they are given the opportunity to automatically publicize their activity with their friends (see second Target screenshot). Finally, after a vote, Target shows the running totals for each charity. As of today, nearly 70,000 votes had been tallied.

Analysis: This is a good way to leverage social networking. Not only is Target reinforcing its brand, and its commitment to donate 5% of its income to charity, it’s created a non-intrusive viral campaign with both Facebook users and the charitable organizations motivated to spread the word. Nicely done.

Opportunity: This approach would also work great for a financial institution.

From Target website (link)

Target’s voting page on Facebook (14 May 2009)

Voters are given the opportunity to spread the word to their Facebook friends (14 May 2009)

After each vote, Target displays a running total (14 May 2009)

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate 2009 Demo Application Window Now Open

By Eric Mattson Posted on May 13, 2009
Categories: Finovate

Hi, I’m Eric Mattson, CEO of Online Financial Innovations, the parent company of NetBanker, Online Banking Report and the Finovate Conference Series. Ever since I started working with Jim in 2006, he has wanted me to add my voice to his on the blog — especially around our conferences which is where I spend much of my time. So here I am with an important announcement about our upcoming fall conference. But first, a bit of perspective.

From the beginning, Finovate has been a showcase of the best new financial technology from established companies and young startups. Attendees come not only to see and prepare for “what’s next,” but also to experience our unique one-day format — handpicked, short, fast-paced product demos (no slides allowed) mixed with high-impact networking with the companies and each other. (Videos of the demos from previous Finovate events are available to view free.)

Over the last several years, we’ve been happy to have the fall Finovate conference grow and improve with each iteration. And we’re pleased to have just successfully wrapped up the second go at our spring startup-only, spin-off version of the conference in San Francisco a few weeks ago (FinovateStartup).

Yet what Jim and I enjoy the most about organizing the Finovate conferences is the increased insight we’ve gained into the ongoing innovation in financial and banking technology. Every day, we’re contacted by new entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs from around the world working hard and smart with amazing vision and passion to improve every aspect of financial technology. And those conversations make us incredibly excited and optimistic about the future — even in the face of the current economic environment.

So, today, I’m pleased to publish my first post to announce the opening of the company-application window for our upcoming demoing startups fall conference, Finovate 2009, in Manhattan on Sept. 29, because it means we’re about to see the next wave of start-up innovators and then will get to share them with you at Finovate this fall.

Please note that the early-bird deadline for applications is June 15th and the final deadline is July 15th. The demoing companies for Finovate 2009 will be announced at the end of July.

If you work at a startup or established company innovating in financial technology and you’re looking for a platform to share your vision, please contact me at eric@netbanker.com or 206-331-1178 to find out more about the possibility of demoing either this fall or at a future conference.

P.S. In truth, I’d love to hear from any of you NetBanker readers, Online Banking Report subscribers, or Finovate attendees. Drop me a line and let me know what’s on your mind.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Progress Bank’s Novel Homepage Design

By Jim Bruene Posted on May 12, 2009
Categories: ING Direct, NextCard, Website Usability & Design

There’s been substantial progress made in website design by banks. Sure, there’s still the occasional clunker, but most we look at today (see note 1) rate solid grades in the B+ to A- range. That’s up from many Cs and Ds at the turn of the century.

However, as good as banking websites have become, they still tend to be relatively busy, making visitors spend more time than necessary finding their way through the site (note 2). It’s rare to find a financial institution that dares to follow Google’s “less-is-more” approach.

The lone major bank in the U.S. with a 25-word or less homepage is ING Direct, which like Google, has maintained the same look and feel since launch (see screenshots below, today and eight years ago). NextCard (prior coverage) also did less is more, but in its case, that mantra unfortunately was also embraced by its underwriting department, and the company failed in 2002.

But now we have another example: Progress Bank (note 3). While the depth of its online capabilities could be improved (how about online account opening?), the homepage is brilliant (screenshot below).

The Florida-based community bank uses just 26 words to describe its five major areas AND pitch a high-yield checking account. Each major area: online banking login, personal banking, business banking, and About Us, has its own circle. And as you mouse over each one, the image in the center circle changes. It’s quite striking.

In addition, the brightly colored circle in the lower left contains a pitch for the bank’s featured product, its green 5% APR checking account (note 5).

Bottom line: I love the look, although I hope they did some A-B testing before springing it on users. It’s a great branding statement, but it is also so different, there’s a risk that customers might not perceive the bank to be as trustworthy as one with a more traditional layout.

Progress Bank homepage (11 May 2009)

ING Direct homepage (12 May 2009)

ING Direct homepage (2001)

NextCard homepage (2001)

Notes:
1. Online Banking Report All-Access subscribers are entitled to a complimentary high-level website review. Please email our website analyst to schedule a review.
2. The exception is online banking login visibility, which is very good. Most financial institutions follow the industry standard of displaying a prominent login area in the upper left or right.
3. Credit Jeffry Pilcher at The Financial Brand for the find.
4. For more info, see our Online Banking Report on Website Usability.
5. Unfortunately, the ingenuity disappears as soon as you click on the offer. The pitch is then delivered via a bloated 2-page brochure in PDF format. And there is no ability to apply or inquire about the account online.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Where Are the Online Banking Fees?

By Jim Bruene Posted on May 11, 2009
Categories: Fee Income, Pricing, Strategies, Wells Fargo

I am rarely at a loss for material when looking for examples to illustrate a point about online finance. Across thousands of financial websites, there’s an almost infinite supply of novel new services, marketing strategies, and promotional efforts.

However, there’s one area with almost zero innovation. Pricing.

In the United States anyway, nearly every bank and credit union offers online, and now mobile, banking free of charge (see note 1). It’s an appealing price point for sure, but it also hampers the ability of financial institutions to develop novel service offerings. It’s a game of minimizing channel costs rather than maximizing returns.

However, several interesting new services that are at least trying to charge fees have recently shot up in online personal finance. Two debuted their new services at FinovateStartup April 28 (see notes 2 & 3; videos of their demos will be available online shortly):

LowerMyAssessment.com is charging $125 to help consumers lower property taxes on their homes
Home-Account is charging a $8.75/mo to help users manage their home mortgage

We’ll look at both companies this week starting with LowerMyAssessment.com.

Notes:
1. We covered online banking pricing in a 2004 Online Banking Report (here). While the report is nearly five years old, sadly little has changed, so it remains relevant to today’s situation in the United States.
2. In addition, at FinovateStartup we saw several new services that could increase payments-related income for banks, including the alt-payment companies, especially Acculynk and Moneta, offering revenue sharing and interchange fees for banking partners, and MicroNotes, which showed a platform that provided fee income to delivery-targeted advertising within the bill-payment function.
3. Also, Wells Fargo should be given credit for rolling out a fee-based storage solution integrated within its online banking services. The vSafe program costs $4.95/mo and up based on storage capacity desired.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Cool New Financial Technology and Tools are Here, Now What?

By Jim Bruene Posted on May 7, 2009
Categories: Finovate

We had a blast last week talking to startups and others at our FinovateStartup Conference. Anyone who was there, or followed the blog and/or Twitter coverage (see note 1) would have to agree there were dozens of new and interesting ideas presented.

But the bigger question is, what’s next? Will anyone ever use these new technologies, let alone actually pay for them?

Personally, I believe several of the presenting companies are likely to disrupt the status quo. And at least a dozen more have very strong prospects of becoming standalone, profitable businesses.

The rest will need to be deft at creating partnerships with existing brands in order to survive. But overall, the FinovateStartup Class of 2009 was very promising indeed.

But don’t take my word for it. Here are links to the articles from other bloggers and press:

Banktastic: Brad Garland and the Banktastic team have compiled the largest library of FinovateStartup content with 54 posts and videos covering the event and companies (link).

BusinessWeek (MBAblogs): Larry Chiang interviews FinovateStartup participants to create this article, What I learned at Finovate that I Could Not Learn at B-School

Celent blog: Celent’s Jacob Jegher provides a summary of the major themes and concludes there was not enough emphasis on security by the companies (link)

CNET (Webware) posted a series of three articles:

Josh Lowensohn looks at the use of PIN codes to safeguard banking and commerce (link).
In another article, Josh looks at the important issue of trust and online personal financial management (link).
Finally, Rafe Needleman looks at Prosper’s re-launch announced at the conference (link).

Fincision: Wow. Mike Linskey gets double-gold-star, not only does he live-blog every demo, he manages to upload a picture of most. Amazing stamina! (link)

Iconoculture: Hans Eisenbeis explores the startups at Finovate in depth in a three-part series (part #1, part #2, part #3).

Investment News: Davis D. Janowski writes about the launch of SimpliFi and Mint’s new financial fitness wizard (link).

Javelin Strategy blog: Javelin’s Mark Schwanhausser is looking for the perfect PFM and is left wanting (link)

Lazy Man and Money: Not at all living up to his pen name, Lazy Man manages to capture the whole show in a series of five blog entries (post #1, post #2, post #3, post #4, post #5)

MobileSlate: Blogger Eric Chan wished for more mobile companies, and concluded, “(Mobile) was definitely on the minds of all the people that I spoke to.” (link)

Payments Views: Glenbrook’s Allen Weinberg managed to live-blog the entire day with a paragraph on every demo. Winner of the ironman trophy (link).

PC World: Yardena Arar looked at ten startups: Syphr, LowerMyAssessement, Lending Club, Mint, ZimpleMoney, DebtGoal, Credit Karma, Mint, Syhpr, and SimpliFi (link)

Prosper Lending Review: Jessica Ward posted a dozen pre- and post-conference reviews of participating startups (link).

San Francisco Chronicle: Tom Agate primarily discusses Prosper’s reopening at the show (link)

The Bankwatch: Colin Henderson writes about the demos from Lending Club, Tempo Payments and Wesabe (link)

Wall Street Journal (Wallet): Mary Pilon handicaps the field in her Wallet blog (link).

Wall Street Journal (VentureWire): Tomio Geron writes about bringing fun into personal finance tasks and looks at the new offerings from iThryv, Mint and Cooler Inc. (link)

And for those elsewhere in the world:

Finanzas 2.0 (Spanish) (link)
Jean Michel Billaut: (French) (post #1, post #2)

Note:
1. See our Twitter updates consolidated into one post here. For everyone’s tagged tweets, reference these search results.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

FinovateStartup 2009 Live Twitter Transcript

By Jim Bruene Posted on May 7, 2009
Categories: Finovate

Here’s the transcript from my live Twittering during Finovate Startup 2009 last Tuesday (in reverse chronological order).

It’s over. Best of Show winners: BillShrink, Prosper, Silver Tail Systems, SimpliFi. Congratulations! Thanks to everyone. 8:01 PM Apr 28th from web
36 demos in the bag…finished 7 minutes ahead of schedule! Now to happy hour and more networking..stay tuned for Best of Show at 5:30PM 4:40 PM Apr 28th from web
Credit Karma is launching white-label solution for financial institutions 4:38 PM Apr 28th from web
Credit Karma launching Debt Manager. Includes product placement opportunities for lenders 4:36 PM Apr 28th from web
Credit Karma demoing free credit score trending over time and showing consumers how to save money 4:34 PM Apr 28th from web
Prosper is also announcing secondary trading market for Prosper-originated loans, pending final SEC approval 4:31 PM Apr 28th from web
Prosper is opening platform to other financial institutions; first is CPS, large auto lender, who resells on Prosper 4:28 PM Apr 28th from web
Prosper relaunching today! Nationwide for borrowers but initially just California for lenders due to regulatory issues 4:25 PM Apr 28th from web
Rudder uses widgets to track and manage, including cool “What’s Left” (after all bills paid) and Spend Meter 4:22 PM Apr 28th from web
Rudder showing its PFM…estimates setup process of 5 to 10 minutes using account aggregation 4:17 PM Apr 28th from web
DebtGoal.com provides hints on how to negotiate rate reductions with lenders 4:14 PM Apr 28th from web
DebtGoal.com itemizes the amount of interest to be saved over life of debt by increasing payment amount 4:13 PM Apr 28th from web
DebtGoal from GoalSpring launching My DebtPlan to help consumers manage and administer their debt 4:10 PM Apr 28th from web
SmartHippo monetizing through referral fees 4:07 PM Apr 28th from web
SmartHippo launching SmartHippo answers today! Somewhat like Yahoo answers; lenders can respond, 4:05 PM Apr 28th from web
SmartHippo showing community-based financial shopping portal 4:02 PM Apr 28th from web
SimpliFi Is different than budget-focused PFMs; SimpliFi focuses on planning; less than 5% of users have financial plans 4:00 PM Apr 28th from web
Silver Tail Systems also includes a mitigation function that handles the fraud in real time. 3:52 PM Apr 28th from web
Silver Tail System can even thwart man-in-middle (man-in-browser) attacks by monitoring clickstream 3:51 PM Apr 28th from web
Silver Tail Systems demoing fraud detection, monitors threats against website; key is monitoring ALL activity 3:48 PM Apr 28th from web
Green Sherpa is launching public beta today! 3:45 PM Apr 28th from web
Green Sherpa showing its PFM with 3-step process: 1. Load data 2. Make plan 3.Discuss plan with someone 3:42 PM Apr 28th from web
HomeATM showing P2P money transfer, both send and receive; also have mobile app where hardware plugs into earphone jack 3:38 PM Apr 28th from web
HomeATM demoing patented secure PIN encryption through browser using small hardware device 3:32 PM Apr 28th from web
Final 9 by crowd vote: HomeATM, Green Sherpa, Silver Tail Systems, Simplifi, SmartHippo, DebtGoal, Rudder, Prosper, Credit Karma 3:29 PM Apr 28th from web
Jwaala showing Michigan First CU transaction widget in iGoogle so consumers can track banking transactions on iGoogle. 3:27 PM Apr 28th from web
Jwaala integrated credit score history in Michigan First CU online banking; may be a first in the marketplace! #Finovatestartup093:07 PM Apr 28th from web
Jwaala demoing Michigan First Credit Union implementation of BOB platform; showing smart search with natural language 3:05 PM Apr 28th from web
Jwaala showing Better Online Banking (BOB) platform which integrates online banking and personal finance 3:02 PM Apr 28th from web
ZimpleMoney showing how the platform can track all the details of a contract including documents and payments 2:58 PM Apr 28th from web
ZimpleMoney showing financial transaction platform…loans, leases, rent and so on; landlords using, car dealers etc 2:55 PM Apr 28th from web
Mobank allows purchase with just Mobank PIN, payment details masked, like Apple App Store; powerful concept for mcommerce 2:52 PM Apr 28th from web
Mobank demoing purchase of airline ticket using its platform; fantastic graphics using iphone app 2:50 PM Apr 28th from web
Mobank just launched in UK, will be launching in the USA in a few months 2:47 PM Apr 28th from web
LowerMyAssessment in 10 states now, more coming 2:46 PM Apr 28th from web
LowerMyAssessment shows that consumer can find hundreds in savings in a few minutes; has free value monitoring service 2:44 PM Apr 28th from web
LowerMyAssessment.com launching company today! New tool to help users determine the value of their homes and appeal value 2:41 PM Apr 28th from web
Aradiom doing mobile demo using iphone; showing mobile token with automatic pre-population from online banking system 2:39 PM Apr 28th from web
Acculynk provides banks with branding message as consumers make payment via card and PIN. 2:32 PM Apr 28th from web
Acculynk is making purchase from ShoppersChoice.com; email typo discovered by audience, give that man a prize! Success! 2:30 PM Apr 28th from web
Acculynk is showing online PIN-based purchase at the online point of sale; demoing purchase live on stage right now 2:26 PM Apr 28th from web
SecondMarket now lets service providers market within its platform 2:24 PM Apr 28th from web
SecondMarket online marketplace for trading a wide variety of illiquid asset; launching service provider market today 2:23 PM Apr 28th from web
Pertuity Direct launching $2500 dollar promotion giveaway to borrower 2:20 PM Apr 28th from web
Pertuity Direct: Average FICO score of borrowers is 743 since January 2009 launch…prime-to-super-prime segment 2:19 PM Apr 28th from web
Pertuity Direct has a new way to finance consumer loans, using mutual fund model to gather assets; demoing online app 2:16 PM Apr 28th from web
Mint is moving to making tracking finance “game like”, modeled after computer games, eg Wii Fit, etc. 2:12 PM Apr 28th from web
Mint fitness 1.Know your money 2.Spend less than you earn 3.Use debt wisely 4.Invest what you save 5. Be prepared 2:10 PM Apr 28th from web
Mint is launching Financial Fitness today…goal is to get 100% on five principals of personal finance. 2:07 PM Apr 28th from web
IOUSOS debuted today powered by Globefunder; a semi-automated system for health care providers to make settlement offers 11:07 AM Apr 28th from web
Home Account launching today a co-branded option today to put mortgage center on other sites 11:03 AM Apr 28th from web
Home Account partnering with Yodlee; have signed 15 lenders so far for mortgage lead generation 11:02 AM Apr 28th from web
Home Account showing “mortgage fitness” module to grade user’s appeal to mortgage lenders, then present options 11:00 AM Apr 28th from web
Home Account is showing how it can save average customer $174/mo…and provide best mortgage for life 10:57 AM Apr 28th from web
Moneta offers revenue sharing with bank distribution partners; could be revenue gain for some 10:56 AM Apr 28th from web
Moneta demoing the purchase of an airline ticket live on stage from Delta Airlines using Moneta pay option…worked! 10:52 AM Apr 28th from web
Moneta showing alternative payment system, have signed top-10 bank, will begin rolling out to its customers this summer 10:50 AM Apr 28th from web
Cooler has contextual ad network that provides links to companies and products to reduce and neutralize carbon use. 10:47 AM Apr 28th from web
Cooler is first way to see ENTIRE carbon footprint from all you do and buy…has 10-month timeline, can compare to peers 10:45 AM Apr 28th from web
Cooler showing how users can calculate carbon footprints from their financial data, already online,showing link to Wesabe 10:44 AM Apr 28th from web
Can People Capital’s Human Capital Score disrupt student lending? Will be interesting to follow. 10:40 AM Apr 28th from web
People Capital shows better way to evaluate students than FICO.uses where going to school,SAT,GPA,etc Human Capital Score 10:39 AM Apr 28th from web
PeopleCapital is focusing on peer-to-peer lending in student loans; platform is 80% complete 10:37 AM Apr 28th from web
Micronotes system provides revenue potential to banks while providing unique discounts for customers, if they opt in 10:33 AM Apr 28th from web
Micronotes connects consumer products to online bills; provides realtime discounts on bills paid if they accept mkt offer 10:31 AM Apr 28th from web
BillShrink doing partnership with CBS co-brand…closing “shrinkage is good” 10:26 AM Apr 28th from web
BillShrink’s gas savings module shows map of where low-cost gas stations are located; wireless module shows coverage map 10:24 AM Apr 28th from web
BillShrink showing personal and detailed analysis of 3 verticals: credit cards, wireless carriers and gas stations 10:23 AM Apr 28th from web
Kapitall showing how to trade using drag and drop from the desktop; company in private beta…public beta this summer 10:18 AM Apr 28th from web
Kapitall debuting new interface…very different from typical financial services..designers from Apple/gaming industry 10:14 AM Apr 28th from web
KnowBeforeYouApply launching mortgage offers today; lead gen platform with real-time rates based on your credit score 10:11 AM Apr 28th from web
KnowBeforeYouApply from Centrro provides credit grade then shows individual offers 10:10 AM Apr 28th from web
Wesabe is announcing first client for its white-label program Delta C
ommunity Credit Union, Georgia’s largest CU 9:43 AM Apr 28th from web
Wesabe demoing new user interface..very modern look; launching new native iPhone app today; can signup for acct on app 9:41 AM Apr 28th from web
Wesabe launched 2.5 years ago, can Twitter transactions into your PFM account 9:39 AM Apr 28th from web
Tempo Payments adding rewards to the card, can be cash back or other options; 80 to 90% of apps approved real-time 9:35 AM Apr 28th from web
Tempo Payments showing new decoupled debit card, first step, download your image to put on the card..full card face..nice 9:32 AM Apr 28th from web
Lending Club is adding more tools to help investors see how they are doing in ROI..can compare to the entire community 9:30 AM Apr 28th from web
Lending Club says that its been able to get 75% of its late loans to current 9:28 AM Apr 28th from web
Lending Club’s secondary market has had US$2 million in trading volume, average time to trade is just 2 days 9:27 AM Apr 28th from web
Lending Club launched self-directed IRA option several weeks ago for investors.. 9:26 AM Apr 28th from web
iThryv built incentive module into the platform so FI clients can add rewards; includes content management 9:22 AM Apr 28th from web
iThryv “online banking for kids and young adults” includes financial literacy…partnering with iPay for bill pay 9:20 AM Apr 28th from web
MoneyStrands running a clever contest from the stage…search their website and Twitter the answer to win $100 9:14 AM Apr 28th from web
MoneyStrands has v2 iphone app expected to be in App Store in a week or two 9:13 AM Apr 28th from web
MoneyStrands includes PDF report option to print/save reports….widgets can be added to page to track feeds/news 9:12 AM Apr 28th from web
Strands PFM shows what’s just happened with your finances across the top…handy way to drill into what’s important now 9:08 AM Apr 28th from web
ReceivablesExchange showing first online marketplace for buying/selling accounts receivables..avg invoice size = $50k 8:59 AM Apr 28th from web
CircleUp’s SmartPay system has messaging center to track/communicate with the group..can be used on Facebook, AOL, widget 8:54 AM Apr 28th from web
CircleUp is demoing a system to collect money from groups…such as a kid’s soccer team collecting for pizza party.Useful 8:50 AM Apr 28th from web
kaChing will be offering mirrored investing that will allow you to automatically trade like who you are following 8:47 AM Apr 28th from web
kaChing has over 300,000 registered investors.only 25,000 with positive returns in 2008..grades investors by investor IQ 8:44 AM Apr 28th from web
At Expensify you can just email your receipt to receipts@expensify.com to add to your account…like Tripit.com 8:38 AM Apr 28th from web
Finovatestartup09 has begun….first demo is from Expensify.8:34 AM Apr 28th from web

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Xero, Mint, Northwestern Mutual Win Webby Awards in Financial Categories

By Jim Bruene Posted on May 5, 2009
Categories: Award winners, Mint

The winners of the annual Webby awards were announced today. There were three financial services categories with Mint, Xero, NW Mutual taking top honors.

Financial services category
Mint won the main Webby and the People’s Choice beating BillShrink, Lending Club, Portfolio.com and Wikinvest.

Banking/bill pay category
Xero, a New Zealand-based online accounting service (screenshot below), won the main Webby and the People’s Choice in the category Banking/Bill Pay beating Billeo, Rudder and Schoneleij, a text-based payment service from Rabobank.

Insurance
NWMutual’s Let Your Worries Go microsite won the main Webby and Allstate’s Garage won the People’s Choice beating Blue Shield of California’s Uncovered microsite, Pemco’s We’re a Lot Like You microsite and Compare the Meerkat, a microsite from Compare the Market.

Webby winner Xero’s attractive account interface and iPhone app
(5 May 2009)

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Intuit’s Quicken Online Releases Native iPhone App

By Jim Bruene Posted on May 2, 2009
Categories: Intuit, iPhone, Mobile Banking, Personal Financial Management

Yesterday, Intuit launched its first native app for the iPhone, Quicken Online Mobile. It’s already risen to number four in the Finance category (note 1), and will likely hit number one given the number of Intuit fans using the iPhone. Currently, E*Trade’s new Mobile Pro claims the top spot.

Intuit has incorporated some interesting features including this user-friendly “what’s left until payday” feature. Users can access a graphical map of their future balance level (below) and get a warning (right) if the account looks like it will run out before the next payday.

Intuit also uses the GPS/location-based capabilities of the iPhone with a built-in ATM finder (click on inset for larger view). And finally, users are able to input transactions on the fly to get a real-time look at the impact to their budgets on the latest expenses.

The two-minute YouTube video (link) is worth watching to see how to position your iPhone PFM as a mobile financial assistant (speaker is Intuit product manager, Barron Ernst):

There are a number of personal finance apps available on the iPhone platform including Mint, Wesabe (announced Tuesday at FinovateStartup), MoneyTrackin, iBearSoft Software, and dozens more.

Notes:
1. Quicken’s mobile app is number four in the free apps section of the iTunes Finance apps section as of 8:30 AM Pacific time, 2 May 2009. It has 73 user reviews with an average 4-star rating (excellent). In comparison, Mint which launched its iPhone app in December has nearly 13,000 reviews.
2. According to VentureBeat, Quicken Online passed the 1-million user mark in mid-April.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Chase Uses Branch-Based WaMu Checking Account Offer at Credit Card Login

By Jim Bruene Posted on May 2, 2009
Categories: Advertising & Promotion, Channel Integration, Chase Bank, Deposits, Checking, Savings, CDs

I spent the past few weeks looking at cross-selling efforts from within the secure online banking zone. But unfortunately, I came across the following example too late to be included in our report (see note 1).

When I logged in to pay my Chase consumer credit card online (note 2), I was greeted with the following interstitial page (aka “splash screen”) inserted before the main account-management area (see first screenshot).

Chase is offering a $125 incentive to open a WaMu-branded free checking account (note 3). This offer may have something to do with the fact that I’m located in Seattle, the former headquarters of WaMu. The same creative was used in a statement insert and a banner ad across the main account-management page (see third screenshot).

Lessons:

1. Serving “more info”: In this example, Chase handles the info-serving process a bit differently than others I’d looked at recently. When selecting More Info on the splash screen, the bank opened a new tab (in Firefox 3) for the landing page (see second screenshot below). And while the user read the offer details on that page, the original tab automatically loaded the original destination (account management page), and the interstitial ad disappeared.

On the one hand, it’s convenient for the user to be able to look at the offer details and then quickly navigate back to the area they were originally logging in to. However, for more experienced users expecting a pop-up screen that can be quickly closed after reading, it can be momentarily confusing. There’s a risk the user will inadvertently close the entire browser session by clicking the upper-right “x,” necessitating an annoying restart and re-login.

I’m not sure there’s a single right answer, but another variable worth testing – something I’d prefer – is a popup running in a smaller window in front of the original Chase page.

2. Branch-only fulfillment: I was surprised to see the offer can be redeemed only in branch. There is no way to sign up online. The landing page is actually actually a coupon users are encouraged to print with the page-dominating blue “print” button (see second screenshot below).

I can understand the rationale for pushing people into branches where they can be upsold other services. But in this quick-start age, I’m surprised there isn’t at least an option to apply online. Perhaps this is a test to see how a branch-only offer compares to online-only ones.

Chase Bank splash screen (interstitial) immediately after login
(30 April 2009, 1:40 PM Pacific)

Landing page/coupon (opens in second tab in Firefox 3)

My Accounts page

Notes:
1. The results are compiled in our latest Online Banking Report: Selling Behind the Password.
2. Tiny rant: I owed $2.45 left over from some extra finance charge even though I paid my bill in full online last month. It’s not so much that Chase didn’t earn the $2, that’s fine. What’s irritating is that they made me pay it right away by setting my min payment to $2.45. Come on Chase, I’ve had this account since the 1990s, you can float me the $2 until the next time I have a charge.
3. Interestingly, I already have a small business checking account at WaMu. Either the bank’s householding algorithm missed it, or Chase is making the offer to everyone in my Zip, or it still wants me to open a personal account to go with my biz one.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

FinovateStartup 2009 Best of Show Winners Named

By Jim Bruene Posted on April 28, 2009
Categories: Award winners, Finovate

After a wonderful day in San Francisco featuring awesome demos from 56 startups, four emerged as FinovateStartup Best of Show winners.

All attendees, except for the startups themselves, received a ballot which allows them to rate each demo on a scale of one to six. At the end of the final demo session, the ballots are tallied and the presenters ranked based on their average score. A majority of attendees completed a ballot, so it’s a good indicator of the group consensus.

It was a tight race, but the peoples’ choice today are as follows (in alphabetic order). Congratulations!

BillShrink Prosper