Reference: Media Categories for Delivering Bank & Credit Union Marketing Messages

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Marketing, Planning, Strategic Planning, Strategies

image I was reading Currency Marketing (note 1) founder Tim McAlpine’s ten-part blog opus (here) on so-called Challenge Marketing, a mix of social media, sweepstakes and viral marketing. It’s great reading, especially if you are thinking of embarking on a new-media marketing campaign.

In part 4, Tim created a list of media available for marketing messages. I started with his list, added to it, and rearranged the topics. Use this as a cheat sheet in your planning meetings to make sure you’ve covered all the bases. I know I’ve missed things, please add to the comments and I’ll update the list.

  • ATMs
    • Screens
    • Enclosures
    • Receipts
  • Blogs
    • Posting/commenting on your own blog
    • Guest posts on others
    • Commenting on other blogs
    • Asking for reciprocal blogroll listings
    • Sponsored blog post (tread carefully)
  • Branch
    • Posters
    • Brochures
    • Plasma screens
    • Floor decals
    • Window decals
  • Call center
    • On-hold messages
    • Press 1 for more info on ____
  • Charitable activities
  • Cinema advertising
  • Door-to-door
    • Flyers
    • Conversations
  • Ecommerce
    • Powered by your brand
    • Advertisements on confirmation screens/email receipts
  • Direct mail
    • Postcard
    • Letter
    • Welcome packages
  • Direct-to-desktop computer applications
    • Widgets
    • Toolbars
    • Buttons/alerts
  • E-mail
    • Direct messages to house or rented list
    • Advertisements/sponsorships within third-party email letters
    • Advertisements within triggered account alerts
  • Joint marketing (with other companies)
  • Mobile
    • Text messages
    • Downloadable app (iphone, Blackberry, Android)
    • Advertising in other apps
    • Sponsoring other apps
    • Featured at carrier/manufacturer site
  • Newsletters
    • Your email/printed/RSS  
    • Third-party properties
  • Online advertising on outside properties
    • Banners and other on-screen ads 
    • Advertorial
    • Sponsorships
    • RSS feed ads
    • Social networks (Facebook, MySpace, MSN, others)
    • Search engines (Google Adwords, Yahoo, Microsoft, others)
  • Online advertising on your properties
    • Main website
    • Online banking site
    • Logon/logoff splash screens
    • Microsites/landing pages
  • Outdoor
    • Billboards
    • Transit
    • Wall projection & other non-traditional outlets
    • Building site signage (construction loan clients)
    • Vehicle signage
  • Print/newspaper/magazine
    • Display ad
    • Classified ad
    • Column/op-ed articles
    • Inserts
    • College and other niche publications
    • Yellow pages/programs/directories/etc.
  • Promotional item giveaways
  • Public relations
    • Appearances and interviews
    • Press releases
    • Spokester (see Currency Marketing’s Young & Free)
  • Radio
    • 15/30 second spot
    • Advertorial
    • Sponsorship
  • Social media activity (note 2)
    • Facebook
    • MySpace
    • LinkedIn
    • Microsoft Live
    • Twitter
    • YouTube
    • Forums
    • Wikis
  • Sponsorships
    • Sports
    • Events
    • Charitable efforts
    • Schools
    • Green efforts
    • Anti-fraud education
  • Statements
    • Stuffers
    • Messages
    • Envelopes
    • Estatement advertising
  • Street-team marketing
  • Sweepstakes (on- and off-line)
  • Telemarketing
  • Third-party locations/publications
    • Advertising/messages
    • Signage
    • WiFi sponsorship
    • Billing statements
    • Websites
    • ATMs/kiosks
  • Television
    • 15/30 second spot
    • Product placement
    • Sponsorship
    • Infomercial
    • Online streams
  • Word of mouth

Notes:
1. Tim McAlpine has achieved near-rock-star status in credit union social media circles as the mastermind of the hugely successful Young & Free campaign.
Update: 18 March 2009, Tim posted a comparison of the latest Y&F campaign at South Carolina Federal Credit Union compared to the original Alberta one. The latest version is up in every category, a partnership with a local radio station is credited with part of the gain.
2. If you need examples from outside banking, here’s a 2-part wiki (here and here) created by social media guru Peter Kim with almost 1000 examples of social media efforts by various brands.

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New Online Banking Report Published: Mobile 2.0 — iPhone Edition

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Android, ATMs, Blackberry, iPhone, Mobile Banking, Online Banking Report

image This is a report I’ve been meaning to write for a few months, but it kept getting pushed back for more pressing (Growing Deposits in the Digital Age) or timely (Year-end Wrap and Forecast) reports.

But a few days ago, we put the finishing touches on the latest Online Banking Report. It will be mailed to subscribers by the end of this week. It’s also available online here. There’s no charge for current subscribers; others may access it immediately for US$495.

——————————————————–

Mobile Banking 2.0: iPhone Edition
How to build a smartphone app even
your CFO will love

In the report (press release), we outline the reasons why every financial institution should consider an iPhone app, even if it’s just a simple surcharge-free-ATM/branch finder like 1st Mariner Bank (iTunes link; see note 1) or a one-screen interface to your mobile website, essentially what Bank of America started with last year. Being on the iPhone is like having a website in 1995. Just by being there, even if it’s crappy, you are ahead of the curve. And for the rest of time, you can brag that you were an early adopter of all things mobile.

And the icing on the cake, you get to slap Apple iPhone pictures all over your website. Baltimore, MD-based 1st Mariner, a bank that doesn’t appear to even support basic mobile banking (note 2) has the most iPhone-ish website in the land (see screenshots below).

The report also looks at:

  • Mobile banking application market (Apple’s App Store, RIM’s Blackberry App World, and Google’s Android Market)
  • Mobile banking forecast (U.S.)
  • 33 features to consider for your mobile banking app
  • Leveraging iPhone hype to increase interest in financial products and services
  • Legal issues in mobile banking from our guest columnists at Chambliss, Bahner & Stophel

1st Mariner Bank homepage (16 March 2009)
Note: Nice job with the St. Patty’s day theme too!

image

1st Mariner iPhone landing page (16 March 2009)

image

Notes:
1. The 1st Mariner app, built by PointAbout, identifies the nearest of 16,000 surcharge-free MoneyPass ATMs. It also features other integrated apps for local weather, lowest gasoline prices, accident alerts, traffic (powered by MapQuest), grocery stores, and Zagat restaurant listings (but not reviews or ratings).
2. Ironically, if you navigate to the bank’s website on your iPhone, you cannot even see its iPhone homepage graphic (shown above) because the graphic is Flash-based which is not supported by the iPhone’s Safari browser

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Banks and Credit Unions on Twitter

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Bank 2.0, Metrics & Market Research, Social Media, Twitter, Wachovia

image If you haven’t been following Twitter the last few months, you may not realize it now has almost eight million monthly unique visitors according to Compete. That’s almost double the traffic it had just two months ago and a nearly a nine-fold gain from a year ago.

To put that traffic in perspective, it’s more than half that of the NY Times and slightly more than banking giant Wachovia (see Compete chart below).

image

Banking activity
Financial institutions are pretty new to the micro-blogging platform. In a search today, we found 15 U.S. banks and 22 credit unions with active Twitter feeds (see notes 1, 6-8). There were also and nine international banks for a total of 46.

See the table below for the non-inclusive list ranked by number of Twitter users that follow the bank’s feed (note 2). Wachovia (now owned by Wells Fargo), the only major bank that has promoted Twitter on its main website, leads with 2,000 followers (see previous post on Wachovia’s foray on to Twitter).

Opportunity 
Participating in Twitter is a low-cost entry into social media that can actually help save a customer relationship or three. Compared to blogging, it is much less labor intensive. It’s also less of a marketing platform given the 140-character limit in posts. But in the current environment, perhaps less truly is more. By all means, find a gung-ho Facebook devotee in your bank and let him or her get you into the Tweeting game.

Table: Banks and Credit Unions using Twitter (updated 16 March 2009)

Name Twitter URL (4) Updates Followers
1. Wachovia (Wells Fargo) /wachovia 257 2,058
2. Bank of America /bofa_help 557 1,486
3. Wells Fargo (3) /wellsfargo 4 548
4. ING Direct (6) /ingdirect 50 451
5. North Shore Bank /northshorebank 194 319
6. MSU Federal CU (7) /msufcu 180 270
7. Chase /chasebank 11 260
8. Pioneer Credit Union /pioneercu 225 251
9. 1st Mariner Bank /1stmarinerbank 140 227
10. Group Health CU /ghcu 353 219
11. GLS Bank (Germany) /glsbank 279 204
12. Brewery Credit Union /brewerycu 65 194
13. Bellco Credit Union /bellco_cu 67 192
14. Banco de Chile (Chile) /bancodechile 175 181
15. First Federal /firstfederal 89 177
16. Oklahoma Employees CU /oecu 14 148
17. CU Credit Union /mycucommunity 73 147
18. Allegiance CU (7) /allegiancecu 29 141
19. Heartland CU (7) /heartlandcu 33 125
20. Hopewell Federal CU (7) /hopewellfedcu 74 122
21. Tech CU (7) /techcu 62 115
22. Ubank (Australia, 8) /ubank 151 113
23. Banco Sabadell (Spain) /bancosabadell 2,272 111
24. FORUM Credit Union /forumtalk 19 97
25. Citibank /citi_forward 16 96
26. Fidelity Bank /fidelity_bank 11 92
27. Northeast Bank /northeast_bank 5 84
28. Banco Popular (Puerto Rico) /mi_banco 15 65
29. U.S. First Credit Union /schecking 43 61
30. Oklahoma Central CU (7) /okcentralcu 5 60
31. First Arkansas Bank /fabandt 27 59
32. SEB Bank (Germany) /seb_bank 37 59
33. 66 Fed Credit Union /66fcu 8 47
34. Telesis Credit Union /telesiscu 18 46
35. University CU (7) /universitycu 18 46
36. Nicolet Bank /nicoletbank 15 43
37. Chesapeake Bank /chesbank 8 41
38. Libra Bank (Romania) /librabank 14 38
39. KU Credit Union /kucreditunion 8 32
40. TwinStar CU (7) /twinstarcu 19 32
41. Capital Credit Union /captialcu 7 30
42. NW GA Credit Union /nwgacu 18 30
43. Banco de Guayaquil (Ecuador) /bancoguayaquil 77 28
44. COP Credit Union /copcu 7 26
45. Webster Bank /websterbank 3 20
46. Friesland Bank (Netherlands) /frieslandbank 8 10

Source: Online Banking Report, 13 March 2009 (see notes 6,7,8)

Notes:
1. To be considered active, the bank or credit union had to have set up a Twitter account, customized it with its logo, have made more than 1 update or “Tweet,” and have at least 10 followers. 
2. This is not a complete list. With a few exceptions, we only looked for financial institutions with “bank” or “credit union” in their name.
3. Wells Fargo’s Twitter page says it will be launching soon.
4. Twitter URL = www.twitter.com/<shown below>
5. For more on bank blogging, see our Online Banking Report on Banking 2.0
6. List and totals updated with ING Direct and First Federal on 16 March 2009
7. Searched on “CU” and found eight more credit unions on 17 March 2009. Thanks Gabriel Garcia.
8. Added NAB’s Ubank from comments, unsure why it didn’t show up on “bank” search

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The Upside of a Down Market

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Service

image Is it just me, or have people become more friendly lately?

I was flabbergasted, in a good way, by the service I received from Comcast yesterday. When our Internet service started failing Tuesday morning, I was initially worried we’d be out for a long time. At mid morning the Comcast call center was already backed up more than 10 minutes, but the friendly robot asked whether I’d prefer a call back instead of waiting on hold. I went with that option of course. Then, not only did they ring me when they said they would, the woman who called was the most empathetic tech support person I’ve ever conversed with.

Then (here’s the part that floored me), she said someone could come over that very day to fix it (note 1). The repair guy showed up on time, was nice as can be, seemed extremely knowledgeable, installed a new modem, and even put covers over his shoes before coming in the house. Comcast, you rock, and now I don’t feel nearly as bad about the $150/mo we send your way!

One thing about a nasty recession, it makes you appreciate your customers.

So in the vein, I’d like to thank the sponsors of our Netbanker blog, WorkLight, a Finovate Startup 2008 alum (video here), who has been handing out a free white paper via the ad on the upper right. And also our link sponsor on the bottom- right, Bankaholic, who is on its second year with us.

And as much as we like our sponsors, our biggest thanks is to you, the reader, who makes this all worthwhile. We’ve added more than 1,000 new subscribers in the past year, bringing the total to more than 8,500.

So thank you all from the Netbanker team!

Note:
1. This is just standard residential $45/mo Internet service.

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Money Link from the University of Wisconsin Credit Union Makes Electronic Transfers Simple (like they should be)

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Alt Payments, Funds transfers, Mobile Banking, US Bank, UW Credit Union

imageFinancial institutions vary considerably in how easy they make it to move money in and out of bank accounts.

On the one extreme is U.S. Bank, which still requires a retail customers to visit a branch to initiate an electronic payment (note 1). Plus, if you come in after the wire transfer deadline, 2 PM I believe, you can set it up to go out the next day, but you still have to call back and reconfirm before 2 PM the following day. When asked why they needed a phone call after I’ve already appeared in person, shown my ID, and signed multiple documents authorizing the transfer, they responded in all seriousness, “to make sure you are still alive.”

image Then there’s University of Wisconsin Credit Union, who not only assumes its members are alive, but also wants to keep them satisfied.

The credit union’s novel Money Link service allows anyone to send money to a UW CU member via an email-enabled system similar to PayPal but free of any fees and branded by the CU. The service can also be accessed via UW CU’s mobile banking. 

Transfers from outsiders take 3-4 days for the ACH items to clear. But member-to-member transfers occur in real time. It’s a great way for students to get money from mom and dad in time to thwart that Monday morning overdraft.

image The CU also supports full inter-institutional account-to-account transfers online. There is no cost to move money into UW CU, but there is a $2 fee for outgoing transfers.

Members who can’t wait for the 3 to 4 days for an ACH to clear, can elect the the Express Service that offers one-day turnaround for $10. The Express service has a $2,000 limit where the Standard Service can be used up to $10,000 (see inset).

Bottom line: This is the type of transfer service most consumers expect from their bank or credit union. It’s amazing that it’s still not supported at many financial institutions, including some of the majors.

Note:
1. Referring to wire transfers here initiated in the Seattle area. There could be other procedures in other areas of the bank’s footprint. Also, customers can CheckFree-powered online bill pay to pay any U.S. resident or business within 5 days. 

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RIM’s New Blackberry App World Includes Wells Fargo, E*Trade, Fidelity, and Bank of America

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Bank of America, Blackberry, E*Trade, Fidelity, iPhone, Mobile Banking, Wells Fargo

image_thumb[12]It will be a long time before the new mobile application markets, Google’s Android Market and RIM’s Blackberry App World, get anywhere close to Apple’s App Store in breadth or depth. Currently, there are 162 apps listed across all categories in the Android market and 88 for the Blackberry (North America), compared to more than 25,000 for the iPhone (U.S.).

However, Blackberry already has tied the iPhone in one sub-category, big-name U.S. financial services companies. As of today, each has four. Bank of America is the only one supporting both.    

iPhone App Store Blackberry App World*
Bank of America Bank of America
Chase Wells Fargo
Citibank E*Trade
PNC Bank Fidelity Investments

*Blackberry App World also has an Obopay mobile payments app with ties to Citibank.

Financial institution opportunities: The list of participating financial institutions won’t stay short for long. You must support iPhone and Blackberry users, the sooner you do so, the more free publicity you can garner. For more information, see our latest Online Banking Report, published today, Mobile Banking 2.0: iPhone Edition.

Blackberry App World Finance & Banking section
(9 March 2009, 10 PM Pacific)

image_thumb[2]

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Will the Online Personal Finance Specialists Survive?

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Alerts & Messaging, Mint, Personal Financial Management, Security & Privacy, Wesabe

image I love personal financial management websites. Not so much for the reality, actually I hate tracking expenses, but for the promise. The illusion of having everything under control, never overdrafting, never missing a payment, and with perfectly-shaded multi-color pie charts just a click away (inset from Mint). 

But I’ve always thought that once banks and credit unions added basic PFM functions to their online banking services (see note 1), it’s game-over for most independent PFM sites. They would have to either license their platform to financial institutions, sell out, or close their doors.

Now I’m not so sure.

Mint did something recently that made me reconsider. It was really pretty simple when you think about it. Yet as far as I know, no bank, card issuer, or even credit union has ever taken this on. 

The Mountain View, CA-based startup scanned their members’ credit card statements to identify bogus charges from a known scam. And the company plans to make the resulting fraud alert service a standard part of its offering.  

From American Banker (23 Jan 2009):

Mint Software Inc. is planning to roll out a tool that will automatically scan its 800,000 users’ accounts for potentially bogus charges….Aaron Patzer, Mint’s founder and chief executive, said the idea for the new product came after his company heard of a scam involving Adele Services of Melville, N.Y., a bogus merchant that was making 25-cent charges to millions of consumer accounts. The news was widely reported, and Mint decided to check its users’ accounts its to see if any had been affected; it found 800 that were.

Score 1 for the upstarts.

Bottom line: If the online PFM purveyors harness technology to take better care of banking customers than the banks themselves, especially with practical, money-saving ways such as Wesabe’s Cutback Tool (below), the newcomers have a bright future indeed.

image

Note: For more info, see our Online Banking Report on Personal Finance Features for Online Banking.

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Allpoint Surcharge-Free ATM Finder Launches on iPhone

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: ATMs, iPhone

image This is the application I wanted to build, a surcharge-free ATM finder, but my business partner wisely talked me down from that ledge last month (see note 1). I can officially deep-six that idea with the launch of Regular Rate and Rhythm Software‘s Allpoint ATMs: Surcharge-free ATM Locator.

The app went on sale today in the Apple App Store for a one-time $1.99 fee (iTunes link). The app, which directs users to one of 37,000 Allpoint ATMs, could not be simpler: 

  • Launch the app
  • See the nearest Allpoint ATM
  • Tap for walking/driving directions courtesy of Google maps (see inset) 

Using WiFi, it took 19 seconds from the moment I pressed the application button to when the nearest ATM location was listed, inside a Safeway five blocks away (note 2). With WiFi off (Edge network), it took just 4 seconds longer. Mapping the location, if necessary, took a few more seconds.

There are very few finance apps where users will willingly pay a fee. But this ATM finder, which saves about two bucks every time its used (note 3), should be popular at $1.99. Of course, it won’t be long before the free, ad-supported version comes along, so the windfall may be short-lived.

Bottom line: This is a great tool for credit unions, community banks, and direct banks looking to compete against the massive ATM networks of the major banks. The best strategy is to build this right in to your own iPhone/Android/Blackberry app. But until then, you can at least point customers to this app.

Notes:
1. While it’s a great opportunity for financial institutions, or scrappy coders to build, it’s ultimately not what we want to focus on. Still, it could be a gold mine, at least until financial institutions, especially credit unions and community banks, start adding it to their own iPhone applications.
2. This was news to me, even though I’ve lived in then neighborhood for a decade. 
3. Assuming you would otherwise use an ATM which levies a $2 surcharge.

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Blaze Mobile Wallet Transforms iPhone into Payments Device at the Point of Sale (sort of)

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: iPhone, Mobile Banking, Mobile Payments

image It will take years before the mobile phone fulfills its promise as a true mobile payments device. Or will it?

If you don’t mind a bit of a work-around and you limit your purchases to MasterCard PayPass-enabled merchants, you can pay by cell phone today thanks to Blaze Mobile.

How it works:

  1. Download the Blaze Mobile Wallet at the Apple App Store (iTunes link), cost $1.99 (note 2).
  2. Sign up for a Blaze pre-paid MasterCard issued by MetaBank
  3. Affix the MasterCard PayPass RFID sticker to the back of your iPhone
  4. Wave and pay at MasterCard PayPass terminals

Granted, few people will go through this trouble just to buy an Arby’s sandwich without pulling out their plastic (note 1). However, it shows that the technology is available today to enable at least some mobile payments. And for financial institutions, it provides a cool way to differentiate debit and credit cards.

Notes:
1. According to MasterCard, there are 463 PayPass locations within 25 miles of my Seattle location. 
2. The wallet also works on other mobile platforms, see the company’s website.
3. Previous post on paying via credit card stickers (here).
4. For more info see our Online Banking Report on Mobile Payments.

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Cology’s TuitionU.com Acquires Student Loan P2P Lender GreenNote

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: GreenNote, P2P Lending, Student Loans

image TutionU.com’s acquisition of Finovate Startup alum, GreenNote, was announced today (press release). The social student lender debuted at our conference last year (video here).

TuitionU.com is a student loan portal operated by Cology Inc. According to Compete, the traffic to TuitionU.com has been running from 1,000 to 2,000 visitors per month during the past year. GreenNote has recently been averaging 6,000 to 8,000 monthly unique visitors (see chart below). 

image

 
TuitionU.com homepage reflects GreenNote acquisition (3 March 2009)

image

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Citibank Launches Dedicated iPhone Application

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Citi Mobile, Citibank, iPhone, mFoundry, Mobile Banking

image Earlier today, Citibank launched a dedicated iPhone app (iTunes link) powered by mFoundry. Previously, certain Citi cardholders could use the Firethorn iPhone app, but there was no App Store listing under the Citi brand.

The app, which is free to download, is currently number 10 in the App Store Finance (free) category. It will likely rise to the top, at least briefly, as Citi customers download the app.

The app is featured on the Citi homepage today (see first screenshot below) and is front and center on the Citi Mobile landing page (second screenshot below). The bank has also posted a nine-screen demo of the app here (see inset).

Anyone that’s ever used a mobile website will appreciate the Citi login screen (see inset below). A jumbo-sized numerical keypad is included below the signin area to make typing the PIN easier on the small screen. image

The Citi application does the usual four functions:

  • check balances
  • transfer funds
  • pay bills
  • find Citi branches and ATMs

The bank wisely informs users that their iPhone access can be deactivated immediately in the event of a lost or stolen phone by calling its toll-free number.

With this launch, four of the 10 largest U.S. consumer banks have a dedicated presence in the Apple App Store: Bank of America, Chase, and PNC Bank.

Citibank homepage features the iPhone app (2 March 2009)

image

Left: Landing page for Citi Mobile (link, 2 March 2009)

image    

The Citibank application page in the iTunes App Store (link, 2 March 2009)

image

Note:
1. See our Online Banking Report on Mobile Banking for more information on the market. 

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Finovate Startup Conference Company Descriptions

By Jim Bruene Posted on
Categories: Conference Calendar, Conferences, Finovate, Launches

image To give you an idea of the types of innovations being funded in financial services these days, here’s a capsule description of the first 48 companies demoing at FinovateStartup April 28 in San Francisco (note 1).

Attention attendees: You have just one day left to register (here) at the discounted price of $795. 

Finovate Startup 2009 Participants

Acculynk
Acculynk is a payments solutions provider with a suite of software-only services that secure online transactions by utilizing a graphical, scrambling PIN-pad for the secure entry of sensitive cardholder information.

AlphaClone
AlphaClone is a web-based investment research service that lets users explore the investing ideas of top hedge fund and institutional money managers.

Aradiom
Aradiom is a mobile solutions provider and designer of Java mobile applications and platform development technology including turn-key applications, embedded soft-token security solutions and BlackBerry® enterprise applications.

BillShrink
BillShrink is a personalized savings advisor that helps consumers make smart, money-saving decisions by providing continuously updated, personalized, usage-based recommendations on everyday services like credit cards and cell phone plans

BudgetTracker
BudgetTracker is a personal finance manager that allows users to manage their finances and keep track of their budget, bills, and transactions online without having to install software.

CalendarBudget
CalendarBudget is a free online personal budgeting tool that helps users organize and track their finances, plan future spending and save money.

Centrro
Centrro is a financial search engine that allows consumers to anonymously shop for personal financial products that best fit their specific credit profile.

CircleUp
CircleUp provides group communications services, which enable actionable and efficient interactions across diverse social, email, mobile, messaging and private web networks.

Cooler Inc.
Cooler Inc. enables users to know, decrease, and offset the global warming impact of their everyday purchases and activities by using the country’s only peer-reviewed carbon calculator to calculate impact and then providing reductions targets and strategies, and offering recommendations on high quality carbon offsets.

CreditArray
CreditArray is a vault of proprietary information to allow consumers to better apply for and manage their credit portfolios.

Credit Karma
Credit Karma provides consumers free access to their credit score and offers credit simulators, advice, and credit score comparison tools in order to allow them to more actively manage their credit and financial health.

GoalSpring
GoalSpring’s product, DebtGoal, makes paying down debt as easy and efficient as possible by taking into account all of a customer’s debt and helping them organize, optimize and pay it down.

Expensify
Expensify simplifies keeping track of business expenses by combining an electronic payment card and a web-based expense manager to automate expense report preparation, approval, and reimbursement.

Green Sherpa
Green Sherpa offers personal cash flow management software that lets users conveniently download, manage and update all their financial accounts via a single online resource.

Home-Account
Home-Account is in stealth mode at this time. 

HomeATM
HomeATM provides a secure PIN debit and PIN credit card transactions method via the Internet that utilizes the HomeATM swipe pad technology to allow users to conduct secure PIN-based transactions from home, ensuring virtually zero fraud and lower merchant processing fee costs.

iBearSoft
iBearSoft is the creator of iBearMoney, a personal finance application for the iPhone that allows users to input and categorize their transactions, run financial reports, analyze payments, and keep track of expenses.

iThryv
iThryv is a financial literacy platform that combines a content delivery system and an incentive system in order to create an immersive learning environment which provides a powerful tool when used in partnership with online banking and core providers.

Jwaala
Jwaala provides software for banks and credit unions that improves their online banking services. Their MoneyTracker application offers a personal financial management solution that can be added to any bank or credit union’s existing online banking solution.

kaChing
kaChing is a social investment community that applies an open source and social-networking strategy to offer every investor the opportunity to find outstanding investors, emulate their portfolios, and access the returns, insights, transparency and talent previously only available to wealthy individuals.

Kapitall
Kapitall is a rich web application that aims to make investing easy for everyone. Inspired by game design, Kapitall combines an graphical user interface with tools that make it easier than ever to research companies, build portfolios, share ideas and get smarter about the market.

Lending Club
Lending Club is an online social lending network where people can borrow and invest money at attractive rates.

LendingKarma
LendingKarma is a person-to-person lending site that makes it easy for parties that know each other to create loans and provides borrowers and lenders with tools to help service the loan and see it through to repayment.

Looniesdesk.com
Looniesdesk.com enables people to manage their finances online using an open source financial platform that allows developers to build sophisticated applications which will help users enhance their experience and increase the efficiency of the service.

Mint
Mint is an online per
sonal finance service that securely downloads users’ financial transactions, allows them to categorize their transactions, provides a unified view of all account activity and relevant account alerts, and offers personalized suggestions for significant savings opportunities.

Moneta
Moneta provides a secure, quick and easy form of online payment that directly debits users’ checking or money market account allowing users to only enter a secure username and password when making online purchases.

NCore
NCore provides enterprise class delivery channel solutions to financial institutions within the Asia Pacific and Middle East regions fusing applications, innovative security and middleware technology into a single integrated platform.

OurCashFlow
OurCashFlow offers personal finance management tools for financial institutions that can turn their website into a place where customers can create a budget, save money and achieve their savings goals.

Pennyminder
Pennyminder helps individuals and small groups manage their shared and personal finances by tracking deposits and withdrawals allowing them to see what’s happening with their money

People Capital
People Capital is a peer-to-peer private student loan service that utilizes a unique scoring system to predict a student’s potential and provide a true, unbiased measure of the economic value of an education that empowers students to make better educational decisions and offers multiple advantages for both borrowers and lenders.

Pertuity Direct
Pertuity Direct offers social lending for personal loans by bringing together the advantages of capital markets, social networks and traditional banking.

Portfolio Monkey
Portfolio Monkey provides free online portfolio management tools to help average investors optimize their portfolios and find customized investment ideas so they can create more efficient portfolios with higher expected return and less risk.

Prosper
Prosper is a person-to-person lending marketplace where people list and bid on loans using Prosper’s online auction platform.

The Receivables Exchange
The Receivables Exchange is a real-time online market for trading accounts receivable that gives businesses access to working capital at a competitive cost by connecting a global network of accredited investors to the nation’s small and mid-sized businesses.

Rudder
Rudder is a free personal finance software designed to minimize the effort required in managing money by helping users to manage their budget, track their bills and analyze their expected income and projected expenses.

Silver Tail Systems
Silver Tail Systems provides fraud prevention to defend users’ websites against business logic abuse through the use of behavior detection, efficient investigation and real-time mitigation to track suspicious behavior and divert the bad actors, leaving legitimate users unaffected.

SimpliFi
SimpliFi provides independent financial advice online. Users can complete a profile and receive a personal financial plan with specific actionable steps.

SmartHippo
SmartHippo uses the power of the community to find users the best rates on financial products and services.

SmartyPig
SmartyPig is a social saving service that helps users save for a specific goal by allowing them to invite others to contribute to their account, providing incentive boosts from top retailers, and offering a competitive interest rate.

Strands
moneyStrands is a money management service that helps users get information on anything from practical savings tips to getting help tracking expenses down

Syphr
Syphr is a technology and marketing credit union service organization that created RateMatch, a service that matches participating credit unions with the thousands of credit report purchasers per month.

ThreatMetrix
ThreatMetrix helps companies control online fraud and abuse in real time by profiling the device used in an online transaction so companies can determine whether the users are fraudsters or customers.

Transparent Financial Services
Transparent Financial Services is online comparison-shopping service for small businesses that uses technology to help users compare and purchase financial services like payroll processing, credit card processing and business loans.

Victrio
Victrio offers a credit risk management system that uses voiceprint recognition technology to fight credit card fraud and identity theft.

Wesabe
Wesabe is an online personal finance management tool that provides members with information about where they spend and links them with a community dedicated to helping each other make smart financial decisions.

WeSeed
WeSeed seeks to demystify the stock market by helping real people share what they know and make smart investing decisions based on the collective wisdom of the community.   

ZimpleMoney
ZimpleMoney is a web-based financial services platform enabling people and organizations to manage and administer financial agreements including loans, leases, rentals, tithing, trusts and settlements.

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Note
1. Several other participants are remaining anonymous for the time being. 

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