Blog - Page 1152 of 1287

Out of the Inbox: Bank of America’s "Irregular Credit Card Activity" Alert

By Jim Bruene Posted on July 28, 2011
Categories: Alerts & Messaging, Bank of America, Email Samples, Security, Service

Several months ago (previous post), I wrote about Bank of America's online fraud-warning resolution center for consumer cards, MyFraudProtection. It's a great service, though a little hard to use.

At that time, I showed only the online functions. The more important piece is the email alert (below). It's a great way not only to reduce fraud, but also maintain good customer relations.

But it's still read-only. What I'm really waiting for is a truly two-way email, or better yet, text message. That way I can simply respond to the bank's question in a few seconds and both of us can get on with our business.

Email alert from Bank of America: Irregular Credit Card Activity (11 Jan. 2011)

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Note:
1. See our recent reports: Paperless Billing and Banking and Email Banking: Revitalizing the Channel.

Standard Chartered Bank Goes Mobile With Apple

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on July 28, 2011
Categories: Standard Chartered Bank

Standard Chartered, a heavyweight in the banking industry with 80,000 employees in over 70

countries and territories, was recently featured on Apple's website. An entire page in the iPad Customer Stories section highlights the bank's innovative use of the iPad and iPhone. A three-minute video describes why Standard Chartered chose Apple and how the technology benefits employees and clients. Mobile apps Standard Chartered has developed more than a dozen in-house iPhone apps that employees and customers can download through an internal app store called The Standard Chartered App Centre. Here are a few highlights: For Consumers: Breeze: A suite of mobile banking and lifestyle applications. FX Rates: A continuously refreshed, holistic view of exchange rates for currency traders (pictured on right).

For Employees:

Straight2Bank: A mobile authorization app that gives corporate treasurers better control over transactions. TradePort: An iPhone app that enables Trade Finance Relationship Managers to securely perform and monitor…

FinovateFall 2011 Demo Roster Revealed — Get Your Early-bird Ticket Before They’re Gone!

By finovate Posted on July 27, 2011
Categories: FinovateFall 2011

In less than eight weeks, over 60 handpicked companies will take the stage at FinovateFall in Manhattan to demo their latest financial and banking technology innovations.

The selected companies will showcase their latest ideas to an influential audience that's shaping up to be Finovate's largest ever (well above last fall's record crowd of 650). It should be a packed house on September 20th and 21st at Pier 92 and we hope you'll join us to watch the future of finance unfold live on stage.

Without further ado, here are the companies who will be demoing at FinovateFall 2011:

Andera Authentify Backbase Balance Financial BankSimple Betterment BillGuard BillShrink Bobber Interactive CarryQuote Cartera Commerce CashStar cbanc Network Cool House
of Financial Media CREALOGIX Credit Sesame Currensee DeMyst Data DoughMain Equifax eToro Experian Fairmarket Trust FamZoo FreeMonee Fuze Network Google InComm INSIDE Secure Kabbage Kony Solutions LearnVest Lighter Capital MasterCard
Worldwide Micronotes MiFii…

FinovateFall 2011 Demo Roster Revealed — Get Your Early-bird Ticket Before They’re Gone!

By finovate Posted on July 27, 2011
Categories: FinovateFall2011

In less than eight weeks, over 60 handpicked companies will take the stage at FinovateFall in Manhattan to demo their latest financial and banking technology innovations.

The selected companies will showcase their latest ideas to an influential audience that's shaping up to be Finovate's largest ever (well above last fall's record crowd of 650). It should be a packed house on September 20th and 21st at Pier 92, and we hope you'll join us to watch the future of finance unfold live on stage.

Without further ado, here are the companies who will be demoing at FinovateFall 2011:

Finally, a Facebook Credit Card Connection to Really Like (Thanks American Express)

By Jim Bruene Posted on July 26, 2011
Categories: American Express, Credit/Debit Cards, Facebook, Rewards Programs

Since Facebook became the de facto social operating system a year or two ago, I've been a little surprised the financial powers haven't jumped on board more aggressively (note 1). But the card companies have had their hands full dealing with the credit meltdown, so it's understandable.

But now that "big cards" are moving forward again, we'll see a burst of activity leveraging Facebook and other social networks during 2012 and beyond (note 2).

Link, Like, Love from American Express is a great example of what's to come.

Here's how it works (1 thru 5 illustrated in screenshots below):

Step 1: Go to the American Express Facebook page Step 2: Add "Link. Like. Love." to your Facebook profile Step 3: Link your AmEx card to the app Step 4: Sign up for offers you like Step 5: Visit the merchant (whenever you like) and pay…

Balance Financial Launches Certified Pro

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on July 26, 2011
Categories: Balance

Last week Balance Financial launched a second service, Certified Pro, a new version of its

billpay service. It's a mix of financial software, training, and tech support that allows Balance's advisory clients a way to offer personalized services to end users. While it's designed primarily for professional bookkeepers and wealth managers, it also has a version geared toward financial advisors and CPAs. Pricing is $49 to $199/mo depending on the version; there is also a free, view-only option. Certified Pro Services Initial and ongoing software training Co-branding that includes a branded sign-up page for end users Marketing support to generate new leads Tech support Bill payment services Document storage that organizes all client-related files in one place The service is currently in beta and is being used by selected wealth managers. More Information Press Release Balance Certified Pro Website

Alumni News — Week of July 18, 2011

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on July 25, 2011
Categories: ChargeSmart, CheckFree, Credit Karma, Doxo, Dwolla, eToro, Expensify, GoalMine, HelpMyCash, IDTheft 911, iPay Technologies, Lending Club, Lendio, mFoundry, Mint.com, Monitise Americas, peerTransfer, Prosper, SmartyPig, ThreatMetrix, TradeKing, Tyfone, Wikinvest, Xero, Zecco

ChargeSmart AOL's Daily Finance highlighted Chargesmart's secondary gift card market that allows

consumers to pay for bills in exchange for gift cards. Link CheckFree Family Wealth Report stated that CheckFree is leading the way in UMA processing. Link Credit Karma CBS Money Watch discussed Credit Karma's data on America's debt. Link Fox Business News listed Credit Karma's credit score simulator tool as a 15-minute fix for your credit score. Link doxo Practical Ecommerce listed doxo as one of 17 apps for productivity. Link Dwolla Dwolla hit $1 million in payments per day and Ben Milne, CEO, shared a sneak peak of future plans. Link Ace Community Credit Union provided customers with access to Dwolla through its site. Dwolla CEO Ben Milne explained why starting a business in Iowa isn't hard. Link Dwolla introduced a new Autoload feature. Link Dwolla was listed on The Next Web as one of…

Verity CU Asks "What are the Ten Most Interesting Products of 2011"

By Jim Bruene Posted on July 22, 2011
Categories: Strategies, Verity CU

I try not to ride the coattails of someone else's blog post, but here I go doing it anyway, because it's a great mid-year question.

Shari Storm, published author, Filene i3'er, and grand master financial marketer, asked the Internet to help her round out the list of ten most interesting (financial) products of 2011.

Here's what she's found so far (note these aren't necessarily new in 2011, just interesting this year; parenthetical comments are mine):

Mobile banking (note 1) Mobile remote deposit capture Personal financial management tools Personal bookkeeping (e.g., Balance Financial) Rewards checking (including in-statement merchant-funded rewards) Mobile apps that encourage you to build your savings account Short-term fixed-rate second mortgages

For what it's worth, in the comments I suggested (alpha order):

Anti-virus for your card charges (e.g., BillGuard) Bill statement storage online (e.g., doxo, Manilla) Buy…

Finovate Alumni Chosen for Institutional Investor’s Tech 50

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on July 22, 2011
Categories: Cortal Consors, Receivables Exchange, Standard Chartered Bank

Institutional Investor's Tech 50 List ranks technological leaders and innovators in the financial

industry. It includes nominations and input from industry experts and is finalized by the editors and staff of Institutional Investor who assess the nominees on 4 attributes: Experience and contributions over the course of a career Scope and complexity of responsibilities Influence and leadership inside and outside one's organization Technological innovation or achievement Below are the three Finovate alum chosen for this year's Tech 50 list.

Founded: 2007 Located: New Orleans, LA with offices in New York Funding: $29.8 million from Fidelity Ventures, Prism VentureWorks, RedPoint Ventures, and Bain Capital Ventures Market: Online Accounts Receivable Trading FinovateFall 2010 Demo Founded: 1969 Located: Worldwide with headquarters in Singapore Market: Global Bank FinovateFall 2010 Demo

Founded: 2003 Located: Paris Market: Online Trading and Investments FinovateEurope 2011 Demo More Information …

Announcing FinovateEurope 2012 — February 7th in London! Get your ticket now to lock in your spot!

By finovate Posted on July 21, 2011
Categories: FinovateEurope 2012

We're very excited to be returning to London next February 7th for our second annual FinovateEurope conference. After selling out of tickets for our debut European conference weeks ahead of the event and winning rave reviews from the attendees, next year's conference is not to be missed (get your ticket now to ensure you can attend -- and save £400 via the lowest ticket prices we'll offer).

For the 2012 conference, we've expanded to a larger and nicer venue right on the Thames river in central London so that you can watch fast-paced demonstrations of the best new ideas in European financial and banking technology in comfort. In addition to sneak peek into the future, Finovate also offers attendees a chance to network with hundreds of leading financial executives, entrepreneurs, industry analysts, major press, bloggers, and venture capitalists.

If you're a startup, established fintech company, or financial institution innovating…

Announcing FinovateEurope 2012 — February 7th in London! Get your ticket now to lock in your spot!

By finovate Posted on July 21, 2011
Categories: Finovate, Finovate Europe

We're very excited to be returning to London next February for our second annual FinovateEurope conference. After selling out our debut European conference weeks in advance and winning rave reviews from attendees, next year's event is not to be missed (get your ticket now to ensure you can attend -- and save £400 via the lowest ticket prices we'll offer).

For 2012, we've expanded to a larger and nicer venue right on the Thames river in central London so that you can watch fast-paced demonstrations of the best new ideas in European financial and banking technology in comfort. In addition, Finovate attendees have a chance to network with hundreds of leading financial executives, entrepreneurs, industry analysts, major press, bloggers, and venture capitalists.

If you're a startup, established fintech company, or financial institution innovating in financial or banking technology, we'd love to have you apply to demo your latest…

U.S. Peer-to-Peer Lending Hits Record High for Seventh Month in a Row

By Jim Bruene Posted on July 20, 2011
Categories: Loans & Credit, P2P Lending

This guest post was written by Peter Renton, (@SocialLoans), Editor & Publisher of peer-to-peer lending blog, Social Lending Network.

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With the launch of Prosper in Feb. 2006, peer to peer (P2P) lending arrived in the United States with great fanfare. Borrowers no longer needed banks. Individual investors could be the banker and earn great returns.

But, there have been challenges along the way. In 2008, the SEC decided P2P lending should be regulated as a securities business and both Prosper and Lending Club, which launched in mid-2007, were shuttered for half a year as they retooled. Both companies also initially struggled with higher-than-expected default rates.

It is only now that P2P lending appears to be living up to that initial promise. Last month was the best ever as lending volumes broke the record for the seventh month in a row. The combined volume of Prosper…