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Alumni News– Week of June 20, 2011

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on June 27, 2011
Categories: AlphaClone, billFLO, Bills.com, BrightScope, CashEdge, Continuity Control, Credit Karma, Currensee, Doxo, Dwolla, eWise, Expensify, HelloWallet, Jwaala, Lending Club, Lendio, Mortgagebot, PayNearMe, Prosper, Receivables Exchange, Strands, TradeKing, Voice Commerce, Xero, Zopa

AlphaClone AlphaClone launched a new feature that measures sentiment. Link BillFLO Taulia acquired BillFLO. Link Bills.com

Bills.com shared money-saving strategies for recent college graduates. Link BrightScope BrightScope was highlighted on the Tuscon NBC news channel series, "4 Your Money." Link CashEdge Ally Bank began offering CashEdge's Popmoney service. Link Continuity Control

LEVERAGE, the Service Corporation for the League of Southeastern Credit Unions, began offering Continuity Control's CreditUnion Assistant program. Link CreditKarma Credit Karma introduced its Approval Odds service to help avoid being declined for a card. Link Currensee Currensee reached $6 billion in trading volume and $12 million under management. Link doxo The MakeUseOf blog reviewed doxo's online filing cabinet. Link Dwolla Dwolla CEO commented on the Bitcoin virtual currency debate, exchange, and hysteria. Link Dwolla's fees were compared to PayPal's. Link Silicon Prairie News discussed Dwolla CEO's comments on Bitcoin. Link eWise eWise Payo's smartphone app won the…

TDECU Posts 50% Growth in Mobile Banking Users in 2 Months

By Jim Bruene Posted on June 26, 2011
Categories: Mobile Banking

This guest post was written by Daniel Thomas, a 25-year strategy and product development veteran of the financial services industry. He is a principal consultant with Mindful Insights LLC.

Back in April, we showed you the list of the 30 most popular iPad apps from U.S. banks and other financial services companies listed on iTunes. The list featured the usual big names, but one surprise was #14, Texas Dow Employees Credit Union (TDECU), a 132,000 member, 19-branch, $1.6B credit union headquartered in Lake Jackson, TX.

The app, UniFI, available on iPad, iPhone and Android platforms, was developed by startup FI-Mobile. The full-featured offering includes:

All the banking functions offered in online banking Linkage to Facebook and Twitter Branch locations Rates Advertising capabilities Analytics

FI Mobile says it can launch the app in three weeks for FIs that already have a mobile banking application, and seven weeks…

Get Your FinovateFall Ticket by Friday June 24 to Lock in Your Seat (and Save $200!)

By finovate Posted on June 23, 2011
Categories: FinovateFall 2011

Innovative. Inspiring. Fascinating.

Whatever your preferred descriptor, the scores of companies that have submitted applications to demo their latest and greatest at FinovateFall (September 20-21 in NYC) can live up to it.

They're innovating in everything from biometric security to mobile apps to online lending to artificial intelligence to the "gamification" of financial education and much more. Right now, we're sorting through the thick stack of applications to fill FinovateFall's two days with fintech's best new ideas for your education and enjoyment.

Last year, the fall conference sold out weeks in advance so be sure to get your ticket now to lock in your seat (and the early-bird price) to see these exciting demos of new technology and connect with hundreds of leading financial executives, venture capitalists, industry analysts, reporters and technology entrepreneurs.

Get Your FinovateFall Ticket Before Midnight on Friday June 24 to Lock in Your Seat (and Save $200!)

By finovate Posted on June 23, 2011
Categories: FinovateFall2011

Innovative. Inspiring. Fascinating.

Whatever your preferred descriptor, the scores of companies that have submitted applications to demo their latest and greatest at FinovateFall (September 20-21 in NYC) can live up to it.

BankSimple Reveals 2 New Banking Partners: The Bancorp Bank and CBW Bank

By Jim Bruene Posted on June 22, 2011
Categories: Bancorp Bank, Simple

Yet-to-be-launched BankSimple scored more great press this month with a tease on the cover of the July/August issue of Fast Company:

The Zappos of Finance

The one-page profile in the magazine's Next column (p. 32) is titled:

A Bank that Doesn't Suck

For Netbanker readers, the article mostly covered familiar ground. However, there were two huge reveals near the end that I almost missed; two banks the startup is working with to power its services:

Bancorp Inc, a public holding company (TBBK) that powers 300 affinity banking programs around the country (note 1) which will likely power BankSimple debit cards among other things. Bancorp Bank EVP Pete Chiccino was quoted in the FastCompany article. CBW Bank, a small privately held bank based in Weir, Kansas with just $6 million in deposits (note 2), which will likely hold BankSimple-gathered deposits.

BankSimple has…

HelloWallet is a PFM with Deep Philanthropic Roots

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on June 22, 2011
Categories: HelloWallet

We all know that sticking to a budget is important, but it's not easy. HelloWallet's online

personal financial management (PFM) is designed to help. Users can track long-term goals and spending through interactive graphs and personalized notifications. In addition, the startup's philanthropic efforts make you feel even better about using the $8.95/mo advertising-free service. Washington, D.C.-based HelloWallet was founded in 2008 by former Brookings scholar Matt Fellows to provide financial guidance for Americans who lack access to professional advisors. The service originated with a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation intended to help low-income Americans create a budget. Web Traffic (Note: The traffic below does not reflect users who access the service through their employer. The footnote* at end of the post reflects those numbers.)

(Retrieved June 22, 2011 from compete.com) The company has expanded its horizons and now looks to help consumers at all income levels. In fact, HelloWallet is…

Is Prepaid the Durbin Antidote?

By Jim Bruene Posted on June 22, 2011
Categories: Credit/Debit Cards, Debit Cards, Prepaid/gift cards, Strategies

Prepaid cards have been a bit of an afterthought for most banks and card issuers. Sure, they make the occasional appearance on banking sites in December as holiday gifts. But mainstream they are not.

But that was before traditional debit cards suddenly became unprofitable (note 1) thanks to the upcoming U.S. debit interchange price controls (see Durbin rant, note 2) combined with with last year's reining in of overdraft fees.

It's pretty easy to predict what happens next. Banks will do what any business would do when offering a popular, yet unprofitable product. Raise prices with new monthly/annual/transaction fees. And for customers that are fee adverse, banks will offer two alternatives:

Credit cards for the credit worthy Prepaid cards for everyone else

Bottom line: Prepaid bankcards are about to become much more popular. Here's why:

More interchange revenue to the issuer Easier to sell…

FinovateSpring 2011 Demo Videos Available Now

By finovate Posted on June 21, 2011
Categories: FinovateSpring 2011

The demo videos from FinovateSpring 2011 (last month in San Francisco) are now available for your viewing enjoyment -- free of charge -- in the Finovate Video Archives.

The spring conference was our largest conference ever, with 850 financial executives, venture capitalists and industry leaders watching 64 innovative fintech companies showcase their latest and greatest products. (FinovateFall in NYC in September promises to be even bigger, register now if you haven't already!)

If you missed the spring event, then be sure check out these fast-paced 7-minute demo videos from all our presenting companies. These hot young startups and leading established companies are innovating on everything from tablet interfaces to P2P payments to financial education to mobile bill capture to PFM to merchant-funded rewards to biometric security and much more. It's inspiring to see all the new ideas being launched!

FinovateSpring 2011 was sponsored by: The Bancorp, Tier…

FinovateSpring 2011 Demo Videos Available Now

By finovate Posted on June 21, 2011
Categories: FinovateSpring 2011

The demo videos from FinovateSpring 2011 (last month in San Francisco) are now available for your viewing enjoyment -- free of charge -- in the Finovate Video Archives.

FinovateSpring 2011 was sponsored by: The Bancorp, Tier…

Alumni News — Week of June 13, 2011

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on June 20, 2011
Categories: AcceptEmail, Balance, BancVue, BankOns, BillShrink, BrightScope, CheckFree, ClairMail, Doxo, Dwolla, Enloop, eRollover, eWise, Kiboo, Lending Club, mFoundry, Mitek, Monitise, peerTransfer, Prosper, SafetyPay, SmartyPig, Tagit, ThreatMetrix, Tyfone

AcceptEmail AcceptEmail partnered with WorldPay to launch an e-billing and online payment service. Link Balance GeekWire interviewed Balance Financial CEO, Devin Miller. Link BancVue BancVue executives won Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year. Link BankOns Examiner.com referred to BankOns as the new GroupOn. Link BillShrink BillShrink was featured in The New York Times. Link BrightScope Forbes reported on BrightScope's list of exchange-traded funds held in America's 401k plans. Link
CheckFree CheckFree expanded its functionality to support account-to-account and peer-to-peer transfers. Link Clairmail Clairmail joined the RSA Secured Partner Program to provide secure access to mobile banking. Link doxo doxo CEO explained paperless billing in a video interview, highlighting the mobile app. Link doxo was featured on the Top Productivity Apps website. Link Northwest Innovation reviewed doxo's mobile app. Link Dwolla TechCrunch reported that Dwolla hit a milestone of $1M in transactions per week. Link Enloop Business News Daily interviewed…

Is ING Direct to Capital One what PayPal was to eBay?

By Jim Bruene Posted on June 16, 2011
Categories: Capital One, ING Direct

Given that ING Direct had to be divested (by agreement with the Dutch government), it couldn't have gone to a more interesting buyer. Capital One was my favorite banking company in the pre-Internet days as it was an absolute direct marketing machine (and still is).

But Capital One has not leveraged the Internet to the extent I'd expected and as recently as last November, didn't even have a mobile app for the iPhone.

ING Direct is the opposite. Much of its 7.6 million customer base and $82 billion in deposits can be attributed to an innovative brand optimized for remote delivery.

Will ING Direct's online chops boost growth at Capital One like PayPal did for eBay when it introduced epayments into the online marketplace? Wall Street gave it a modest thumbs up, sending Capital One shares up more than 2% on a day when financials were flat. That's a $0.5…

Prosper is Back in the Game, Lands First Private Equity Lender

By Jim Bruene Posted on June 15, 2011
Categories: E-Loan, Lending Club, Loans & Credit, P2P Lending, Prosper

A few weeks ago, I caught up with Chris Larsen, CEO & founder of Prosper. I've been a huge fan of his work for more than a decade. His ventures,
E-Loan and Prosper, have been pioneers in the lending space, both earning OBR Best of Web awards and Prosper also taking Best of Show in our first Finovate in Oct. 2007 (note 1).

But it's been a rocky few years for Prosper (see Netbanker archives), as it's been for most consumer lenders. The company even lost its lead in the U.S. P2P loan space to Lending Club, which is currently originating about three times as many loans.

But Prosper survived and appears to be back on a path to live up to its name. Some recent milestones:

Its first private equity lender (updated 16 June, 2011, per comment below) is coming on…