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FinDEVr Preview: BlockCypher

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on September 1, 2015
Categories: BlockCypher, FinDEVr 2015 Preview

Today begins our FinDEVr Preview blog series. On 6/7 October in San Francisco, 60 companies will present their latest developer tools, tips, and integrations. Register today and don’t miss out.

With BlockCypher’s presentation, you’ll see how bitcoin and block chains enable programmable money. From simple scripts to complex contracts, code can automate the transfer of value, making it traceable as distributed, and cryptographically secure. Dedicated block chains and smart contracts can automate trading with fast settlement as well as encode complex derivatives.

Why it’s a must-see
Want to learn how block chains can fundamentally impact finance and Wall Street? How about rebuilding a bank in two days without keeping funds in custody? Want a sneak peek at what block chains and peer-to-peer distributed consensus can do? This session will put you on the right track and create a spark for you to build the next big finance thing.

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FinDEVr Preview: Finicity

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on September 1, 2015
Categories: FinDEVr 2015 Preview, Finicity

Today begins our FinDEVr Preview blog series. On 6/7 October in San Francisco, 60 companies will present their latest developer tools, tips, and integrations. Register today and don’t miss out.

Finicity, a fintech aggregator with 14 years of experience and 16,000+ developed data sources, will demonstrate real-time data delivery via the new TxPUSH API.

The instant availability of financial transaction and account data unlocks fintech innovation and improves security.

Why it’s a must-see
The TxPUSH standard pushes transactions as they happen, enabling real-time data delivery and improved security via OAuth.

With TxPUSH, account holders will no longer have to “pull” or download transactions from multiple financial institutions. Transactions will be “pushed” in real time to financial event hubs or directly to subscriber apps.

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FinDEVr Preview: Thinking Capital

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on September 1, 2015
Categories: FinDEVr 2015 Preview, Thinking Capital

Today begins our FinDEVr Preview blog series. On 6/7 October in San Francisco, 60 companies will present their latest developer tools, tips, and integrations. Register today and don’t miss out.

To Build or Not to Build: This Q&A session with Pat Forgione, Thinking Capital’s CTO, and CSO Anthony Lipschitz will delve into how a leading fintech organization uses SAS software to create a proprietary platform that facilitates underwriting, decision making, compliance and more.

Why it’s a must-see
This presentation will highlight how fintech developers can use technology to create unique competencies in finance, and help them make the decision of building, outsourcing or customizing tech solutions.

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FinDEVr Preview: Hyperwallet

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on September 1, 2015
Categories: FinDEVr 2015 Preview, Hyperwallet

Today begins our FinDEVr Preview blog series. On 6/7 October 2015 in San Francisco, 60 companies will present their latest developer tools, tips, and integrations. Register today and don’t miss out.

Hyperwallet is the leading outbound payment provider to the independent worker and freelancer economy.

The San Francisco-based company will showcase its REST API that allows technology companies to access turnkey global payout options while maintaining control of the user experience, making it easy for your users around the world to be paid.

Why it’s a must-see
Attendees will leave this session understanding the importance of a payout platform vs. a payout method. They will see how building into Hyperwallet’s outbound-payments technology will quickly, easily and securely unlock a new world of payout flexibility for independent workers on your platform.

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FinDEVr Preview: Lleida.net

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on September 1, 2015
Categories: FinDEVr 2015 Preview, Lleida.net

Today begins our FinDEVr Preview blog series. On 6/7 October 2015 in San Francisco, 60 companies will present their latest developer tools, tips, and integrations. Register today and don’t miss out.

Lleida.net’s Connectaclick is a customized solution for electronic contracting. Customers can get the deal done immediately, without delays, reaching the balance between legal certainty and conversion by using registered SMS or registered email. Lleida.net, as a telecom operator, acts as a trusted third party.

Why it’s a must-see
Being a tailor-made solution, Connectaclick combines registered SMS/email; email/phone number; and identification validation. As a customer data-validation service, the solution becomes more competitive and prevents fraud. Connectaclick lets you close deals anywhere, anytime.

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FinDEVr Preview: Personal Capital

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on September 1, 2015
Categories: FinDEVr 2015 Preview, Personal Capital

Today begins our FinDEVr Preview blog series. On 6/7 October in San Francisco, 60 companies will present their latest developer tools, tips, and integrations. Register today and don’t miss out.

Personal Capital will present the inner workings of a truly data-driven retirement planner based on users’ aggregated data and enhanced by machine learning. Each personalized plan is refreshed as the market or user’s spending or saving behaviors change and is served up on a UI that turns sophisticated algorithms and complex data into intuitive and actionable planning.

Why it’s a must-see:
Personal Capital’s AWS infrastructure supercharges a data-driven retirement planner that employs machine-learning techniques to better forecast growth of a user’s portfolio and estimate her retirement spending. The company’s connected ecosystem allows a user and her dedicated advisors to collaborate on the same data and retirement plan.

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Klarna Makes U.S. Debut with New Overstock.com Partnership

By David Penn Posted on September 1, 2015
Categories: Klarna

Thanks to a new partnership with Overstock.com, Klarna has come to America.

Starting today, customers at Overstock.com will be able to use Klarna Checkout for mobile online purchases. Klarna’s one-tap technology helps remove friction at checkout. Overstock.com CEO Patrick M. Byrne said that the solution has increased conversion rates during testing. CEO of Klarna North America Brian Billingsley called the partnership with Overstock “a massive opportunity to turn more browsers into buyers.”

From left: Klarna Chief Risk Officer Ohad Samet and SVP of Sales Jakob Söderbaum demonstrated their company’s technology at FinovateSpring 2012.

Klarna’s technology allows online consumers to buy now and pay later. By partnering with more than 50,000 merchants and 35 million total end-customers, Klarna has become a leader in after-delivery payments in Europe. The company’s solution assumes both credit and fraud risk, speeding up checkout, making it safer and guaranteeing payment for the merchant.

Klarna has had an active 2015. The company hired a former American Express executive as its new chief commercial officer in June, and just a few months later, Klarna’s CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski was named to Hot Topics’ top 100 fintech influencers in August. Klarna earned profiles from The Financial Times and Business Insider this summer, and spent the spring “experimenting” with bitcoin and winning bronze in the “Most Disruptive” category at the PYMNTS Innovation Awards. The company began the year joining 21 of its fellow Finovate alums in the FinTech50.

Founded 2005 in Stockholm, Sweden, Klarna made its Finovate debut at FinovateSpring 2012 in San Francisco.

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Narrative Science Enhances Quill Engage for Google Analytics

By David Penn Posted on September 1, 2015
Categories: Narrative Science

According to Narrative Science, now is a great time to get engaged.

The natural language generation specialist has launched a new, enhanced version of its Quill Engage for Google Analytics technology. Quill Engage turns Google Analytics data into actionable, natural language analysis and reports that are easier to understand and easier for website operators to implement.

“By upgrading to the new version of Quill Engage, users can spend more time improving a business’s digital presence and less time trying to make sense of the huge volumes of data generated by Google Analytics,” says Stuart Frankel, co-founder and CEO of Narrative Science.

From left: Tim Bixler, Credit Suisse managing director, global head of HOLT; Kris Hammond, chief technology officer, Narrative Science, demonstrated Quill Financial at FinovateFall 2013.

The new features include:

Additional Data Analysis: Captures more visitor behavior including goal, conversion, event, and e-commerce analysis
Customized Reports: Enables company branding, KPIs, add/remove report sections
Sharing and Saving: Allows automatic sharing with both clients and colleagues, export as editable Google Doc

First made available in the spring of 2014, Narrative Science’s Quill Engage for Analytics is powered by the company’s Quill platform demonstrated at FinovateFall 2013 in New York. The technology is available in three versions: free; Basic ($19.99/month); Premium ($49.99). According to Narrative Science, more than 13,000 users are on the platform, and the solution has earned high marks from the likes of the Content Marketing Institute, the Social Media Examiner, and RazorSocial.

Founded in January 2010 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, Narrative Science demonstrated its technology at FinovateFall 2013 in New York. For more information about our upcoming fall conference in New York, visit our FinovateFall 2015 page.

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Design: Creating Online Awareness of Digital Banking

By Jim Bruene Posted on September 1, 2015
Categories: BB&T Bank, US Bank, Website Usability & Design

There is only one reason I visit a bank’s website: to learn about its online and/or mobile banking features. Granted, understanding digital banking is my livelihood. But normal people looking for a new checking account, credit card or loan also need to understand digital capabilities. Even for those that need the comfort of knowing there’s a branch nearby, online/mobile is still a key attribute for the vast majority of consumers, and businesses, shopping for banks.

So I don’t understand why digital features are often relegated to a sub-menu buried in the Personal Banking section. Of the 10 largest U.S. retail banks, only two, US Bank and BB&T, feature online banking in high-level navigation. This is little changed from our mid-2013 overview.

My favorite among the mega-banks (again) is US Bank, which highlights digital on the upper left and uses both “online” and “mobile” in the navigation tab:

BB&T’s placement also works with “Online Services” on the far right of the top line. While that naming is okay, it would be better to see “mobile” mentioned. So, I’d recommend changing it to “Online & Mobile,” which is the same number of characters.

Plenty of smaller banks and credit unions are already showcasing their digital features. For example, San Diego County Credit Union uses “Online & Mobile Banking” along its top navigation.

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Image licensed from 123rf.com

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Finovate Alumni News

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on September 1, 2015
Categories: Coinbase, Holvi, Klarna, Narrative Science, PayPal, Prosper, Thinking Capital, TSYS

On Finovate.com

“View the FinovateFall Crowd“

“Narrative Science Enhances Quill Engage for Google Analytics”

“Klarna makes U.S. Debut with New Overstock.com Partnership”

Around the web

Thinking Capital announces back-to-school contest for SMBs.

Holvi launches Supercharge, a secure and fast way to move money.

Pymnts: PayPal could se e a 40% jump to $46/share if recent investments pay off.

Vogogo is now live with bitcoin-exchange, Coinbase.

Prosper taps Parker Barrile as new chief product officer.

TSYS to process credit and debit card portfolios from Metro Bank as part of new payments agreement.

This post will be updated throughout the day as news and developments emerge. You can also follow all the alumni news headlines on the Finovate Twitter account.

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Mobile Monday: Engaging Prospective New Customers

By Jim Bruene Posted on August 31, 2015
Categories: Mobile Banking, Sales Techniques, Website Usability & Design

How important are mobile users to your sales efforts? 76% of Facebook’s ad revenue is from mobile (and it was considered by many to be a mobile laggard a few years ago).

Prospective customers are already visiting your website from their smartphones in massive numbers. Are you making a good first impression? Does the UI work across key devices? And more importantly, is there an easy-to-find path to mobile purchase?

This afternoon, I visited 20 leading banking and personal finance sites (as a proxy for popularity, I used the 20 most downloaded free finance apps in the U.S. Apple App Store, see list in footnote). And it was like a trip back in time before (desktop) websites had adopted browser-design standards. By the numbers:

Excellent: 19 of the 20 had mobile-optimized sites (Laggard = Navy Federal Credit Union)
Satisfactory: 14 of 18 had a visible link for login (2 required a native app to login)
Needs work: 11 of 20 had a visible link to download the native app (including the 3 below)
Needs work: Only 3 of 20 used an initial “pop-up” screen that prompted download of the app, then the user needed to find a link to the non-app site
Needs work: 12 of 20 made a visible attempt to sell something
Fail: 6 of the 20 made a pretty marginal first impression, including several of the biggest financial institutions in the U.S. and the world: American Express, Chase, Citibank, Mint, PNC, Wells Fargo

My favorites (from this sample of 20, see footnote):

Bank: US Bank
Nice, engaging layout with clear path to more info, but missing a link to download the app

Runner-up: TD Bank
Easy-to-find customer service, login, location, but missing app-link

Favorite non-bank: Credit Karma
Good branding, clear get-started button, but no link to native app

Least favorite FI: American Express (lots of competition for this one)
Too much emphasis on logging in, easy-to-miss card-finder at bottom

Least favorite non-FI: Mint
Straightforward app link, but needs to better engage new user before offering the two choices; not very graphically interesting

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Top 20 apps (in order at U.S. App Store, 5PM Pacific 31 Aug 2015): Chase, BofA, Wells Fargo, PayPal, Capital One, Venmo, Credit Karma, Square, Mint, Acorns, GEICO, Citibank, Discover, American Express, USAA, Progressive, US Bank, Navy Federal, TD Bank, PNC Bank

#RockChalk (for Karl, Joe and Mary)

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Seeing the Forest for the Trees: Seeing the FinovateFall Crowd of Attendees

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on August 31, 2015
Categories: FinovateFall 2015

If you’ve been keeping up with the blog, you’ve seen enough Sneak Peek posts to know that FinovateFall is just around the corner.

In fact, in just two weeks, on 16/17 September, we’ll open up the networking hall in the New York Hilton Midtown (register here). There, you’ll make new connections and see familiar faces, all while getting an inside look at what’s new in financial technology.

Who else can you expect to see there? Check out a word-cloud of titles from the more than 1,000 people who have already registered:

At all Finovate conferences, we generally see a high number of CEOs and VPs who attend, and this year is no different. We are, however, seeing more developers than in years past, a sure sign that organizations are adapting to current trends.

FinovateFall is sponsored by The Bancorp, CapitalSource, Envestment, Financial Technology Partners, Hudson Cook, KPMG, and Zions SBIC.

FinovateFall is partners with Aite, American Bankers Association, Bank Innovators Council,BankersHub, bobsguide, Breaking Banks, California Bankers Association, Canadian Trade Commissioner Service, Celent, CoinTelegraph, Crowdfund Beat, Ebanking News, Hotwire, IDC Financial Insights, Javelin,Let’s Talk Payments, Mapa Research, Mercator Advisory Group, MergerMarket, The New Economy, NYPAY, The Paypers, SME Finance Forum, and World Finance.

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From left: Klarna Chief Risk Officer Ohad Samet and SVP of Sales Jakob Söderbaum demonstrated their company’s technology at FinovateSpring 2012.

From left: Tim Bixler, Credit Suisse managing director, global head of HOLT; Kris Hammond, chief technology officer, Narrative Science, demonstrated Quill Financial at FinovateFall 2013.

—- Image licensed from 123rf.com

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Image licensed from 123rf.com