Blog - Page 903 of 1191

BBVA Compass Bundles Microbiz Checking with PAYware Mobile Card Processing

By Jim Bruene Posted on July 30, 2013
Categories: Deposits, Checking, Savings, CDs, Mobile Banking, Small Business

I rarely get a chance to write about checking accounts, so I was glad to see the BBVA Compass announcement on the wires yesterday.

The bank launched a Business Mobility Bundle which has checking, mobile card processing and a free Galaxy Tab 3 Android tablet (wifi-only), a $200 value (note 1). It’s a soft bundle (note 2) of the bank’s existing e-Business Checking Account and its Merchant Mobility Pack, powered by Verifone PAYware.

The checking account is fee-free up to a certain level of activity (note 3). But the optional card-acceptance piece is $24.95/mo, which is waived in this promo for 12 months. The offer is not currently visible on the bank’s website, but a link in the press release leads to a landing page with the offer (see first screenshot).

My take: The Business Mobility positioning is excellent, nicely tying two key business products together. The underlying accounts seem to be solid values, and the free Samsung tablet is sure to spark sales.

However, my initial enthusiasm from the press release was somewhat tempered by the realities of the fine print (see second screenshot, note 1) and overall execution. For example:

No online application, it’s a call-me form (albeit a good one)
Mobile deposit is limited to $1,200 every 30 days
Both the free e-Business Checking and the 12-month fee waiver for mobile card acceptance are currently available on the bank’s website. There are no added benefits to the Business Mobility Bundle, outside the tablet premium
The free tablet is wifi only and sells for $199 online (it’s no iPad)

The offer is not currently visible on the BBVA website, even through site search, presumably so it doesn’t irk existing customers who cannot get the free tablet.

Bottom line: I like the promotion, although I wish the bundle had more features. For example, mobile banking pre-loaded on the Galaxy; customer service available via Skype; or even higher mobile-deposit limits for those using card processing (note 4).

—————————

BBVA Business Mobility landing page (link, 30 July 2013)

Fine print (positioned directly below the screen shown above)

————————————-

Notes:
1. Fine print: (A) New small business customers only, 1 per household/biz; (B) Must perform 10 transactions, not including intrabank funds transfers, within 30 days of account opening; (C) $100 minimum opening deposit
2. I just made up that term, but what I mean is that the customer is not required to add the Merchant Mobility piece to qualify for the free Samsung tablet. The checking account alone earns the premium.
3. Transaction limits before fees kick in:
– 50 items processed
– 2 in-branch deposits
– 5 processed checks and/or in-branch withdrawals
– $5,000 cash processing
In addition, mobile deposit has stingy initial limits of $500 max per item and only $1,200 max every 30 days
4. The landing page could use more powerful visuals showing the BBVA mobile app and/or PAYware dongle in use.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

FIS Brings Mobile, eBanking, Remote Capture and More to Sterling Bank

By David Penn Posted on July 30, 2013
Categories: FIS

Sterling Bank announced this week a new, multi-year agreement with FIS to deploy the banking technology company’s Business eBanking and Mobile Banking technologies.

The FIS Business eBanking solution is geared toward small and medium sized businesses. Features include check imaging, account transfer, ACH payments including direct deposit, as well as real-time access to both personal and business accounts. Mobile Banking through FIS brings services like mobile wallets, prepaid and debit card services, and remote deposit capture.

The announcement comes in the wake of previous moves by Sterling Bank to take greater advantage of online and mobile banking. The bank has already converted its business clients to the FIS business internet platform, outsourcing its core banking to FIS two years ago.

Sterling Bank is the principal operating subsidiary of Sterling Financial Corporation. With nearly $10 billion in assets, Sterling is based out of Spokane, Washington and has branches in California, Idaho and Oregon, as well as Washington state.

Also doing business as Sonoma Bank, the corporation serves more than 54,000 small and medium-sized businesses, and more than 280,000 retail accounts.

FIS provides mobile banking services to more than 20 million mobile users and more than three million mobile deposit customers. The company demoed its FIS Payment Manager at FinovateFall 2010 in New York. See the FIS demo here.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Alumni News– July 30, 2013

By David Penn Posted on July 30, 2013
Categories: Akamai, Betterment, BillGuard, Cardlytics, Cartera Commerce, Credit Karma, Dynamics, edo Interactive, eToro, FIS, FutureAdvisor, Kasasa, LearnVest, Manilla, MasterCard, OpenCoin, Swipely

OpenCoin is among the virtual currency innovators looking to form a self-regulatory body for the industry.

MasterPass from MasterCard launches in the United Kingdom.

Bank Innovation takes a look at FIS Global’s recent remarks on the company’s technology deal with Sainsbury.

Yahoo Finance looks at rewards earned using Dynamics ePlate credit card.

StreetFight features reasons to opt in for card-linked loyalty programs from Cartera Commerce, Cardlytics, edo Interactive and Swipely.

Netbanker features BillGuard, Manilla, and Credit Karma as value-added apps driving mobile adoption.

eToro adds price alerts to eToro Trader app.

Bright Ideas features Noreen Hafez, senior product marketing manager at Akamai.

Kasasa holds sweepstakes, films big-bank breakup video, featuring CEO Gabe Krajicek.

Betterment joins fellow Finovate alumni FutureAdvisor and LearnVest in this NYT column on bringing “financial planning to the masses.”

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.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Will mobile finally make PFM popular?

By Jim Bruene Posted on July 29, 2013
Categories: Mobile Banking, Personal Financial Management

In the online desktop era, we’ve seen only one direct-to-consumer PFM mega-hit: Mint (see note 1).

But looking at recent rankings in the U.S. Apple App Store (iOS) it looks like that may be changing. There are currently five specialty PFMs in the 13 most-downloaded free finance apps, including Mint of course. Is the mobile device finally what will make PFMs popular with consumers? Or are these apps just being downloaded by curious smartphone owners who will never register for the service, let alone become active users?

My Take: Mobile is, and will be, a huge driver for specialty PFM apps. App stores help consumers find the services, and mobile makes them less daunting to use. But it’s not just the mobile platform driving usage at these four challengers (see below), it’s the way they have positioned themselves with tangible consumer benefits (e.g., save money by spotting fraud charges) rather than the nebulous (e.g., “manage your spending for a better life”).

Parsing this list a little closer, only Mint is positioned as a pure PFM. The challengers are all backing into PFM from various niches:

BillGuard (#5) is positioned as a fraudulent charge protector
and accomplishes that through account monitoring. It appeals to
those concerned about losing money to fraudsters and greedy merchants.
Lemon (#7) is positioned around mobile wallets and payments, but it also offers account monitoring as a premium service. It appeals to early adopters wanting to use their smartphones for payments and all things financial.
Manilla (#12) revolves around billing and financial statements, but obviously aggregated bank and credit card statements is a core PFM feature. It appeals to those wanting better management of their mess of paper bills, receipts and records.
Credit Karma (#13) focuses on credit scores and debt management, but recently extended into full account monitoring. It appeals to those wanting to improve their credit scores and better manage debt.

Because most consumers have no interest in looking at a bar chart of their spending, it makes sense to sneak in the PFM piece through more compelling, benefit-laden service offerings. For banks, all four of these approaches are worth a look.

—————————

Table: 20 most popular free finance mobile apps in U.S. Apple App Store
Does not include several non-financial apps

	Name	Primary Type
1	Capital One	Bank/card
2	Chase	Bank/card
3	Bank of America	Bank/card
4	PayPal	Payment
5	BillGuard (note 2)	PFM: cards
6	Wells Fargo	Bank/card
7	Lemon	PFM: cards
8	Mint	PFM: general
9	American Express	Card
10	Scottrade	Investing
11	USAA	Bank
12	Manilla	PFM: billing
13	Credit Karma	PFM: debt
14	Discover	Card
15	Citi	Bank/card
16	Xoom Money Transfer	Remittances
17	TD Bank	Bank
18	Venmo (Braintree)	Payments
19	Fidelity	Investing
20	US Bank	Bank/card

Source: U.S. Apple App Store accessed via iPhone 5 from Seattle, WA on Fri. July 26, 2013 at 11 AM PDT

——————————–

Notes:
1. Not counting bank-branded PFMs from Intuit, Yodlee, Geezeo, Money Desktop, et al. And not counting the packaged-software stalwarts from the 1990s, Microsoft Money and Quicken.
2. BillGuard moved up to the #1 position over the weekend and remains there as of 6:00 PM PDT today
3. Check (formerly PageOnce) should also be considered in this discussion. It has been a top-20 finance app for the past few years, despite currently running in the lower 30s, probably due to its recent rebranding to an entirely new name
4. For more info, see the Online Banking Report PFM library (subscription required): PFM 4.0 (June 2012); PFM 3.0 (May 2010); Social Personal Finance (June 2007); Personal Finance Features for Online Banking (Aug 2006).

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Alumni News– July 29, 2013

By David Penn Posted on July 29, 2013
Categories: Bazaarvoice, Finect, GoBank, ID Analytics, Lending Club, Moven, Realty Mogul, Simple, SocietyOne, Zopa

Jilliene Helman, CEO and co-founder of Realty Mogul, talks crowdfunding and real estate in NAWRB’s N Magazine.

Bazaarvoice CEO Stephen Collins writes about why Big Data needs big problems.

Finect’s Jennifer Openshaw talks about social media and the coming deluge of hedge fund advertising.

Total Payments features Moven founder, Brett King, as he discusses the future of banking and payments.

Bank Innovation looks at Moven, Simple, GoBank, and the decline of personal checks.

TechPost considers the success Lending Club, SocietyOne, and Zopa have had implementing P2P lending platforms.

American Banker reports ID Analytics announces updated ID fraud software, ID Score.

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.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Using BillGuard’s New iPhone App to Solve Mystery Credit Card Charges

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on July 26, 2013
Categories: BillGuard

With BillGuard’s help, consumers can now view their credit and debit card balances, recurring charges, and potentially fraudulent charges, all on their iPhone.

The New York-based company recently launched an iPhone app, which it calls a “Smart Inbox for Money,” to help users identify suspicious and fraudulent charges on their credit and debit card statements.

The app takes a more active approach compared to the desktop platform. The new mobile experience is a beautiful way to view credit and debit card transactions, and it uses push notifications to encourage logins. Watch the video at the bottom of the post for an overview of the mobile experience.

Here’s a quick look at my experience with the app, researching potentially fraudulent charges from an unknown merchant:

1) Users can sign up directly from the app. Since I already have an account, I was prompted to set up a 4-digit PIN. Once inside, you can add credit and debit cards by entering your account credentials.

2) An overview of one of my three card accounts:

3) The Priority section alerts me to charges that others have marked as suspicious or where BillGuard does not recognize the merchant (see below):

3) When I follow up to determine if this charge is fraudulent, I’m presented with four options. I selected, Help me recognize this:

4) Then I’m presented with four options to begin some detective work. In this case, I Googled the merchant name.

Thankfully, Google solved the mystery, but I could have also emailed or texted my friend who was with me on the afternoon the charge occurred.

5) After discovering that the charge is from Flathead Lake Brewing Company, I selected Name this merchant to add to the merchant information to BillGuard’s database.

To date, the startup has scanned almost a billion transactions.

Below is the pricing structure for BillGuard’s app, which Apple chose to feature in the App store today as New and Noteworthy.

Until August 31, BillGuard is holding a launch special that will allow users to load up to 10 cards on the platform for a one-time fee of $9.99. Beginning in September, the same service will cost $45/ year.

Aside from its direct-to-consumer offering, the New York-based company also offers BillGuard Resolve for merchants and BillGuard FI for banks which won Best of Show at FinovateSpring 2012.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

LearnVest Announces $16.5 Million Round, New Workplace Solutions Distribution Model, and More

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on July 26, 2013
Categories: LearnVest

Money management service LearnVest came forward with a slew of announcements today, the biggest news being its recent $16.5 million round.

The new installment brings the startup’s total funding to $41 million. Contributors include:

Accel Partners
American Express Ventures
Claritas Capital
Ed Mathias
Todd Ruppert

CEO Alexa Von Tobel plans to use the new round to scale LearnVest Planning and provide more access to its team of certified financial planners.

Multiple sources, including Forbes, have rumored that American Express Ventures involvement may lead to a partnership between the startup and the payments giant. American Express Ventures managing partner, Harshul Sanghi, states that he strongly believes in LearnVest’s mission and that the startup can help AmEx expand its goal to help customers better manage their money.

LearnVest also recently launched Workplace Solutions to widen the distribution of its seven-step Action Program, a tiered solution that provides affordable financial planning across wealth levels. The new Workplace offering makes it easy for employers to distribute the Action Program as an employee benefit.

To help the three-year-old company better execute its financial advisory services, it brought some notable talent to its planning advisory board:

Ed Mathias (Carlyle)
Todd Ruppert (T. Rowe Price)
Susan Lyne (AOL & Gilt Groupe)
Ann Sardini (Weight Watchers)

To learn more about LearnVest, watch its FinovateFall 2012 demo where it debuted its MoneyCenter. Or come see the demo of its newest tech live at FinovateFall in New York this September. Get your ticket here.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Mitek Reports June Results: Increased Revenue, More Clients

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on July 26, 2013
Categories: Mitek

Mobile imaging technology company Mitek recently released 3Q (June) revenue and growth numbers.

Here are some of the results, pulled from a report by Janney Capital Markets:

Revenue

Almost $4 million in revenue (23% YOY growth)
26% recurring revenue

Clients

3 new institutions signed on to use Mobile Photo Bill Pay, bringing the total to 10, with 4 customers live
114 institutions went live with Mobile Deposit, bringing the total live clients on the platform to 559
1,059 banks signed up to use Mobile Deposit (160% YOY growth)

To learn more about Mitek, check out its FinovateSpring 2012 demo video.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Alumni News– July 26, 2013

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on July 26, 2013
Categories: BillGuard, D3 Banking, Finect, MicroStrategy, Moven

App advice features BillGuard as the best iPhone app of the day.

Silicon Prairie News features D3 Banking (formerly Lodo Software) as 1 of 50 companies to follow on Twitter.

Finect’s social media platform adopted by Houston-based Chilton Capital Management. See the company’s demo at FinovateFall in September.

Bank Innovation reports that username and password are coming soon for Moven’s iPhone app.

Datamation takes a look at MicroStrategy’s approach to virtualizing their data centers.

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.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

CommunityLend’s Partnership with Pivotal Payments Combines On-Premise Financing with Payments Processing

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on July 25, 2013
Categories: CommunityLend

We recently chatted with CommunityLend’s FinanceIt team to figure out what is behind its partnership with Pivotal Payments.

The FinanceIt solution helps merchants provide loans to consumers at the point of sale to finance their purchase. Right now, more than 2,400 merchants across every province in Canada have signed up for the platform, which will be coming to the U.S. in 2014. It is free for merchants to sign up and use.

Quick stats

Number of employees: 40
Total funding: $8 million to date
Total loans to date: Over $400 million in loan applications and over $100 million in originations
Default rate: under 0.9%

New Partnership
FinanceIt recently partnered with Pivotal Payments, a company that processes over $10 billion in transactions annually. By combining Pivotal’s payment processing and FinanceIt’s in-store financing, this partnership provides an all-in-one point-of-sale solution.

Pivotal Payments plans to resell FinanceIt to its 60,000 merchants and will use the program as an incentive to sign new merchants. Initially, FinanceIt will not be white-labeled for merchants, but it plans to do so later on.

According to Casper Wong, COO of CommunityLend, this is the first of many partnerships, especially as it expands to the U.S.

Vertical Types
FinanceIt works well in the following verticals:

Retail: 5% of loans on the platform

Vehicle: 80% of loans on the platform

Home Renovation: 15% of loans on the platform

Health: 5% of loans on the platform

When the iPad app is released this week, FinanceIt expects the number of loans to shift more toward home renovation and health, which are both more conducive to a mobile point-of-sale solution.

Use for merchants and borrowers
The iPad screenshots below detail the merchant experience of qualifying a borrower for a $2,000 loan issued at the point of sale.

1) The merchant photographs the back of the applicant’s driver’s licence. The app scans the barcode to extract information about the customer and populate loan application fields.

2) FinanceIt verifies the consumer’s credit score via Equifax and ensures they aren’t on anti-terrorist or money laundering lists.

3) Once the borrower is approved, the terms of the loan are displayed for the borrower to confirm or adjust until they are satisfied with the monthly payment.

4) The borrower provides additional information, such as email and phone number.

5) To finalize the loan, the customer and merchant sign the document on the iPad screen using their finger. Then it is submitted digitally to both the lending institution and the borrower.

The whole process generally takes under 5 minutes.

Use for financial institutions
FinanceIt is working with four financial institutions who fund the loans. The company is seeking more partnerships.

Here’s what the lender sees:

1) The online platform (pictured below) allows lenders to view applications, loans, exceptions, transfers, partners, and reports. The Applications view enables them to filter by:

Pending loan requests
Loans ready for funding
Aborted loans
Declined loans
Loans requested on a particular day

2) The platform also provides details about the merchant including historical loan requests and contact information.

Marketing Support
CommunityLend provides a training video and marketing materials that help merchants develop their marketing strategy around FinanceIt’s loan platform. See the example below.

This program, called Merchandising in a Box, helps merchants make decisions on the best combination of financing. For example, is it better to offer no money down combined with a low interest rate, or would they benefit more by offering 6 months no payments combined with a higher interest rate?

The program also provides merchants with marketing materials for their store, such as price tags, customizeable banners for their website, table toppers, window stickers, etc.

If you missed it in New York last year, catch the demo video from FinovateFall 2012. To see the newest development from FinanceIt, come to FinovateFall in New York this September 10 & 11.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Finovate Alumni News– July 25, 2013

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on July 25, 2013
Categories: Banno, Bolstr, Dwolla, FIS, Google, LICUOS, MiiCard, Motif Investing, PlayMoolah, TransferWise, Zopa

Silicon Prairie lists Banno and Dwolla as 2 Iowa startups to follow on Twitter.

Wakefield reports: Bolstr is navigating the legal complexities of crowdfunding.

PlayMoolah working with OCBC Bank for the second year running to teach children about saving.

FIS announces new prepaid card technology agreement with KeyBank.

WebrazziTV interviews miiCard marketing manager Cassie Anderson at Bitcoin London.

Finovate alumni Zopa, TransferWise, miiCard, and LICUOS highlighted in Innotribe co-founder Matteo Rizzi column on banking.

Invitations for Google Wallet for Gmail start arriving for registered early adopters.

All Things D profiles Motif Investing. See them in action at FinovateFall in September.

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.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook

Tagit Introduces Juice, Turning Mobile Phones into Smart Wallets in Mauritius

By David Penn Posted on July 24, 2013
Categories: Tagit

Remember Tagit?

Last year at FinovateAsia, the mobile technology innovator demoed its Mobeix Open Platform, which helps enterprises build and launch apps on their own (for info on the upcoming FinovateAsia event this November, by the way, check out our information page here.)

Well Tagit is back with more news today, announcing that it is bringing its mobile banking technology to the more than one million people living on the island nation of Mauritius.

The new app, called Juice, was the product of a partnership between Singapore-based Tagit and the Mauritius Commercial Bank (MCB). Juice will enable banking customers to make cardless cash withdrawals, check balances, and perform other common financial tasks without having to visit a bank branch.

Some of the features of the new Juice app include:

Juice Cash: Withdraw cash from Juice-enabled merchants by transferring money to them via smartphone
Juice ATM: Send money to others who can then pick up the cash at Juice-enabled ATMs
Juice Payment: Use smartphone as a credit card to make person-to-merchant payments

Founded in 2004, Tagit provides mobile banking and commerce application platforms to financial institutions and enterprises looking to extend their online businesses through mobile channels. Tagit has customers in 10 nations in Asia, the Middle East, and North America, and won the Emerging Enterprise Award in 2012.

Mauritius has been ranked first in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business report for African economies for five years in a row. With no exploitable natural resources, the country’s population is mostly employed in the service sector, including tourism and financial services. Tagit CEO Sandeep Bagaria praised the country’s “100% mobile penetration” as a primary reason for expansion into the Mauritius market.

Share this:

Send Post Twitter LinkedIn Facebook