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Finovate Alumni News– March 19, 2014

By David Penn Posted on March 19, 2014
Categories: BlinkMobile Interactive, Float Money, ID Analytics, IntelliResponse, iQuantifi, Kabbage, Monitise, PayPal, Personal Capital, Ping Identity, ShopKeep POS, TradeKing

Ping Identity announces partnership with Courion. Desert Schools FCU to deploy mobile banking platform from Monitise. Check out our CEO interview with Shane Hadden of Float Money. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City to use virtual agent technology from IntelliResponse to respond to Affordable Care Act queries. See IntelliResponse demo at FinovateSpring in April. ID Analytics launches new versions of its Transaction Protector and Transaction Advanced Intelligence products for eCommerce. Upstart Business Journal looks at how Kathryn Petralia and Kabbage are rewriting the lending rules. BlinkMobile Interactive signs first NZ Council deal. Southern Alpha calls iQuantifi "a budget platform we actually like to use." Payment Source features Jason Richelson, founder of ShopKeep POS. Bill Harris, Personal Capital CEO & former PayPal CEO discusses the future of PayPal on Bloomberg TV. See Harris demo Personal Capital's latest development at FinovateSpring next month. TradeKing earns four-stars…

CEO Interview: Shane Hadden of Float Money

By David Penn Posted on March 18, 2014
Categories: Float Money

What do you get when you cross an expert in risk structuring for banks with an underserved demand for low-cost unsecured consumer loans?

Throw in a strategy that leverages everyday purchases to help consumers earn interest-free credit and the answer is Float Money.

As Shane Hadden, CEO of Float Money explained, his model resembles the sort of relationship that big banks have with their corporate clients. Financial institutions are willing to provide less expensive loans to businesses, he said, because they know they will get business coming back to them in the form of M&A business, for example. "Consumers have the same buying power," Shane said. "But they can't get the same benefits." Float Money can be used to shop at 1,000 merchants from Amazon.com to Winetasting.com. Money spent shopping through Float Money builds up credit that customers can borrow against, interest-free.

We talked with Shane Hadden about Float…

Sales & Marketing: Preparing for a Future without Bank Branches

By Jim Bruene Posted on March 18, 2014
Categories: Branch Banking, Sales Techniques, Strategies

It's been almost a year since my last branch rant (here), so I feel I'm due. As I've said before, as founder of a business tied to the success of digital channels, I'm totally biased, so proceed with caution.

-------------------------

During lunch at the Bank Innovations conference here, I engaged in a spirited debate about the value of branches. And later that week, I enjoyed Optirate's rebuttal to The Financial Brand's defense of bank branches. It's one of the more highly charged, and important, issues of the day.

Here's what it boils down to:

Branches have value...

...but not enough to pay the rent

Since customers won't pay directly for branches (see note 1), banks must cover their costs with low deposit rates, penalty fees and other charges. That has worked for a while, but eventually leaner competitors will figure out how to cherry…

Finovate Alumni News– March 18, 2014

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on March 18, 2014
Categories: Braintree, Budgettracker, DoubleBeam, Fiserv, Nostrum Group, PayPal, PaySimple, Realty Mogul, Tradeshift, Tyfone, Virtual Piggy

Fiserv to adopt Visa's debit EMV solution to offer issuers, acquirers and merchants an approach for debit EMV adoption. Tyfone appoints former UBS managing director Nizar Jamal as Chief Technology Officer. Pymnts considers Tradeshift's growth. PaymentsSource: Virtual Piggy's Oink partners with European Games Group. App Shopper features BudgetTracker's iOS mobile app. Realty Mogul crowdfunders top $100 million worth of real estate investment. VentureBeat takes a look at mobile payment success stories including PaySimple, Braintree, and PayPal. TD Bank enhances online money movement services with addition of Popmoney and TransferNow from Fiserv. DoubleBeam powers new mobile app for Foodland Super Market. Nostrum Group reports revenue gains of more than 80% to £7 million. for FY 2013. 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.

Realty Mogul Crowdfunders Top $100 Million Worth of Real Estate Investment

By David Penn Posted on March 17, 2014
Categories: Realty Mogul

Happy First Birthday, Realty Mogul!

And while other crowdfunding platforms may celebrate with cake or champagne, leave it to Realty Mogul to mark the occasion with news that its investors have put $14.6 million to work financing more than $100 million worth of real estate investment.

They've even published a helpful infographic that shows how they did it.

"In just 12 months, Realty Mogul has become the largest online marketplace for real estate investing," the company wrote. "And in just six months starting in July we grew nearly 400% in investments." "We thank our valued investors and look forward to an even better 2014." Realty Mogul serves as an online marketplace that makes it easy for accredited investors to invest in real estate properties ranging from retail to residential. Using a crowdfunding model, Realty Mogul allows investments as low as $5,000, and investors can earn investment income as quickly…

New OBR Published: Mobile Banking Security

By David Penn Posted on March 17, 2014
Categories: Online Banking Report

What do financial institutions need to keep in mind when it comes to mobile security?

Our latest report Mobile Banking Security examines how banks and other financial institutions can balance safety and convenience in pursuit of a seamless and secure mobile experience for their consumers and clients.

We list fifteen different themes that will dominate the conversation on mobile banking security in 2014. From authentication to premium products for niche markets, we look at the innovations and the actual deployments that are providing safer networks for e-commerce and financial transactions for the increasingly "mobile-only" user.

Will the "wild west" that is the Android app ecosystem ever be won? How does the rise of the mobile channel make biometric security almost inevitable? Will promising security startups continue to be the target of larger tech acquirers in 2014 as they were in 2013? These are a handful of the questions we provide…

Finovate Alumni News– March 17, 2014

By David Penn Posted on March 17, 2014
Categories: Dwolla, Heckyl Technologies, Ripple, rplan, SmartAsset, Zopa

rplan announces new "simple, transparent" charging structure. Crypt.la lists its top 10 most interesting Ripple protocol services. Tech Cocktail Austin interviews Dwolla COO, Charise Flynn. SmartAsset launches Retirement Planning Tool, Announces 40% Month-Over-Month Growth. The Tally focuses on India-based Heckyl Technologies. Zopa embraces ThoughtWorks technology to improve data analysis capability. 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.

Yale Microfinance Program to Deploy Mambu Platform

By David Penn Posted on March 14, 2014
Categories: Mambu

You know what kids love these days? Microfinance.

At least that's true of the kids at Yale University's student-run micro finance program, the Elmseed Enterprise Fund. The fund supports local entrepreneurs with advice and micro loans. In 2013, the program provided consulting for 38 clients and provided more than $13,000 in loans to five.

The student volunteers at Elmseed also love a good deal when they see one. And when they went looking for a better way to handle their customer data., the solution they found was Mambu. Fund CEO Jadon Montero said, "Mambu's platform will help us manage our client information better, which means our volunteer advisors can spend more time helping clients and less time worrying about the paperwork." The Elmseed Enterprise Fund was founded in 2001 with an award of $10,000 from a contest held by the Yale Entrepreneurial Society. As part of the arrangement with…

SaaS Markets Acquired by Sysnet Global Solutions

By David Penn Posted on March 14, 2014
Categories: SaaS Markets

Enterprise app store platform SaaS Markets has been acquired by Sysnet Global Solutions. Terms of the deal were not available.

"The sale of SaaS Markets represents the next phase of growth for our platform." said SaaS Markets CEO and Founder, Ferdi Roberts. "And Sysnet (is) the perfect partner to enable us to do this." Gabriel Moynagh, Sysnet Global Solutions CEO, said that clients of both businesses will gain from the acquisition. The two companies have been partners for the past two years; Sysnet having incorporated SaaS Markets' MarketMaker platform into its own Sysnet.air platform. Founded in 2011 and based in San Mateo, SaaS Markets made its last Finovate appearance at FinovateEurope 2014, where it demoed its Enterprise Cloud Marketplace Platform. We took a Behind the Scenes look at SaaS Markets shortly after the conference.

SmartAsset Launches Retirement Planning Tool, Announces 40% Month-Over-Month Growth

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on March 14, 2014
Categories: SmartAsset

SmartAsset, which originally launched as a tool for home buying, is making its platform more robust this week with the launch of its retirement planning tool.

The New York-based company, which has a user base that's growing by 40% month-over-month, aims to bring transparency to retirement by giving users personalized answers to their questions about implications of taxes and social security.

What's most notable about the launch is the partnership with eTrade, which provides resources and tools for SmartAsset users.

SmartAsset will be launching its latest development at FinovateSpring next month in San Jose. To see the live demo on stage, get your ticket here to join our audience.

Klarna Raises £90 Million to Finance Sofort Acquisition

By David Penn Posted on March 14, 2014
Categories: Klarna

With the company's founders leading the way, Klarna has raised £90 million to finance the acquisition of Sofort.

Klarna scooped up Sofort in December 2013 in a deal reportedly worth $150 million. The additional capital marks the completion of the acquisition and the formation of the Klarna Group. Also participating in the fundraising were existing investors Atomico, General Atlantic, and Sequoia Capital.

CEO and co-founder of Klarna, Sebastian Siemiatkowski said, "(This) is a vote of confidence in Klarna's long term vision to become the world's favorite way to buy. Together with Sofort we are the leading European alternative payment provider." Klarna is one of Europe's biggest players in the mobile payments market. The company's approach separates "buying from paying" by allowing consumers to do the former with just an e-mail address and post code, and the latter by a variety of different methods, from invoice to credit card to bank…

Finovate Alumni News– March 14, 2014

By Julie Muhn (@julieschicktanz) Posted on March 14, 2014
Categories: Arxan Technologies, Dynamics, Guide Financial, Klarna, Mambu, Mitek, On Deck Capital, Realty Mogul

Arxan Technologies wins in the Products and Services Excellence category of the Infosecurity Global Excellence Awards. OnDeck's CEO Noah Breslow appears on CNBC Squawk Box. Mitek opens mobile imaging platform to developers. Klarna raises £90 million to finance acquisition of Sofort. Collision features Realty Mogul in its selection of "10 Top Startups with Powerful New Ideas." OnDeck tops $1 billion in small business loans. CBS News features Dynamics' Hidden card, interviews CEO Jeff Mullen. Yale microfinance program to deploy Mambu platform. FPPad Bits and Bytes <a features Guide Financial in its latest video review. 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.