“Using innovative game mechanics, SaveUp encourages financial success for its users with positive suggestions and better financial product offerings. Financial institutions and financial content providers can use SaveUp as a customer acquisition channel and as a way to educate potential customers about product offerings. 

Our demo showcases the customized version of SaveUp that financial institutions can use to:

Currently, twenty financial institutions are participating in a pilot program to promote the customized version of SaveUp to their customers. They include Bank of the West, Plastyc, Upside Visa Prepaid Card, and Eli Lilly Credit Union.”

In keeping with tradition, the videos from our latest event, FinovateSpring 2010, are now available online here (free). You can also view demos from the previous five Finovates here (also free).

There are dozens of great demos. But four you don’t want to miss are from the companies named Best of Show by the live audience on May 11: 

• Bobber Interactive: Launched a youth-oriented online banking/savings program with gaming and social features.  
• Expensify: Demoed new tools for managers to track and monitor employee spending via “expense reports that don’t suck.”
• oFlows: Showed its new end-to-end paperless loan-application system.
• Wikinvest: Launched its new Hurricane stock information system to deliver real-time info faster than other outlets.

If you want to be a part of the next event live and in person, save $300 with presale tickets through June 18 here. With two full days of demos, and a few other surprises, you won’t want to miss Finovate October 4 and 5 in NYC. 

P.S. Finally, companies with amazing new products or services; we need your demo applications by the end of June. Email Eric Mattson for more info.

If you’ve been waiting to get your ticket for our fall Finovate 2009 conference, I urge you to act now. The early-bird ticket prices for the event expire in less than 5 days (on Monday 8/31 at midnight). Register today to lock in your spot and the savings.

Why attend? Because this fall’s Finovate is going to be amazing. We’ve handpicked 32 of the most interesting new ideas in financial and banking technology from leading established companies and hot young startups (presenter list). And all these innovative ideas will be showcased via our signature fast-paced, demo-only (no slides allowed!) format.

Plus, and this is what really sets Finovate apart, many of the selected ideas will be seen for the first time ever on stage on September 29th. When was the last time you attended at conference and saw dozens of new products/technologies/ideas debut in a single day?!

That unique quality is why organizations like Citibank, Bank of America, eTrade, TD Bank, Discover, HSBC, Wells Fargo, Capitol One, American Express, Suntrust, ANZ, Federal Reserve Bank, Experian Direct, Microsoft, Canaan Partners, Cardinal VC, Village Ventures, North Hill Ventures, the Financial Times, Dow Jones, The Economist, NY Times, BusinessWeek, the Wall Street Journal, Consumer Reports, Yahoo! Finance, USAA, ING Direct and many others have already signed up to attend.

Will you join them?

Eric Mattson is CEO of Online Financial Innovations, the parent company of NetBanker, Online Banking Report and the Finovate Conference Series. He can be reached at eric@netbanker.com.

In April we featured more than 50 great startups at FinovateStartup09 in San Francisco. We are happy to announce that full-length videos of the demos from the event are now available at our conference website. These are live, 7-minute demos of each company’s latest technology; no Powerpoint slides are allowed. The videos are available in QuickTime and Windows Media formats and are free of charge.

Finovate 2009
If you enjoy the videos, consider registering for our third annual Finovate conference to be held September 29 in New York City. Finovate 2009 will showcase the best new financial and banking technology innovations from both established companies and startups. You can save $300 if you register before June 30.

Eric Mattson is CEO of Online Financial Innovations, the parent company of NetBanker, Online Banking Report and the Finovate Conference Series. He can be reached at eric@netbanker.com or 206-331-1178.

WAP sites, mini websites that can be viewed on mobile devices, may lack in usability, but they are inexpensive to build and keep you in the game with the BofAs and Citibanks. And a shot of a mobile phone looks good on the homepage (see note 2), probably a bigger benefit than the actual service itself.

The latest bank to officially launch mobile banking is $1.7 billion Cardinal Bank <cardinalbank.com>, who's WAP site has its own URL: <gocardinal.net> (note 1). The WAP site consists of four main tabs  (see inset):

• Home
• Rates
• Find Us
• Sign On

The secure signon leads to full-service online banking including balance and data access, funds transfers, and bill payment (see screenshots below). While the bank may not get a lot of users, at least they have eliminated one reason for a heavy mobile user to look elsewhere for a bank. Nice work.

For more information, see our Mobile Banking Report (OBR 138/139).

Note:

1. While the .net address has two less keystrokes on a phone keypad than .com., it still a relatively cumbersome address for those without an QWERTY pad. If possible, invest in a URL with just a few characters and/or one the maximizes the use of the first letter of each key's triad (A, D, G, J, M, P, W). And don't ever use X, which is not on standard 10-key pads.

2. Cardinal Bank leverages the cachet of mobile banking with a prominent graphic on its homepage. It would be more effective if it was a closer shot, so the Cardinal logo was  visible on the Treo screen. 

Prosper, the first, and so far only, person-to-person loan marketplace in the United States, ended the year with 140,000 members and $27 million in loans booked (see screenshot below).

It's a good start for a company yet to see its first birthday and is slightly above our projections made last March (see Online Banking Report #127). However, the company will have to do something to boost revenues (see note below) if it hopes to see its third birthday. We expect to see a broadening of its products and services in 2007 (see previous coverage here).

Note:
Prosper's revenues in 2006 are estimated to be approximately $300,000, primarily from the 1% loan-origination fee assessed to borrowers.

Yes and no.

PayPal offers a full range of payment services that includes debit and credit cards, a savings account paying more than 5%, and loan options on major eBay purchases. Sounds pretty much like a bank, doesn't it?

But are they the biggest? According to eBay's earning release yesterday, PayPal ended the quarter with 123 million accounts, 36 million MORE than they had a year ago (41% growth). The new accounts alone would dwarf almost any financial services company in the world; for instance, American Express has 74 million accounts worldwide (as of June 30), up 7 million since a year earlier.

So yes, by number of accounts, PayPal is clearly the global leader in financial services. However, by most other measures, PayPal's size is more modest.

For example, unlike most financial companies, the majority of PayPal's accounts were inactive. During third quarter, less than a quarter of its accounts made a payment.

Those 31 million active accounts made an average of 5 transactions during the quarter, resulting in a total of 146 million payments worth $9.1 billion (an average of $62 per payment). Across the entire 123 million base, that amounts to just $73 in spending per account. In comparison, American Express cardmembers spent 15 times more, $141 billion in second quarter, an average of $1,900 per card.

In summary, PayPal is an enourmous financial services company, growing far faster than most rivals. But it's still a niche service for online purchasing, primarily at eBay. However, with more than 100 million accounts and one of the most widely recognized online brands, PayPal is in a position to compete with major banks around the globe. 

Although PayPal has made huge inroads around the world with more than half its accounts outside the United States, there is still room for country-specific, person-to-person payment solutions. One new entrant, Wallet365 in India <wallet365.in>, is a service from Timesofmoney, a division of The Times Group, India's largest media and entertainment company.

While we aren't able to test the service directly, it looks well thought out. We are impressed that it displays its bank affiliation, with India's Yes Bank <yesbank.in> directly on the home page (see lower-right corner on screenshot).

–JB

New deals and announcments for the past week.

NCR Corp. says that Buffalo’s M&T Bank bought 390 NCR Personas 77 ATMs. Separately, NCR says that Europe’s KBC Group will replace its current ATMs in Belgium and France with NCR Personas M Series ATMs. (Contact: NCR Corp., 937-445-3784)
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US Bank says it’s issuing a Rewards Visa Platinum Card for Sierra Trading Post and for Sportsman's Warehouse. (Contact: US Bank, 612-303-0732)
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ACI Worldwide says it has a new version of its BASE24-es product designed for the British market. (Contact: ACI Worldwide, 402-390-8906)
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bcgi says it has a reseller agreement with Telogic in which Telogic will be offering bcgi’s M-payments platform in Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, China and other Asian markets. (Contact: bcgi, 781-904-5026)

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CheckFree Corp.’s CheckFreePay unit says that Boost Mobile’s eRe-Boost “top-up” service is available at some CheckFreePay walk-in locations. (Contact: CheckFree Corp., 678-375-1595)

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Electronic Clearing House Inc. says it hired Karl Asplund as senior vice president of sales, a new position. Asplund was last senior vice president of Genpass Technologies. Also, Ryan Granard joined the company as vice president of datacenter operations. (Contact: Electronic Clearing House Inc., 800-262-3246)

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Hypercom Corp. says its Optimum P2100 PIN-entry payment device was qualified for Sociedade Interbancaria de Servicos' (SIBS) operations in Portugal. (Contact: Hypercom Corp., 602-504-5383)

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Netvantage says that Merkle will be using Netvantage’s ItemAge payments engine for the lockbox operations Merkle runs for charities. (Contact: Netvantage, 301-459-9700)

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Misys Banking Systems says that China Bohai Bank is using Misys Opics and its risk management module, Misys Opics Risk. Bohai is a new bank in China.(Contact: 852-2230-2302)

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Open Solutions Inc. says that Pittsfield, Mass.-based Greylock Federal Credit Union is using its Complete Credit Union Solution. (Contact: Open Solutions Inc., 860-652-3153)

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Payment Processing Inc. says that United Systems Technology Inc. will be re-selling Payments Processing’s credit card processing for utilities billing. (Contact: 510-795-4988)

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Paymetric Inc., says it hired Ken Naumann for a new position, senior vice president, sales and marketing. Nauman was last vice president of worldwide sales for Guidance Software. (Contact: Paymetric Inc., 713-895-2066)

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Viewpointe says that SunTrust is the first bank to use its image-exchange connection with the Federal Reserve. (Contact: Viewpointe, 704-602-6654)

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VeriFone Holdings Inc says that MICROS Systems Inc. has integrated VeriFone’s Vx 670 mobile payment system into its MICROS RES 4.0. payments system and will be selling it on North American restaurants. (Contact: VeriFone Holdings Inc., 508-283-4112)

The latest new products and contracts.

The Canadian Payments Association issued new payment standards for electronic check clearing, part of an industry-wide plan to move the Canadian check-clearing system to an image-based process by December 31, 2006. (Contact: Canadian Payments Association, 678-781-7205)

CheckFree Corp. says it has a new product, the CheckFree Positive Pay Accelerator, a  real-time software module of the CheckFree ARP/SMS product. (Contact: 678-375-1595)

Deluxe Financial Services says it’s now the exclusive provider of checks and related services for BancorpSouth. (Contact: Deluxe Financial Services651-483-7503)

DCI says that Syracuse, Kan.-based Valley State Bank is using a DCI interface that allows the bank to connect to AudioTel’s remote image capture and exchange product. (Contact: DCI, 678-781-7224)

First Data Corp. says Brookfield, Wisc.-based North Shore Bank will be using its STAR ATM network. (Contact: First Data Corp., 303-967-8646)

Fiserv Inc.’s BANKLINK unit says Union Bank of California will be using BANKLINK’s iLINK remote deposit product. Separately, Fiserv’s Credit Processing Services and BillMatrix units are issuing a new product that the company says lets its PLUS System customers use on-demand payment services to manage their credit portfolios. (Contact: BANKLINK, 212-419-3026)

Fundtech Ltd. says that FNB Corp.’s First National unit is live with CASHplus, Fundtech's cash-management system. Separately, Fundtech says four of their payments customers—EverBank Financial, Astoria Federal, Mid State Bank and Trust and Sterling Savings Bank—are adding the PAYplus USA interface to The Bank of New York's international payments service, Global F.A.S.T. Also, Fundtech says it has a new ACH product, OmniPAY, for International ACH, for international ACH operations. (Contact: Fundtech Ltd., 201-946-1100)

Global Cash Access says the San Manuel Indian Bingo and Casino in Highland, Calif., agreed to continue using Global’s products and services. (Contact: Global Cash Access Inc. 702-262-5003)

Global Payments Inc. will be providing merchant-acquiring services to retail and restaurant merchants of Diversified Acquiring Solutions Sales Corp. (Contact: Global Payments Inc., 770-829-8245)

JP Morgan Chase & Co. says that it’s issuing a Visa card for BP North America that features a five percent rebate on BP purchases, two percent rebates on most travel and dining purchases, and one percent on most other card purchases. (Contact: JP Morgan Chase & Co., 302-282-6150)

P&H Solutions says it’s expanding its Enterprise Enrollments product adding a small business front end that allows them to enroll in the Web Cash Manager Suite. (Contact: P&H Solutions, 781-235-3424)

SVPCO – Electronic Clearing Services,says that BB&T is now exchanging and settling check images through the SVPCO Image Payments Network. (Contact: SVPCO, 917-576-0957)

Tier Technologies Inc.’s Official Payments Corp. unit says the Minnesota Association of County Auditors, Treasurers and Finance Officers (MACATFO) recently launched a Tier-built, online portal Minnesotans can use to make electronic property tax payments. (Contact: Official Payments Corp. 571-382-1048)

Washington Mutual Inc. launched WaMu Free Checking, which features 100% online approval and opening. The offering includes: free ATM cash withdrawals; free checks for life; one free OD/NSF fee per year; a free gold debit MasterCard with rewards; free outgoing wire transfers; free ID theft services; and free e-alerts on account events. (Contact: WaMu, 212-326-6075)

Wausau Financial Systems says First Data Corp.’s REMITCO unit is using Wausau’s ImageRPS product for remittance processing at REMITCO’s lockbox operations. (Contact: Wausau Financial Systems, 715-241-4616)

Who's moving where.

MasterCard named the people who will serve on its post-IPO board. They will be:
* Manoel Amorim, managing director, Telefonica International S.A.
* David R. Carlucci, chairman and chief executive, IMS Health Inc.
* Richard Haythornthwaite, managing partner, Star Capital Partners
* Marc Olivie, president and chief executive, Agfa-Gevaert Group
* Mark Schwartz, former president and chief executive, Soros Fund Management LLC
* Edward Suning Tian, vice chairman and chief executive, China Netcom Group Co. Ltd. (Contact: MasterCard Inc., 914/249-5632)

Metavante Corp. promoted Michael D. Hayford to chief operating officer from senior executive vice president and chief financial officer. Hayford, CFO since 2001, remains on the Metavante board. The company is searching for a new CFO, and Hayford will meanwhile keep his old job. (Contact: Metavante Corp., 678-533-4861)

Viewpointe hired Diane Scott as chief sales, marketing, and product officer, and Rustin Carpenter as chief strategy and business development officer. Both will be based in New York. (Contact: Viewpointe, 704-602-6659)

News and products from American Express, Fiserv, MasterCard and more.

Alogent Corp. says that Financial Institutions Services Corp. is using Alogent’s Sierra Xpedite and Sierra Xpedite Remote Deposit branch and business corporate deposit products. (Contact: Alogent Corp., 770-752-6488)

American Express says it’s launched the American Express Benefits Plus Card, designed for healthcare flexible spending accounts, and that two spending account administrators, PayFlex and WageWorks, will be marketing them. (Contact: American Express, 212-640-1712)

Arby’s says it’s accepting contactless payments from American Express, MasterCard, and Visa. (Contact: Arby's Restaurant Group Inc. 678-514-4152)

Captovation says it’s upgraded its Captovation Check Capture imaging product. (Contact: Captovation, 952-835-1500)

Corillian Corp says that Yodlee Inc is using Corillian's multi-factor authentication product, Intelligent Authentication. (Contact: Corillian Corp., 503-629-3770)

Digital Check Corp. says it has three new TellerScan check scanners, one of which, the TS 230-100, can capture up to 100 items per minute. (Contact: Digital Check Corp.847-446-2285)

First Data Corp.’s Money Network unit says it has a deal with Wal-Mart Stores Inc. to offer no-fee paycard check cashing. Separately, First Data introduced a new product, called the Strategic Communications Solution, designed to help card issuers increase loyalty and usage among their cardholder database. The company also says it signed a multi-year deal with Microsoft Inc. to provide global merchant processing and risk management to Microsoft Corp. (Contact: First Data Corp., 402-222-6178)

Fiserv Inc.’s Interactive Technologies unit says that asset and trust manager CIBC Mellon is licensing its Advantage Fee System, which automates fee billing and revenue management. Separately, Fiserv says it’s enhanced the remote-deposit capabilities of its BANKLINK, Fiserv Item Processing, and Fiserv VISION products. (Contact: Fiserv Inc., 262-879-5667)

Fundtech Ltd. says it’s incorporating VASCO Data Security International’s Digipass authentication system into Fundtech's cash management and payments products. (Contact: Fundtech Ltd., Fundtech Ltd., 201-946-1100)

Global Payments Inc. says its Prague-based Global Payments Europe, a.s. unit, is providing the Slovakian subsidiary of European cell phone operator Orange with issuing services for its credit card program. (Contact: Global Payments Inc., 770 829 8245)

Ingenico says that MoneyGram Int’l will be buying more than $5 million of Ingenico’s eN-Touch 3100 terminals over the next three years. (Contact: Ingenico, 416-245-6700)

INSIDE Contactless, based in France, says it’s in full compliance with Visa's security, performance, and functionality requirements for Visa Contactless mini cards. (Contact: INSIDE Contactless, 33 4 42 39 63 00)

iPay Technologies says it has a new expedited bill payment product aimed at the community bank market. (Contact: iPay Technologies LLC, 678-781-7205)

MasterCard International says it has two new authentication solutions designed for online banking and e-commerce transactions: MasterCard All-in-One Authentication Device and MasterCard Mobile Authentication. (Contact: MasterCard Int’l, 914-249-4606)

Open Solutions Inc. says Golden, B.C..-based Columbia Valley Credit Union is the first Canadian firm to use its POSH ATM switch. (Contact: Open Solutions Inc., 860-652-3153)

Peppercoin says its products are being used in the United States' first contactless credit and debit card bus fare payment system, used by the Utah Transit Authority. (Contact: Peppercoin, 781-684-0770)

Wincor Nixdorf says that Benchmark Technology Group will market and resell Wincor Nixdorf's ATMs. (Contact: Wincor Nixdorf, 978-649-0689)