The Banktastic FI Feed

Mobile Payments - Eventually [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Fri Sep 12 23:49:02 -0400 2008

Glenbrook's Jacqueline Chilton shares what she heard at yesterday's panel discussion on Mobile Payments at the CTIA conference in San Francisco.

She concludes: "In a final question, the crowd voted that mobile payments would reach 5% of total retail transactions in five years – “a self-selecting audience” was the moderator’s response."

So, Where's the Sizzle with NFC on Mobile Handsets? [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Fri Sep 12 12:03:11 -0400 2008

In his latest blog post, Dave Birch suggests that perhaps contactless payments isn't the application that consumers will find most attractive from NFC-equipped mobile handsets - saying "it seems highly unlikely that consumers will hammer down the doors of mobile phone shops to get NFC handsets to use for boring things like payments."

US Retail Sales Actually Fell in August [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Fri Sep 12 09:56:37 -0400 2008

The US Department of Commerce's latest report on retail sales indicates a 0.3% decline in sales in August versus July. The AP reports that economists had expected a gain of 0.3 percent for August.

Revolution Money, CardinalCommerce Partner for eCommerce [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Fri Sep 12 09:46:15 -0400 2008

Revolution Money and CardinalCommerce have announced that, beginning in October, online merchants will be able to accept RevolutionCard payment cards through Cardinal Centinel, Cardinal's platform that allows merchants to enable multiple payment brands through one installation.

How Consumers Fund New Accounts [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Fri Sep 12 09:27:13 -0400 2008

Charlie Kroll, CEO of Andera, blogs about some recent statistics on how consumers are funding new accounts they're opening with financial institutions. Interestingly, two-thirds are funded using debit or credit cards with only one-third funded via ACH transfers.

Headline News - September 12, 2008 [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Fri Sep 12 09:15:32 -0400 2008

Mobile Banker: Mobile Banking Offered to iPhone Users
Computerworld:M-Com wins big US contract

Note: Throughout the day, as Payments News happens, this post is updated. For job opportunities available for payments professionals, visit PaymentsJobs.com. Employers looking to hire payments professionals can post their job openings there as well.

GonzoBaker of the Month: Frank Trotter, EverBank Direct [Gonzobanker]

Fri Sep 12 04:00:00 -0400 2008

For September, we laud Frank Trotter, President of EverBank Direct, for a devotion to sensible banking practices that has helped EverBank slide unscathed and with growth to boot past the credit crisis.

Expensify Launches Decoupled Credit/Debit Card Using Prepaid Model [NetBanker]

Jim Bruene http://www.netbanker.com — Fri Sep 12 01:59:32 UTC 2008

Like Rate Surfer, which we wrote about yesterday, Expensify launched its new employee-expense management system from the TechCrunch50 DemoPit this week.

The San Francisco-based startup (note 1) combines a payment card with a web-based expense manager and uses cellphone cameras to upload pictures of receipts to match against purchases. It's a banking triple play: card, online, and mobile.

The target market is smaller businesses that want to automate expense report preparation, approval, and reimbursement to their employees.

How it works
The heart of Expensify is a prepaid decoupled credit card. I know that doesn't makes sense, here's how it works:

Sign up for an Expensify MasterCard prepaid debit card.
Load it with value from any credit or debit card, Visa, MasterCard, or American Express.
Make purchases with the Expensify MasterCard.
As each purchase clears, it lowers the prepaid balance, triggering an automatic "top off" charge of an equal amount to the consumer's credit card thereby returning the prepaid balance back to the original level.

Metabank is the issuer, here's the terms and conditions.

Analysis
At first blush Expensify sounds pretty amazing. An expense management card that rides on top of your regular card, with mobile and web-based integration. Brilliant, until you start thinking about costs. There's that pesky thing called interchange. What Expensify has done is create two card transactions instead of one, doubling the amount of interchange paid.

To cover the extra interchange and create some revenue for itself, Expensify levees a 3% transaction fee on the cardholder. Although, the card is otherwise relatively fee-free, that's a significant surcharge.

Why would anyone pay 3% extra in order to use the Expensify card when they already have a credit card? The company believes that small businesses will pay the fee in order to get the expense manger features and to help employees separate business expenses from personal ones. Businesses could have multiple Expensify cards tied to different category of expenses (see screenshot below).

A business with just $1000/mo in expenditures would pay $360 per year. In addition, the business would tie up several hundred dollars in a prepaid account because cardholders can only make charges that do not exceed the prepaid balance held in the Expensify account.

I think the expense management concept is good, especially with the mobile receipt integration. But it's just too expensive in its current format. The founders should try to move to an ACH-based "topping off" process and remove the transaction fees.

But regardless of how this specific product performs, the integration of payments, online and mobile is a huge trend. If Expensify is nimble enough, they may be able to ride the wave.

Expensify homepage (10 Sep 2008)

Note:
1. Since I didn't see contact info on their website, here's what the founders provided at TechCrunch50: Expensify, 548 Market St. #61434, San Francisco, CA 94104, Phone: 801.745.9064

Retail banks scared of embracing Web 2.0 [The Bank Channel]

Thu Sep 11 19:21:00 -0400 2008

From Finextra:

"Retail banks are failing to embrace Web 2.0 technologies like mashups, Rich Internet Applications and widgets due to security fears and concerns about losing control of their content, according to analyst house Datamonitor.

Datamonitor says a generation of customers now considers the Internet as the natural medium for banking and they expect more customisation and interactivity.

"That can mean anything from having your online bank permanently available as a widget, to having third-party information such as stock prices delivered to it as an RSS feed, to its existence as an island in a virtual world like Second Life," says Rik Turner, retail banking technology analyst, Datamonitor."

Article continues...

Revolution Money Introduces MoneyExchange Revolution Card [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Thu Sep 11 14:24:12 -0400 2008

Revolution Money has announced the introduction of the MoneyExchange RevolutionCard, a PIN-based reloadable card that enables free online person-to-person (P2P) payments to other accountholders, ATM access and retail store purchases -- from a single account.

Protecting Consumers With Gift Cards When Retailers Go Bankrupt [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Thu Sep 11 14:19:47 -0400 2008

Consumers Union has announced it has "filed a petition with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) asking the agency to protect consumers from losing money on gift cards when retailers file for bankruptcy. The issue has come to light following recent retailer bankruptcies and millions in lost gift card dollars for consumers."

New Cashless Vending Research [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Thu Sep 11 12:44:49 -0400 2008

USA Technologies has released details of vending research it has conducted "showing that vending machines equipped to accept debit and credit cards have dramatically changed consumer-purchasing habits."

The Burst - What do you think? (Ep. 33) [The Banktastics � BanktasticTV - The Burst]

Thu Sep 11 09:53:29 -0400 2008

Download this video

Thanks for checking out this episode of BanktasticTV’s “The Burst.” Here are some important notes about this episode:

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US Financial Services Providers Adopting Mobile SMS [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Thu Sep 11 08:48:20 -0400 2008

Clickatell has announced that "top US financial institutions and technology providers who serve the FI market including Visa, S1 Postilion, and RSA Data Security are trusting Clickatell to provide actionable financial alerts and notifications to millions of cell phones via SMS."

Prepaid Debit Cards on Campus [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Thu Sep 11 08:42:39 -0400 2008

Mary Pilon writes for the Wall St. Journal that financial services companies are focusing more on prepaid debit cards on college campuses.

Headline News - September 11, 2008 [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Thu Sep 11 08:36:18 -0400 2008

CNET News: CTIA Panel: Mobile payments misunderstood in U.S.
Our Credit Card Culture Turns 50: Javelin Strategy and Research
BusinessGreen: iPhones, GPS and Paypal give car pooling Web 2.0 makeover
CEP News (Canada): Debit Competition Will Benefit Merchants, Consumers, MasterCard Says
Fundtech Introduces First SWIFTReady Global Payment Service Bureau
MediaPost Publications: Oh Where, Oh Where Has Google Checkout Gone?
NYTimes.com: Small Business - As Credit Lines Fade, Credit Cards Step In

Retailers have improved the online shopping experience as far as they can [The Bankwatch]

Thu Sep 11 01:02:03 -0400 2008

Once in a while Doc Searls comes up with a classic statement, and this is one of those [emphasis mine].

The buyer’s envelope, please

In the meantime, consider this thesis: Amazon and other excellent online retailers have improved the online shopping experience as far as a retailer can. Yes, there is always room for improvement, but there is only so much improvement you can carry out only on the sell side, even if you’re equipping buyers to do a better and better job. At a certain point the improvements need to happen on the buy side. You need better buyers, not just better sellers. You need to improve the tools available to buyers — tools that help buyers with all sellers, and not just within each seller’s walled garden or silo.

Therefore… At a certain point the problem is no longer scale but scope.

This is the argument for Vendor Relationship Management.

Microsofts attempt to inject 'Cool' [The Bank Channel]

Wed Sep 10 19:47:00 -0400 2008

A lot of press about recently on the new Microsoft Vista ad starring Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld.

Bob Garfield in AdAge has an interesting view: "It's the leading edge of a $300 million campaign with what would seem to be the following brief: Thanks to Apple, TBWA/Media Arts Lab and actor John Hodgman, founder Bill Gates is perceived as a harmless but clueless dork. This image has been projected against the entire Microsoft brand. Fix that. " Excellent.

For those who've not seen it, Jerry stumbles across Bill shopping at the budget retailer Shoe Circus, of all places. Jerry advises Bill on his purchases and they leave for the parking lot. A confusing end to the ad aims to create some curiosity about the real benefits of Windows Vista. As PR and disaster recovery efforts go, this is an odd one. It seems the ubiquity of Microsoft is not over, but the resonance its brand has in on the wane - sometimes people just dont like the large bohemeths anymore.

Martin Lindstrom, brand guru, advises companies to use humour as a differentiator and way to get the message through, and this ad does that. But what is missing for me is the real benefit for the customer (unless its part of a multi-tvc campaign, a la CommBanks Determined To Be Different, where the story builds over time - can Microsoft afford that??) and the realisation that Vista is a product worth reconsidering.

Trying to give your brand personality is rarely done through ATL and even BTL advertising these days - its done by your customers and customer experience:

through the interactions you send your customers through
through the product mix and how well it suits your customers
how they compare to your competitors
and again as Martin Lindstrom says, the amount of love from your customers you can build for your company (can a bank build love in its brand? Ask USAA customers, or First Direct customers, or even Bendigo Bank customers - despite recent slide)

Apple does these things, and well. Take note Microsoft.

TI Introduces Secure, Multi-Purpose Contactless Chip [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Wed Sep 10 13:13:05 -0400 2008

Texas Instruments has announced the availability of a new secure multi-purpose contactless chip designed for the closed-loop contactless micropayment, loyalty, ID and access application markets. "TI's ISO/IEC 14443 Type B chip, called the RF-HCT-WRC5-KP221, combines processing speed, advanced radio frequency (RF) performance and industry-standard security with a flexible and configurable memory that supports up to five applications on one contactless card or token."

VIVOtech, NETS, SingTel and UOB Launch NFC Pilot in Singapore [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Wed Sep 10 13:02:55 -0400 2008

ViVOtech has announced that its NFC mobile payment wallet, Over-the-Air (OTA) payment, coupon delivery and redemption technologies are being used jointly by NETS, SingTel and United Overseas Bank Ltd. (UOB) for an NFC mobile phone payment trial in Singapore.

Rite Aid Now Accepts MasterCard PayPass Contactless Payments [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Wed Sep 10 11:39:52 -0400 2008

MasterCard Worldwide has announced Rite Aid Corporation is now accepting MasterCard PayPass contactless payments. MasterCard PayPass will be accepted at 3,800 of the nearly 5,000 Rite Aid stores across the country.

Tesco Launches Prepaid Travel Card with Altair [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Wed Sep 10 11:35:32 -0400 2008

Altair Financial Services International Plc has announced it has launched a MasterCard prepaid travel car for Tesco Personal Finance (TPF), the banking arm of the UK’s largest and world's fourth largest retailer. The Tesco Travel Money Card will join an assortment of financial products already offered by TPF including credit cards, loans, mortgages, savings accounts and insurance.

The Bancorp Bank, Obopay Introduce Prepaid Payment Card [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Wed Sep 10 09:47:07 -0400 2008

The Bancorp Bank has announced it has been selected by Obopay to issue prepaid payment cards linked to Obopay mobile payment accounts. The bank says "the new cards are available now and are accepted anywhere MasterCard debit cards are accepted and at more than one million ATM locations worldwide. The cards are linked to Obopay mobile money accounts, which users can access through any mobile phone using Obopay’s downloadable mobile application, text messaging, or mobile Web."

Moneybookers, Clickatell Partner for Mobile Banking [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Wed Sep 10 09:43:48 -0400 2008

Moneybookers and Clickatell have announced a partnership to offer mobile SMS alerts on transactions to over 5 million Moneybookers eWallet customers. According to the companies, "Moneybookers customers can now receive text notifications directly to their cell phone anytime, anywhere, when purchases are completed, goods are mailed or money transfers are wired. This brings an advantage in terms of security, as customers always have an overview of the transfers on the account and can cancel unwanted transactions immediately."

Juniper Forecasts 700 MM Mobile Phone Users with NFC in 5 Years [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Wed Sep 10 09:33:37 -0400 2008

A new analysis of the NFC mobile payments opportunity by Juniper Research forecasts that "700m mobile subscribers globally will have phones equipped with NFC contactless technology by 2013. NFC will enable users to make payments with their mobile phones for relatively low value purchases (such as refreshments, tickets and food)."

mFoundry Launches iPhone Mobile Banking Solution [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Wed Sep 10 09:29:26 -0400 2008

mFoundry has announced the availability of its iPhone mobile banking product. mFoundry’s financial services platform offers a cross-platform, cross-carrier solution for mobile banking, mobile payments and mobile wallets.

Headline News - September 10, 2008 [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Wed Sep 10 09:24:37 -0400 2008

International Council of Payment Network Operators Established to Set Common Standards and Rules for Interoperability
U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, & Transportation: Improving Consumer Protection in the Prepaid Calling Card Market
MyECheck Launched on 25 eCommerce Sites With Online Commerce Group
Fifth Third Processing Solutions Recognized for Excellence in Quality by MasterCard Worldwide
Fundtech Introduces Global CASHplus - Transaction Banking Platform
Chris Skinner: Is your bank ready to be an MVBO?

My Best Interest Announces Rate Surfer from TechCrunch50 DemoPit [NetBanker]

Jim Bruene http://www.netbanker.com — Wed Sep 10 07:53:30 UTC 2008

In addition to the 51 companies chosen in advance to demo at TechCrunch's annual conference, there are 120 more companies (note 1) in the DemoPit. The DemoPit is an area outside the main hall where the companies that didn't make the final cut to be on stage have a table where they can showcase their companies to attendees. And one lucky company, the one that collects the most tokens from attendees, will appear as company number 52 on stage in the last session tomorrow.

There were several financial services companies in the DemoPit Monday including Billeo, Expensify, and LoanKrunch. Today, there was just one, Rate Surfer from My Best Interest. Although, the service will not go live until its debut at Finovate next month, the company showed it to the public today for the first time. It also added a downloadable demo program to its website if you want a sneak peek (note 2).

What's it does
Rate Surfer is a credit card manager. It uses account aggregation technology to import balance and rate data from all your credit cards. It then uses that data to help users initiate and track credit card balance transfers across their credit cards. Although, there are still some rough edges to work out, it could potentially save users hundreds of dollars in interest every year by helping them take advantage of transfer opportunities.

Main Rate Surfer page from its demo software (9 Sep 2008)

Notes:
1. There are 120 total companies, but each gets just 12-hour day in the DemoPit, so there are 40 companies each day. Although, the Monday companies were given an extra day due to a wifi outage that plagued the hall much of Monday. In addition, to these companies, there were 33 exhibitor tables and 22 TechCrunch alumni with tables, including Cake Financial and last year's winner Mint.

2. It's a 67MB download.

Switching is a neglected strategy [The Bank Channel]

Tue Sep 09 19:15:00 -0400 2008

Currently the banking landscape (in Australia at least) is at an interesting point, where banks remain reasonably sound as businesses despite offshore lending losses and writedowns, shareholder returns remain attractive in the long term, the regulatory framework is allowing both industry growth and some level of consumer protection, but consumer sentiment is low, the global economic situation looks volatile, and the Australian economy is buffered only by its natural resources offering - we indeed live in the lucky country, but have an industry run by talented people who have to mix short term gain, long term sustainability and keeping customers happy ... not an easy task.

Add to this the obvious competitive nature of our market here - 20 million people, 16 million customers when you remove those under 12 or so, with 5 major banks, a large group of medium size players, and dozens of international, local and smaller banks vying for the same market. Its long been held that market growth is pretty much a distant dream, and now its about market share.

I’ve always been of the view that in challenging times like these, you should treat your existing customers so well and focus on them while you ‘batten down the hatches’ and ride through the storm – your current customers are critical to your survival during hard times. But – the business needs growth, and whilst we can ask our current customers to add more to their commitment to the bank, new customers may be interested in coming to the organisation – recent research from CallCentres.net revealed that 95% of contact centre revenue for call centres across Australia came from inbound calls, up from 80& last year.

So the notion of switching becomes important. Switching banks (recently given much focus by the Treasurer as a way for customers to vote with their wallets and feet and move to providers who move rates with the RBA rather than above an beyond when the rate goes up, and not at all when the rate comes down) is a realistic ploy, albeit difficult, for many customers who find themselves on the cusp of real impact.

How do you define a switcher - do we say its someone who changes their Main Financial Institution as Roy Morgan defines it (what does MFI mean anyway?)? Does it mean where the biggest amount of debt is? Of savings is? Does it mean a person who switches ALL their banking, or just some?

Some of the big banks – NAB and Westpac for example, should be poised for switchers, given their recent commitments and action to lower rates in response to RBA movements. CommBank and ANZ did not make this promise, a fiscal decision that has impacted their brands. Of course the reverse is true when the next move comes, and NAB and Westpac make no change, as is definitely possible.

So how well does your bank help customers switch? There are 3 things to remember when enabling switching customers into your business:

The message you project about switching meets their concerns about the process, matches their needs that their current provider cant give them (rates permitting of course – as I’ve said before, our chief economists who move rates should have customer sat on their scorecards if they don’t already).

Our people should be armed and ready to go with all the information (on your own business, and other banks and how they treat customers) and tools they need (technology, forms, etc) to transition customers with the greatest of ease. They also need to be part of the campaign, involved in the movement of customers. Apple do it well by transferring your files from your PC to your new Mac for free, in store.

The process of switching should be so simple and facilitated that it makes it worthwhile for the customer to go through the inevitable pain. How about we wave most of the 100 pt check ID process, given they’ve already done that with another bank before? How about we pre-approve customers more? How about we return emails and phone calls as a matter of huge priority? I bet you’re thinking “If only he knew the challenges our bank faces against change – multiple systems, end to end experience analysis takes time to find the simplest outcome, massive comms efforts to employees, convincing risk and legal, etc.” This is a journey we’ll need to go on to make our customer experience more attractive (products are predominantly the same, so it’s the quality of the service, the experience that’s critical).

Of course it goes without saying, with any signup of a customer new or old, the post sales support must reflect the positive aspects of the brand, or the hard work would have been wasted. This in itself is a challenge.

A quick bit of desktop research - Lets see how all the major banks promote this online at least: ANZ - easy to understand page, outlining simple steps - perhaps too simple!; NAB - full complex page that presents more info than message; Westpac - fairly bland, no real incentive to move, and minimal info or message; Commbank - no switch page found; St George - good amount of information, but I'd still like to see clear step by step process to indicate complexity involved for customer.

All of these pages were difficult to find - most of them I guessed the URL (put /switch at the end - even that didnt work most times) or used the search engine. Given recent press, the opportunity for new customers (as I've written before, not always catered to in banking channels) to easily make the transition is not really obvious.

Check where you stand against these three criteria, and understand how hard it is as a non-bank customer to join your business. Dont confuse new customers with true switchers - they need different treatment.

Book: How Great Design Makes People Love Your Company [The Bank Channel]

Tue Sep 09 18:49:00 -0400 2008

From BusinessWeek (And Dave McQ - thanks):

"A new book explains how companies such as Apple, BMW, Ikea, and Target use design to establish lasting (and lucrative) relationships with consumers

Their theory is simple: Successful executives should treat design as more than a finishing discipline that simply improves products' aesthetics. Instead, design should influence every aspect of customers' experiences. For Brunner and Emery, design is an infrastructural element that helps define every aspect of a company, including Web site, stores, customer support, packaging, and messaging as well as products. "Design…can't be a veneer," they explain."

Samples Apple, Harley Davidson, and other great brands on the value of design as a business and competitive advantage tool.

Read more at the publisher. Buy the book today.

Vesdia Selected by SunTrust For Customer Reward Programs [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Tue Sep 09 16:28:03 -0400 2008

Vesdia has announced it has been selected by SunTrust Banks to help enhance the bank’s debit and credit card loyalty programs through Vesdia’s merchant network and partnership marketing services.

CashEdge Launches OpenNow/FundNow Express [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Tue Sep 09 14:40:03 -0400 2008

CashEdge has announced "the launch of OpenNow/FundNow Express, an online account opening and funding solution designed specifically to enable small/mid-sized banks and credit unions to offer the same advanced online opening and funding account capabilities available at larger financial institutions."

Fiserv Survey Finds Increased Consumer Interest in Mobile Banking [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Tue Sep 09 09:14:41 -0400 2008

Consumer interest in mobile banking and payments services offered by their financial institution has increased significantly in the past two years, according to new findings from a consumer research study released by Fiserv, Inc. "Research revealed that 75 percent of those surveyed say they would consider using mobile banking services if offered. That’s up dramatically from the 49 percent who expressed a willingness to try mobile banking services in a similar survey conducted in March 2006."

Fiserv Partners with M-Com for Mobile Money Offering [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Tue Sep 09 08:55:00 -0400 2008

Fiserv has announced Fiserv Mobile Money - calling it "the industry’s most complete mobile banking and payments solution, because it supports consumers on all three mobile access modes - short messaging service, (SMS), wireless application protocol, (WAP), and downloaded mobile applications, offers online and offline enrollment capabilities and integrates with core banking, online banking and electronic payments systems."

Headline News - September 9, 2008 [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Tue Sep 09 08:37:48 -0400 2008

Shryk Launches iThryv, Online Banking for Youth, at TechCrunch50 [NetBanker]

Jim Bruene http://www.netbanker.com — Tue Sep 09 08:36:20 UTC 2008

Two huge tech conferences opened today in California with 124 companies launching new products this week in front of a combined audience of more than 2,500 (see note 1). At DEMOfall in San Diego, 72 companies are launching new products today and tomorrow. In San Francisco, 52 companies launch at TechCrunch50 today through Wednesday.

Eight of the 124 companies are related to financial services:

DEMOfall: Rudder, GreenSherpa, BizEquity (Advanta)
Techcrunch50: iThryv (below), StockMood, PersonalRIA, exchangeP, and Emerginvest

We'll cover several of these companies, plus several in the TechCrunch50 demo pit, starting with iThryv.

iThryv kicks of TechCrunch50
I made it down from Seattle this morning just in time to catch the first demo. And I'm glad I got up so early because it just so happened to be the only personal finance/banking-related finalist. Oklahoma City-based Shryk, kicked off TechCrunch50 (note 2) by unveiling its online banking platform aimed at the 12-to-20 year-old crowd. The new service is called iThryv and it will be marketed directly to banks and credit unions who will customize and brand it for their own customer base.

iThryv will be integrated directly to the bank, or its core processor, so that real-time banking data can be displayed in various widgets. In to account info, iThryv also includes the following modules and features:

Goal-oriented savings, including rewards for reaching milestones
A spending & savings score that does for savings what a credit score does for loans
Make $ area where budding entrepreneurs can learn more about starting a business
Learn area for financial education

The company has a two-fold approach to getting iThryv into the market:

Licensing the platform to banks for a fixed fee plus per-user fees
Giving the platform to schools to incorporate into their curriculum

According to the founders, the service is currently being considered by several financial institutions, but it is not yet available online.

iThryv homepage (8 Sep 2008)

iThryv savings score graphed (8 Sep 2008)

iThryv "Make $" tab (8 Sep 2008)

Notes:
1. TechCrunch reported approximately 1,700 attendees, while DEMOfall had 800.

2. iThryv was originally scheduled to present third, but were moved up to first when Ashton Kutcher was late for his scheduled demo of his startup Blah Girls.

Payments, interchange, competition and … … Credit Unions? [The Bankwatch]

Tue Sep 09 00:40:09 -0400 2008

I sense there are big changes afoot in the payments industry in Canada. Translated that could mean changes in pricing, which in turn would mean changes for consumers. Those changes might be positive or negative, but either way are enormously significant for Banks.

Interac seeks shift to for-profit status

Mr. O’Connell fears Interac risks falling behind as the industry rapidly innovates. There are already products, such as MasterCard’s “tap & go” PayPass, that he would like Interac to be keeping up with. “The payments market is evolving every day,” he said. “It’s not just the U.S.-based credit card companies. You have PayPal, you have a number of unique payment companies in the marketplace, a number of new technologies. Look at mobile payments and its evolution in other countries around the world.

“Canada needs to ensure we can keep up and innovate in those areas,” he added

Payments revenues account for 30% +/- of payment related revenue. While interest on cards is a big revenue source, interchange is the hidden secret of revenue, and the one component that is at risk.

This presentation is just terrific. Deloitte are on fire these days, and this deck is no exception. The data and breadth of the study is enormous, and anyone in Canadian payments needs to read this. Statistics include how Banks make money from payments, and there is data on new competitors.

However what strikes me the most is the source; why am I learning about payments from the Credit Unions? This is symptomatic of the problem that Banks in Canada have. The whole “if we don’t talk about it, no-one will challenge us’ mindset is ridiculous. Go Credit Unions, and thank you for making this kind of information available.

Credit Union Central - Payments

This site is about our member services, education and training, government relations services. It explains our collective value to everyday Canadians who believe in a better way to achieve financial well-being. A warm welcome to all who visit…

deck

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group is expanding its involvement in the consumer finance business [The Bankwatch]

Mon Sep 08 20:28:39 -0400 2008

Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ from Japan, and one of the worlds largest Banks follows on the recent purchase of Union Bank of California, with an increased stake in the Acom group, who have US $18 billions in personal loans.

In this volatile market banks with strength and capacity are taking advantage of the times.

MUFG raises stake in Japanese moneylender
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group is expanding its involvement in the consumer finance business by paying Y152.6bn ($1.4bn) to raise its stake in Acom, Japan’s biggest moneylender.

Japan’s largest banking group said Monday it would launch a tender offer for shares in Acom at Y4,000 a share, a 30 per cent premium to the average closing price in the past month, to raise its share from 15.77 to 40.4 per cent.

Fed Reports Consumer Credit Outstanding Grew in June [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Mon Sep 08 16:31:38 -0400 2008

The Federal Reserve's latest G.19 Consumer Credit report is now available showing that revolving consumer credit outstanding grew at a 6.8 percent annualized rate in June to a total of $968.4 billion.

Viewpointe Acquires PaymentsNation [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Mon Sep 08 13:16:12 -0400 2008

Viewpointe and PaymentsNation have jointly announced that "Viewpointe has agreed to purchase the assets of PaymentsNation. The announcement follows the successful vote by the overwhelming majority of PaymentsNations’ members to approve the transaction. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Both organizations are working diligently to complete the conditions of closing in the near future. When closing conditions are met and the deal is completed, the company will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Viewpointe, LLC."

In the UK - Contactless Isn't Just a London Thing Anymore [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Mon Sep 08 11:52:20 -0400 2008

Jo Best writes for Silicon.com about Barclays efforts in contactless cards in the UK - quoting the head of contactless card development as saying they'll have over a million contactless cards in the market soon. Over 5 million contactless cards in total are expected to have been issued in the UK by the end of this year. Contactless POS rollouts are continuing - moving beyond just the London area.

Save the Dates - NACHA PAYMENTS 2009 - April 5-9 - Orlando [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Mon Sep 08 11:46:44 -0400 2008

NACHA has announced that its PAYMENTS 2009 annual conference will be held April 5 - 9, 2009, at the Orlando World Center Marriott in Orlando, Fla.

Smart Cards in Mobile Payment/Near Field Communications Webinar [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Mon Sep 08 11:41:52 -0400 2008

A new webinar series produced in partnership by the Smart Card Alliance and the Electronic Transactions Association (ETA) will hold its first webinar on the topic of "Smart Cards in Mobile Payment/Near Field Communications (NFC)" on September 25th from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. ET. Registration is available for the event at http://www.smartcardalliance.org/pages/activities-events-web-seminars.

Canada's Interac Exploring Changing to For Profit Company [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Mon Sep 08 09:06:04 -0400 2008

In an article titled "Interac seeks shift to for-profit status", Tara Perkins reports for the Globe and Mail that the company is in discussions "with the Competition Bureau about a restructuring that would likely allow it to make a profit." Interac, under a 1996 agreement with the Competition Bureau, is currently run as a not-for-profit company.

Corporate Network eCom Selects Metavante for Mobile Banking [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Mon Sep 08 08:37:15 -0400 2008

Metavante has announced that Corporate Network eCom, LLC (eCom) has selected Metavante as its provider of mobile banking and payments solutions and will resell Metavante Mobile Financial Services, powered by Monitise Americas. eCom provides electronic financial services to the Corporate Credit Union Network, which in turn serves the nation’s nearly 8,400 consumer credit unions.

Billeo Introduces Search of Stored Receipts Online [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Mon Sep 08 08:32:49 -0400 2008

Billeo has announced the debut of Splendid Search - a new feature that "allows consumers, for the first time, to store, track and search receipts and records of their online transactions."

Another Look at Interchange Fees [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Mon Sep 08 08:23:26 -0400 2008

In an article titled "Retailers, Banks Battle over Credit-Card Fees", Sarah More McCann writes for the Christian Science Monitor about interchange fees. McCann notes proposals by Adam Levitin, associate professor of law at the Georgetown University Law Center, who suggests that either rewards programs should be banned altogether or that merchants should be allowed to charge consumers a fee for the use of credit cards.

Headline News - September 8, 2008 [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Mon Sep 08 08:10:48 -0400 2008

Credit crunch fallout will cast a long shadow | RBC [The Bankwatch]

Mon Sep 08 00:04:14 -0400 2008

IN the clearest indication yet of the depth of the credit crunch and how it will impact Canadians, Nixon of RBC speaks about the impacts on consumers.

Credit crunch fallout will cast a long shadow

The consensus of the big brains? The credit market is stabilizing, finally. But the after-effects of the Great Debt Squeeze will linger. (And by the way, they’ll probably hit your wallet, if they haven’t already.) No one was more pointed about this than Mr. Nixon, who called it the most severe financial crisis since the Great Depression and used the word “bubble” to describe the period of shrinking credit spreads and risk-taking that peaked in the first half of 2007. Here’s the thing about bubbles: Excessive enthusiasm is almost always followed by excessive pessimism when it finally bursts. Recovery to “normal” always takes longer than you think. Ask anyone who bought into the Nasdaq in 1999

… …

That means the banks’ own cost of money is likely to stay high. The credit crunch was a useful reminder to bankers of the value of a large, stable base of retail deposits. The institutions that failed - Northern Rock and Bear Stearns - didn’t have it. Everyone else wants it and they’re going to have to pay for it. That could work to savers’ advantage, but for borrowers, it’s nothing but grim news. The banks will pass on their elevated funding costs to the customers.

“I do think it’s a long-term phenomenon … perhaps until the next bubble occurs,” Mr. Nixon said.

User Frustrations - Using Mag Stripe Cards in Chip and PIN Markets [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Sun Sep 07 17:49:50 -0400 2008

In an article today titled "US travelers face credit snafu", Eric Lucas writes for the Boston Globe about how the migration of countries around the world away from magnetic stripe cards to chip cards requiring PINs for acceptance is impacting some American travelers. While merchants in Chip and PIN markets are supposed to accept foreign mag stripe cards, Lucas personally found he couldn't use his US Visa card while traveling in Scandinavia this summer. His solution: "Cash usually works."

A Look at Discover Financial Services [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Sat Sep 06 10:00:10 -0400 2008

In this week's Barron's, Jonathan R. Laing takes a look at Discover Financial Services - saying the company "is likely to weather the surge in delinquencies and loan charge-offs that bad times are now unleashing on the U.S. credit-card industry."

Former Visa CEO Charles T. Russell Passes Away [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Fri Sep 05 22:47:15 -0400 2008

Charles T. Russell, former CEO of Visa International, died on Labor Day in a tragic motorcycle accident in northern California. Russell was CEO of Visa International from 1984 to his retirement in 1994. He was 78 years old.

Several of us at Glenbrook worked with Chuck at Visa and have many fond memories of his leadership during those years. He frequently commuted to work by air - piloting his own plane over San Francisco Bay - and loved his Harley-Davidsons. Chuck was a truly gifted leader for Visa - he had just the right touch. We miss him - and our sincere condolences go out to his family.

Billing Revolution Unveils ‘single-click’ Mobile Commerce Service [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Fri Sep 05 12:12:54 -0400 2008

Billing Revolution, a Seattle-based mobile commerce company, has announced “single-click” - calling it "a mobile billing and payments service designed to make it easy once and for all for retailers to sell products to on-the-go consumers without sacrificing high profits to mobile operators."

Faith-based finance; intro to Islamic Sharia Finance | The Economist [The Bankwatch]

Fri Sep 05 10:16:51 -0400 2008

The Economist has a few articles including this one that is an excellent primer on Islamic finance.

The whys and wherefores of Islamic finance

THE modern history of Islamic finance is often dated to the 1970s, with the launch of Islamic banks in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. But its roots stretch back 14 centuries. Islamic finance rests on the application of Islamic law, or sharia, whose primary sources are the Koran and the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad. Sharia emphasises justice and partnership. In the world of finance that translates into a ban on speculation (or gharar) and on the charging of interest (riba). The idea of a lender levying a straight interest charge, regardless of how the underlying assets fare in an uncertain world, offends against these principles—though some Muslims dispute this, arguing that the literature in sharia covering business practices is small and that terms such as “usury” and “speculation” are open to interpretation.

Amazon Introduces Gift Codes On Demand [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Fri Sep 05 10:03:34 -0400 2008

ACI Gift Cards, Inc., a subsidiary of Amazon.com, has announced the launch of Amazon Gift Codes On Demand™ (AGC On Demand), a real-time electronic gift-card distribution option available from the Amazon Corporate Gift Card program. According to the company, "AGC On Demand is a simple Web service API that integrates Amazon’s proprietary gift-card technology directly into customer loyalty, employee incentive and payment disbursement platforms. With AGC On Demand, companies are able to reduce physical gift-card fulfillment overhead while providing gift card recipients with a customized experience and instant gratification. To learn more about AGC On Demand, visit http://amazon.com/corporate-gc."

A Look at Airline Frequent Flier Mileage Credit Cards [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Fri Sep 05 09:55:27 -0400 2008

In an article titled "Airlines Want Cash. Card Firms Stiffen Terms. Who'll Blink?", Robin Sidel and Susan Carey write for the Wall St. Journal about negotiations between US airlines and credit card issuers over negotiations to provide the airlines with more capital.

Headline News - September 5, 2008 [Payments News - from Glenbrook Partners]

Fri Sep 05 09:52:58 -0400 2008

Wave That Flag – But You Best Hurry [Gonzobanker]

Fri Sep 05 04:00:00 -0400 2008

Hoist up your red flags and wave them with pride because if you don’t, you may find your institution reluctantly waving a white one.

KDDI Announces Launch of Jibun Bank [The Bankwatch]

Thu Sep 04 21:58:09 -0400 2008

Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ and KDDI (5th largest bank in the world, and a telephone company) announce a new bank focussed on telephone and internet access only. Both from Japan, this is an interesting model, that levers the strength of world class companies in their respective fields.

KDDI Announces Launch of Jibun Bank Customer Services

Jibun Bank Corporation is pleased to announce that it has today started accepting applications from customers for new accounts and has launched full customer services via mobile phones (au, NTT DoCoMo, and Softbank Mobile), the Internet (PCs), and the telephone (IVR/operator).

At the same time, KDDI Corporation and the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ have started marketing and opening accounts for Jibun Bank as bank agents.

Making the most of mobile phones, Jibun Bank is striving to become a financial institution with top customer satisfaction - a “personal bank for each individual customer” - providing high-quality financial services that are both convenient and secure.

Mr Banker - Where is the Chrome in your strategy? [The Bankwatch]

Thu Sep 04 21:42:36 -0400 2008

Umair always asks the big questions, and this is no exception. What struck me about Chrome is how it disrupts Microsoft’s entire business model by promoting a browser designed for the application web - MS weak point. But that’s not half the story.

How to Chrome Your Industry

Imagine what would happen if GM and Ford collaborated to invest in the components and architecture of a better public transport network — and then licensed it for free to cities, states, and countries.

Imagine what would happen if pharma players directly invested in better hospitals and clinics — instead of in trying to own the relationship with doctors, and furiously outspending one another when marketing blockbusters.

Imagine what would happen if Wal-Mart invested in town squares and parks — instead of just in featureless warehouses draining what little vitality remains in already bleak exurbs.

Imagine what would happen if P&G and Unilever invested in people’s opportunities for education, global mobility, and meaningful, authentic relationships with others — instead of just trying to control distribution channels, and then push-market more stuff to you.

Where is the Chrome in your strategy? What shared resource have you invested in - or should you invest in - to expand the pie sustainably for everyone over the long-run?

Umair goes light years further than my initial thought.

Chrome takes Google from core to edge. Chrome isn’t about building and strengthening core competencies, but edge competencies: competencies shared with others. The more Chrome - remember, it’s open source - is hacked, remixed, and tweaked, into still better browsers, engines, and plug-ins, the less Google itself has to invest to explode the utility of the entire www itself for everyone.

Chrome is not Google’s browser; it is open source, which means it is shared with anyone who wishes to make changes, provided those changes are available to all, to further improve and enhance. In other words the internet can only get better and better for all, which ironically helps everyone including Google’s competitors, which dramatically enhancing Google’s ad revenue model.

Hence the examples that Umair draws out above. His point is to seek analogies in other industries that share the attributes that Chrome offers Google.

Relevance to Bankwatch:

What is the Chrome for Banks? What are the things Bank(s) could develop and promote to open source, that would benefit them, their customers, and other Banks, and the benefit could snowball to be orders of magnitude greater than any simple new product enhancement, and in fact alter the basis of competition?

Some thoughts to get us going; feel free to note others in the comments. Umair is on to something here, that is truly innovative.

eliminate phishing: a secure standalone secure browser only for online banking, and nothing else. Any bank could use and develop provided all enhancements are freely shared with the community, ie everyone.
eliminate (ok reduce) credit problems: several banks collaborate on local financial advice centres in every city
eliminate identity theft: banks collaborate and develop IDtheftfree Inc - a system to disallow provision of credit bureau information to company or Bank unless it comes through IDtheftfree Inc. The new system has rights and authorities that are controlled only by each consumer. Credit bureau information becomes controlled by the consumer instead of the credit bureaus. By power of union, force the Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian to co-operate. Build a secure version of the thing they can’t (won’t) effectively build.

Where is the Chrome for your Bank?

Google’s legal counsel exhibit good internet practice and responsiveness [The Bankwatch]

Thu Sep 04 21:05:39 -0400 2008

What an good example of responsiveness and openness from Google’s legal counsel. Chrome is their new browser that was released 2nd Sept, and here on 4th Sept they are updating the terms of service in response to users.

The Official Google Blog

Whenever we release a product in beta as we just did with Google Chrome, we can always count on our users to come up with ways to improve it. This week’s example: several eagle-eyed users and bloggers have expressed concern that Section 11 of Google Chrome’s terms of service attempts to give us rights to any user-generated content “submitted, posted or displayed on or through” the browser.

Relevance to Bankwatch

Part of being effective as an internet company relates to this type of responsiveness. A typical Bank approach would be to review this for weeks, and make the changes quietly.

Note the blog post is issued by Mike Yang, Senior Product Counsel - a lawyer no less!

Person-to-Person (P2P) Lending Update [NetBanker]

Jim Bruene http://www.netbanker.com — Thu Sep 04 22:38:00 UTC 2008

Now that we are well past the mid-point of 2008, it's a good time to look at where we are with one of the most talked about online financial subjects of the decade: person-to-person or social lending.

Currently, there are two U.S. companies actively originating unsecured, multi-purpose P2P loans (note 1):

Prosper: Through July, the leader in the market is running 10% ahead of its 2007 loan-origination pace. The company has funded $55 million and is on pace to do just under $100 million for the year. Website traffic is up 15% compared to a year ago (see graph below) and through July there have been 13% more loan listings (see previous coverage here, Finovate 2007 Best of Show video here; monthly volume reports here).
Zopa: The company, which isn't technically person-to-person (the loans are originated by six credit union partners), but definitely has a social aspect to its loan program, has not revealed any numbers, but they have 475 loans listed on its "browse all borrowers page." Assuming, average loan size of $8000 to $9000, they are doing less than $1 million per month. Zopa is using Google AdWords to pitch "instant approval" with a credit score of 640+ (see screenshot below), an aggressive marketing move, especially combined with the 8.49% APR touted on the landing page (see screenshot below; previous coverage here, FinovateStartup 2008 Best of Show video here).

In addition, there are three more P2P lenders that appear very close to launching or relaunching:

Lending Club: The company, launched in May 2007, has been essentially closed to new business since March as they retooled its loans into securities for regulatory reasons. However, the company is scheduled to present at our Oct. 14 Finovate conference, implying that they will be out of their quiet period by then (previous coverage here, Finovate 2007 video here).
Loanio: The startup appears to finally be very close to launching based on an a Sep. 3rd email sent to its house list announcing the launch "in just a few weeks" adding in parenthesis (yes, we mean it this time!). The company will likely be the first to offer a co-borrower loan application (previous coverage here; Finovate Startup video here).
Pertuity Direct: The newest competitor in the space is Pertuity Direct which we wrote about last week. Its website claims a Sep. 15 launch and we look forward to seeing their first public demo at Finovate on Oct. 14.

Finally, there are also several companies looking to launch P2P services in 2008 or 2009, including Globefunder, Community Lend (Canada) and one we just heard about today Swap-A-Debt.

Forecast revision
Last December we published our second detailed Online Banking Report on Person-to-Person Lending. In that report, we predicted just under $200 million in originations this year. However, due to the inactive period at Lending Club, the delay in Loanio's launch, and the more conservative approach by Prosper lenders, we are lowering the 2008 forecast by 25%, with an expected total of $135 to $150 million for the year as follows:

Prosper ($95 to $105 million)
Lending Club ($25 to $30 million)
Zopa ($5 to $10 million)
Loanio ($1 to $5 million)
Pertuity Direct ($1 to $5 million)

P2P lending traffic from Compete (July 2007 through July 2008)

Zopa AdWords ad on "loanio" search
(4 Sep 2008, 1 PM PDT from Seattle IP address)

Landing page (4 Sep 2008, link here)

Notes:
1. There are also specialists involved in the student loan piece (GreenNote and Fynanz) along with Virgin Money and Loanback which help with person-to-person loan documentation and servicing.

2. Top-right graphic from April 2008 ABC News segment on Lending Club and person-to-person lending.

The power of internet, and drivers of change [The Bankwatch]

Thu Sep 04 16:03:08 -0400 2008

Internet has flattened old hierarchies, made information freely available, and eliminated distance. This is a revolutionary driver of customer expectations, and customer buying methods. It has also had the impact of opening previously closed kimono’s and exposed old style advertising for what it is … management of peoples opinions. Internet has allowed people to form their own opinions, and act on them. That empowerment is fundamental to many changes we see now.

One market driver is therefore ‘customer empowerment’.

Another driver, comes from the way customers are continually required to manage their own affairs, at the ATM, the pin pad, online banking, bill payments, office card access, airport check in, car rental drop off, quick hotel checkout, travel booking. This frequency of self service is now pervasive and required several times daily for everyone. Organizations have become impersonal and are represented by their self service touch points. Self service has been underway for a long time, and internet has only sped up that process for Banks’.

Customers appreciate self service, but the sheer pervasiveness of it, means customers are continually, comparing and evaluating it. Without realizing it, customers are comparing your bill payment web process flow, to the Hilton quick check out, the credit card pin pad machine to your ATM, etc etc. People do not interact with products; they interact with self service touch points, and that is where the value is experienced, or value is lost.

So our other main driver is the advent of ‘the experiential economy’.

While Banking has benefited from technology advances in information management, and elimination of human processes, it has absolutely not addressed these drivers. Bank motivation has been entirely financial driven by the vagaries of the quarterly announcements and the impact on stock prices.

Banking has benefited from detailed analysis of customer behavior allowing enormous profits on credit cards through targeted marketing, and portfolio management of card holders supported by high interest rates. However banking has suffered from having to bear the additional costs associated with the new technologies, and in particular the plethora of new channels, including direct mail, ATM, telephone banking, online banking, and disruption in traditional marketing channels.

Relevance to Bankwatch

How has your Bank adapted to customer empowerment within the online experiential economy? This would involve re-thinking marketing tactics, site design, and even branch personnel training and tools.

The Burst - Special Guests (Ep. 32) [The Banktastics � BanktasticTV - The Burst]

Thu Sep 04 09:57:22 -0400 2008

Download this video

Thanks for checking out this episode of BanktasticTV’s “The Burst.” Here are some important notes about this episode:

News: Southwest joins the Cashless Airlines Move
Southwest Airlines is the latest airline to announce that it will no longer accept cash on its flights. The usual free snacks and beverages will still be there, but the items they charge for, like cocktails and energy drinks, can only be paid for with credit & debit cards as well as drink coupons. This may cause an issue for those that haven’t adopted credit or debit cards into their wallets yet.

Q&A: Would you use a Twitter clone inside of your FI?
J.B. D. recently asked the Banktastic community if we’d use a Twitter-like program inside our FIs for communication? Would something like Twitter or other networking applications be useful in your FI? Get the conversation going - share your thoughts!

News: HSBC Could Order 200,000 iPhones
Brad shared an article recently on Banktastic that discussed how HSBC is considering dropping the BlackBerry and picking up iPhones instead for its staff. This shows the significant impact that the iPhone has had on our mobile technology for a bank of this size to completely switch from the mainstream BlackBerry to the iPhone.

Brad Heading to San Antonio
Brad’s going to be speaking several times this weekend in San Antonio for the Texas Credit Union League. We wish him the best of luck on his several day trip and on his presentations!

Subscribe to Banktastic on iTunes
All of BanktatsicTV’s shows are available on iTunes now! Click here to access our podcast page to subscribe, or open iTunes and search “BanktasticTV.”

Email Us!
Feel free to email comments or suggestions about “The Burst” to brad@banktastic.com, or post your thoughts on the Banktastic Community.

Quick Links
Banktastic
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See you next week!

-The Banktastics

Lectures from Design Victoria [The Bank Channel]

Wed Sep 03 22:42:00 -0400 2008

Have a look at the terrific list of events and lectures from Design Victoria. Some interesting stuff on retail environments, fashion, eco-design, innovation.

Google Chrome browser hidden commands | last off topic post [this week] [The Bankwatch]

Wed Sep 03 22:20:18 -0400 2008

Still off topic here, but hey, internet stuff is important, right! I find this new browser stable, fast, and simple.

Here are a few undocumented commands that can be typed into the Google Chrome address bar, that provide stats on the browser operation.

about:memory

about:stats

about:histogram

about:cache

about:version

about:dns

about:plugins

about:stats

about:network

The New vs Existing Paradox [The Bank Channel]

Tue Sep 02 23:52:00 -0400 2008

Today I received my daily email newsletter from a pretty reputable news source, aimed at new economy and small business people. The content normally sent covers topics from Googles new browser to Lessons from Entrepreneurs to Rate Changes. I would presume the audience of this content is a fairly savvy and demanding bunch (somehow I slipped through the net).

Some of the links in the email caught my eye, and I visited the site to read more across a few topics. Also catching my eye was a large banner ad offering some tips and do’s/don’t’s for online activity – being someone who is always after the silver bullet, I clicked and found out that this report is available once the user subscribes to the same emails I’ve received for the last 12 months.

Obviously, its an acquisition campaign to turn users into subscribers, fair enough. But do you think I could access the report given my email address was ‘already registered’? Wouldn’t that entitle me to access this report, wouldn’t that mean I deserve the same reward as those willing to join? Why are existing customers excluded from deals that attract new customers? Don’t worry, I know it – of course its about increasing your customer base, not spending money on the existing customer base. This is a traditional approach, but flawed in the current environment of democracy online.

With banks, sometimes it’s the same.

Visit the website, and its always the same as you visited it the last time, or last 100 times. Most of the content is aimed at acquiring new customers, or at customers acquiring additional products (see Commbank and NABs ‘link farm’ homepages and ANZs billboard approach). Even the most basic personalisation – a user revisiting, postcode based, etc – could meet most of the needs of most customers here, within perceived security limits of course.

Sometimes it’s the opposite.

Call your call centre, and sometimes the bank will automatically ask for a customer number and password. No welcome for new customers, no clear instruction on what to do if you’re not a customer, of you don’t have a number or password. We punish new customers, and ‘prioritise’ existing customers – “entering your number and password will put you in the priority queue”. Ask any focus group what they think, and they’ll say that surely the bank would prioritise potential customers rather than existing. Perhaps these banks assume new customers are really existing customers who’ve forgotten their details. (Which comes to another point on number strategy. Do you make your new and existing customers call the same phone number – the ‘Sales’ line?)

Which customers do you need more - current ones or new ones? Whats the old saying - it costs five times more to get new customers than to keep your old ones (thats keep, not maintain). In hard times like these, keeping your current customers happy is critical, and presents an opportunity to take customers from those banks that are mistreating theirs.

Treat your existing customers like they’re new to the bank; and new customers like you’ve had them for years – lavish them with attention, give them the relevant content, product or service, and understand their needs.

Forrester announces Fin Services Cust Exp conference 2008 [The Bank Channel]

Tue Sep 02 20:46:00 -0400 2008

Here it is - Forrester’s 2008 European Financial Services Forum shows marketing and strategy professionals how to develop true multi-channel strategies by:

Listening to the voice of the customer to drive continuous improvement.
Raise the visibility of customer experience across the company.
Using technology to deliver consistent experiences throughout the customer journey.
Engage employees in delivering great customer experiences.

Speakers include Max Mouwen, SVP Direct Channels, ABN AMRO; Pol Navarro, Head of Innovation, Banco Sabadell; Christophe Langlois, Senior Innovation Manager, Lloyds TSB; Nick Read, Director Distribution, Sales & Service, HBOS; Mike Thompson, Head of Real Retail Center of Excellence, Barclays.

ANZ restructures to reflect customer focus [The Bank Channel]

Tue Sep 02 20:01:00 -0400 2008

ANZ's CEO Mike Smith has announced a serious restructure and movement of execs so that the "power is being put in the hands of customers who want to deal with us on their terms and expect us to have 'one view' of their affairs with us":

"ANZ will shortly unveil a new corporate structure that could see 200 jobs go and a promotion for retail boss Brian Hartzer to an expanded new position in charge of Australian operations. The moves are the outcome of a strategic review being completed by Margaret Payn, aimed at making the bank more customer-focused rather than product- focused.

Banking is one of the great practitioners of corporate-speak and Smith is up there with the greats, as shown by his internal explanation for the changes. Being customer-centric can be challenging in an organisation that's as large and complex as ANZ. Smith added: "We have both the need and the opportunity to simplify our business model by reducing complexity; giving our people clearer accountability and decision-making authority; enabling our people to 'go for it' rather than being held back by bureaucracy; and bringing all of our people closer to our customers."

The ANZ model will result in as yet unquantified job losses as part of the rearrangement."

Of course there will be - when will the banks realise we presume these restructures are part of cost and efficiency exercises rather than true customer experience focus - how often do real customer experience improvements require investment (as opposed to cost) rather than just making more sales?

Full article here...

Just on this, heres another article of note - 'Will your bank be a bastard?' The challenge we face is clear when the fiscal management of the business impacts brands, customers and customer experiences so hard that I feel they need to share responsibility for customer sat scores.

Ed: Sorry had to clarify - the Smith in this article is Mike Smith is CEO of ANZ - or just Smithy to his mates.

Google Chrome | new browser for Windows [The Bankwatch]

Tue Sep 02 17:08:04 -0400 2008

Update: �have tried out the new browser, and running short of superlatives. �I can only suggest that everyone at least try it. �Fast, secure, and at the same time simple to use. �Maximum use of screen is acheived by eliminating things like the status bar, and by repositioning the tabs.

Google Chrome

Will eWallets Make a Comeback on the iPhone? [NetBanker]

Jim Bruene http://www.netbanker.com — Tue Sep 02 20:29:44 UTC 2008

Since the July opening of Apple's App Store, we've been tracking the apps in the Finance category (see previous coverage here). But there are also several apps in the Productivity category of interest to financial institutions: the eWallets.

There are two wallets available in the U.S. iTunes store:

eWallet from Ilium Software: #46 in popularity in the Productivity with a cost of $9.95 and rated 3.5 stars (out of 5) across 143 reviews (see inset)
Memengo Wallet: #48 in Productivity with a $0.99 cost and rated 4 stars across 43 reviews (website)

Web-based eWallets never took off because of security concerns and because they provided only marginal improvements in desktop productivity. However, a mobile version has more utility owing to sticky notes with password reminders and credit card info, helpful to users away from their desks.

How it works
Storage of usernames and passwords for websites is the primary use of eWallet, but it also has a Finance category (see inset above) where users can store credit card numbers and contact info (see screenshots below).

That info is helpful when using a card to make a purchase online or through the mobile phone. It's also a great place to store the info in case the card itself is lost or stolen.

Financial institution opportunities
While these apps haven't gained an overwhelming following, a financial institution could offer a free version that highlights its own card offerings while providing storage space for other card numbers. That way, you get your logo on the iPhone instead of Mint, Wesabe, or some other financial institution.

The bank-branded eWallet could also include a financial calculator and direct connection to online banking.

Note:
1. For more info see our Online Banking Repot on Mobile Money & Payments.

Google Chrome announced to challenge IE and others [The Bank Channel]

Tue Sep 02 02:52:00 -0400 2008

Google has launched Chrome, a new browser to rival IE. Read the comic - yes the comic - explaining how it works. Also click here to see some screenshots.

Ed: Its available here at Google.com/chrome. Colin at BankWatch thinks its terrific.

Google Browser to be announced Tuesday Sept 2nd [The Bankwatch]

Tue Sep 02 01:33:30 -0400 2008

I have been watching for this download to happen but nothing yet. A Google browser that’s supposed to show up Tuesday. The information suggests a very efficient browser based on webkit that manages the internet better.

Internet is no longer a set of web pages. Its become a set of applications, videos, and pages with privacy and security needs that requires a different way to interact. This is exciting!

Google Chrome

Today there was a comic book in my mail, sent by Google and drawn by no less than Scott McCloud, creator of the classic Understanding Comics. Within the 38 pages, which I’ve scanned and put up, in very readable format Google gives the technical details into a project of theirs: an open source browser called Google Chrome. The book points to www.google.com/chrome, but I can’t see anything live there yet.

Community Banks: The Next Generation [Gonzobanker]

Fri Aug 29 04:00:00 -0400 2008

It wasn’t fun hearing FDIC Director Sheila Bair report this week on the state of the banking industry. Going forward, only those community banks drafting a new playbook during today’s Dark Ages will have a shot at attending the next gen community banking conferences a decade from now.

Online bill pay represents a huge cost, that will drive irrational Bank behaviour [The Bankwatch]

Thu Aug 28 22:56:01 -0400 2008

Before 1996, and the advent of online banking Banks made money from bill payment. Each bill paid required a cheque that incurred service charges, or an in branch payment, that incurred a fee. No more.

Online bill pay to cost US banks $1bn by 2010 - TowerGroup

The provision of free online bill payment services to retail banking customers will cost the US financial services industry $1 billion by 2010, according to research from TowerGroup.

The research house estimates that nearly 24 million Americans currently use electronic bill payment and presentment services (EBPP). Usage is increasing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18% and is set to rise from 2.11 billion transactions in 2008 to 3.87 billion in 2012.

The reality, 12 years later, is that bill payment is an expected service, and one that is a net cost to Banks.

In time I would expect some Banks to attempt to recoup this cost, or avoid it by altering their fee schedules.

Banks in the US are attempting to offset these costs, with charges for expedited payment.

One way in which banks can offset some of the costs is by charging for expedited bill payments. TowerGroup says many customers are willing to pay to ensure that payments are made within 24 hours to avoid being charged for late payments.

The report forecasts expedited payments growing at a CAGR of 38% through 2012, reaching 19.35 million transactions and revenue of $101.6 million.

Relevance to Bankwatch:

While online banking has become the norm and offered by every bank, bill payment results in significant cost, including customer service and expensive telephone banking costs to manage errors. In light of the pressures on profitability we can expect some Banks’ to attempt to recoup costs associated with online banking and bill payment in other fees. This will be disastrous in my view.

US shoppers turn away from credit according to certain retailers [The Bankwatch]

Thu Aug 28 22:31:53 -0400 2008

In the clearest sign yet of impacts on the Banks from the subprime crisis, US consumers are shifting to cash or debit and away from credit cards.

US shoppers turn away from credit

Mainstream retailers are reporting that shoppers are opting for debit cards or cash instead of credit cards as they face tighter credit limits, illustrating how the wider credit crunch is being transferred to main street spending.

However the message is clouded by the fact that while certain retailers are noting the shift, Visa and Mastercard are seeing card usage relatively unchanged. The shift was first noted by Walmart, and is now followed by Lowe’s, Kohl’s and Target.

It may be that the economic impact on consumers is affecting lower income first.

Online Banking reviewed by PC Authority Mag [The Bank Channel]

Thu Aug 28 18:56:00 -0400 2008

PC Authority Magazine has reviewed all the Australian banks online banking capability across a range of criteria, including website features, security, statements, mobile integration, etc. A great summary of the current capability across all your competitors, and a checklist of where to improve. A must see. Click on the image above to see an overview or visit the site and read about your banks performance.

The Burst - Beam Me Up (Ep. 31) [The Banktastics � BanktasticTV - The Burst]

Thu Aug 28 09:45:55 -0400 2008

Download this video

Thanks for checking out this episode of BanktasticTV’s “The Burst.” Here are some important notes about this episode:

News: Customer bank data found on computer sold on eBay
Apparently a computer that was sold on eBay had a ton of very sensitive customer information on it. The computer, property of Graphic Data, was not supposed to be for sale, and so an investigation has begun to determine how it ended up as a listing on eBay.

Q&A: Anybody want to recommend an online training program?
Katie C. recently asked the Banktastic community for references for good online training programs. We’re bringing this question to The Burst so that we can get more responses for Katie. But Brad also had some thoughts on online training vs. in-person training. He sees online training comparable to something like online defensive driving, and says it’s easy for people to skim over something and not get proper instruction. Let us know what you think!

News: Quicken Beam Helps Consumers Keep Money in Their Pockets
David G. shared with us an article discussing Quicken Beam, a new service that works on any cell phone or mobile device and is designed to give consumers instant access to their bank balances and recent activity. If you’ve checked it out, let us know what you thought about Quicken Beam by commenting on the blog!

Send Us Videos of Funny Bank Robbers
We all know that sometimes criminals just fail, and we really wanted to include clips of botched bank robberies in this episode, but we couldn’t find anything. If you know of a link you’d like to share with us, please do and we’ll be sure to include it in an upcoming episode of The Burst!

Do You like our Sidetracking?
A couple of times now we’ve covered some random and not necessarily banking-related information, and we want to know what you think. Are you interested in having us cover more random topics along with the latest and greatest in the financial industry, or would you rather us stay the course? Let us know by commenting on the blog!

Subscribe to Banktastic on iTunes
All of BanktatsicTV’s shows are available on iTunes now! Click here to access our podcast page to subscribe, or open iTunes and search “BanktasticTV.”

Email Us!
Feel free to email comments or suggestions about “The Burst” to brad@banktastic.com, or post your thoughts on the Banktastic Community.

Quick Links
Banktastic - Banktastic News - Banktastic Q&A

See you next week!

-The Banktastics

Pertuity Direct to Launch Person-to-Person (P2P) Lending Service [NetBanker]

Jim Bruene http://www.netbanker.com — Thu Aug 28 01:14:35 UTC 2008

Last September, we wrote about the launch of Washington D.C.-based Pertuity Direct. At the time, the startup was showing some interesting social-personal finance tools such as Dare to Compare, which allowed users to compare their financial situation to their peers and national norms (see "before" screenshot below). It looked like another online PFM play.

But, it turns out the company's true business model is person-to-person lending (aka social or P2P lending) where it will compete with Prosper, Lending Club, Loanio, and others (see note 1). Its URL redirects to a non-functional placeholder page (below) that includes only an email signup (note 2).

Here's the company description of its strategy:

Pertuity Direct is bringing the next generation of social lending to the Web - integrating simplicity, liquidity and automatic diversification into the social lending model.

The founder is Kim Muhota, an ex-banker out of PNC Bank. Pertuity Direct, which is currently closed to the general public, will demo its new product at our October Finovate conference.

Current: Pertuity Direct placeholder page with email signup
(26 Aug 2008)

Before: Pertuity Direct website before redirect put in place
(see note 1, 26 Aug 2008)

Notes:
1. For more on the P2P lending space, see our Online Banking Report on Person-to-Person Lending.

2. You can see the previous website content by following a deeper link available from Google.

The nature of social capital and trust in banking and financial services [The Bankwatch]

Tue Aug 26 12:34:42 -0400 2008

I have enjoyed a re-read of Bowling Alone during a recent vacation.� Its a fascinating book written very academically, so not an easy read.� Tons of statistics.� However the concepts that it explores are relevant and interesting for Banks.� For me it helped to sort out differences between Banks and others, and the nature of trust.� It helped me better understand social capital.

What is especially interesting and relevant for our times is that it was written in 1999.� This book predated the dot com crash, and predated the rise of social networks, yet it nailed the much of the direction of internet that we have witnessed through the twentyfirst century to date.

It does that because it takes a sweeping century wide view of social progress, and lays out the possible reasons for the shifts in a quite objective and analytical manner.

The basic premise is that the fabric of US society has altered dramatically in the last 1/3 of the twentieth century, and people are significantly less civically engaged than in the first 2/3.

We care less about civic engagement, but more about the underpinnings of that shift.� In the discussion Putman talks about social capital, and the shifts in that capital.

I see relevance here for Banks to understand their customers from a perspective that normal segmentation will not pick up.� First some definitions that the book uses, then discussion.� I am keeping this deliberately relatively brief, and if you want to delve deeper, then 540 pages await you!� Worth the read if you care about this stuff.

First some definitions, which you can skim, then the discussion.

Definitions [from "Bowling Alone]:

Social Capital:

“How does social capital work?
The term social capital emphasizes not just warm and cuddly feelings, but a wide variety of quite specific benefits that flow from the trust, reciprocity, information, and cooperation associated with social networks. Social capital creates value for the people who are connected and - at least sometimes - for bystanders as well.

Social capital works through multiple channels:
- Information flows (e.g. learning about jobs, learning about candidates running for office, exchanging ideas at college, etc.) depend on social capital.

Social networks are important in all our lives, often for finding jobs, more often for finding a helping hand, companionship, or a shoulder to cry on.� [Fischer]“

Bonding Capital:

… inward looking and tend to reinforce exclusive identities and homogeneous groups.� eg fraternal organisations, church based womens groups, fashionable country clubs, ethnic enclaves, start up financing groups, etc. [sociological superglue]

Bridging Capital:

Bridging networks, by contrast are better for linkage to external assets and for information diffusion.� .. when seeking jobs, political allies the weak ties that link me to distant acquaintances who move in different circles from mine, are actually more valuable than the strong ties that link me to relatives and intimate friends, whose sociological niche is very like my own.�� [sociological WD-40]

Thick trust:

Social trust embedded in personal relations embedded in personal relations that are strong frequent and nested in wider networks.

Thin Trust

Social trust that exists beyond thick trust.� e.g. an acquaintance at the coffee shop, or at work.� Think trust rest implicitly on some background of shared social networks and expectations of reciprocity.� A standing decision to give most people - even those whom one does not know from direct experience - the benefit of the doubt.

the test: “Generally speaking, would you say that most people can be trusted, or that you can’t nbe to careful in dealing with other people” - this taps feelings about .. thin trust.

Discussion:

Putnam discusses throughout the continual balance between legal trust constituted by law and order and civil law versus the thin trust that exists around us all.� This goes to reputation of people, of groups of cities, and of countries.� Generally he concludes that thin trust is less now than 30 years ago, and there are many drivers attributed to that including television, lack of personal time, commuting separation of home location and work location etc etc.� In any event people feel less engaged and are less engaged.

However what he notes and is interesting is that people still respond to social capital despite the disincentives in our modern life.� He notes in particular the potential of internet and information technology to dramatically improve the opportunities for social capital.� [note book written in 1999].

Whether we look at social lending, or social networks like Facebook, there is much discussion and optimism on topics of ‘friends’, and levering social capital in simple and convenient ways.� It is interesting to look at those two examples plus traditional banking.

What struck me the most is that these examples are largely based today on different kinds of trust.� Facebook is all about thick trust for the most part.� Exceptions are those that choose to gather lots of friends, and in those cases I would argue not even thin trust exists, but it may be somewhat developable.

Social Lending has thin trust established between the lender and the social lending service.� There is also thin trust established between the borrower and the lending service.� These thin trusts are based on trading of confidential information, between the borrower or lender and the service.� By accepting that role as the trust broker, the social lending service is able to allow the creation of a new thin trust to exist between the lender and the borrower that could not have otherwise existed.

Its clear that all social lenders are not the same, and the securities regulatory environment hinders the development of a� broad development of thin trust by imposing other rules that obscure the underlying benefits, nonetheless this is the promise of social lending and social finance in general.

Traditional banks have no such level of social trust that can be created.� Each relationship is unique and between the customer and the bank as an organisation.� Particularly in lending, that is managed through brokers or different personal lenders each time, the relationship is defined by gathering and validation of information each time.� One of the complaints I frequently heard in my banking career was the lack of continuity in the branch, and the lack of long term relationships being built with the bankers.

Lastly looking at the bridging vs bonding, then similar patterns emerge.� FaceBook is about bonding capital, based on thick trust.

Banks have neither bonding nor bridging.� Social Lenders are to various degrees creating hybrid elements of bridging capital, and although the users are anonymous to each other, they get to know each other by user name identifiers.

Relevance to Bankwatch:

The book helped me at least to differentiate the fundamentals of the model between banks and social lenders, and between social lenders and FaceBook.� The difference is in the type of trust that forms the basis of them� FaceBook is thick trust, and I would argue a bad place to establish a business.� The old adage of doing business directly with friends (real friends) is a bad idea, prone to future disaster for the friendship.

Banks I would argue have neither thin nor think trust.� They are based on legal relationships.

Social lenders, at least, have the opportunity to lever trust, albeit thin trust that could not otherwise exist without the social lending service, and establish some bridging capital.� Bridging capital is the more powerful capital in terms of impacts on people and society.

Intuit Launches Quicken Beam: Free Text-Message Alerts & Balance Inquiry [NetBanker]

Jim Bruene http://www.netbanker.com — Mon Aug 25 20:59:04 UTC 2008

Intuit joined the messaging race with the beta release of Quicken Beam. The free service sends users text-messaged balance-and-activity alerts from most U.S. bank, credit card, and credit union accounts. Users may also query the service for balance plus last five transactions by texting "Bal" to the short code 636363.

Currently, the service runs independently of Quicken and can be used by anyone free of charge. According to the official press release, the service was developed in Intuit Labs.

What's innovative
It's not a new feature. Quicken Online (see second screenshot below), along with most major banks and personal finance specialists (Mint, Rudder, Wesabe), already support text-message alerts (see note 1). But this is a relatively low-cost way to hook users early on with an extremely simple service, then migrate them to more robust Intuit services later on (Quicken, QuickBooks, TurboTax).

And the Quicken stamp of approval means a lot when turning over your log-in credentials to a third party. If you want to talk to the company about Quicken Beam, Intuit will be demo'ing the latest features of Quicken Online at our Finovate Conference in October.

Financial institutions that lack text-message support might consider linking customers to Quicken Beam. Yes, you are turning customers over to another financial provider, and yes, your compliance folks will hate it. But customers are going to do it whether you want them to or not. You might as well get credit for making a solid recommendation. And realistically, using Quicken Beam is unlikely to hasten anyone's exit from your bank or credit union.

Qucken Beam homepage (25 Aug 2008)

Text messaging in Quicken Online (25 Aug 2008)

Notes:
1. Geezeo really differentiated itself with mobile capabilities in its May 2007 launch.

2. For more information, see our Online Banking Report on Personal Finance Features.

Where are Banks in Community Management? [The Bankwatch]

Mon Aug 25 13:52:35 -0400 2008

James has a good post on the shift from traditional PR to Community Management, and he explains that mechanics quite well. His example of Debbie at Wesabe is an ideal one.

BankerVision: PR shifts to Community Management

One final question is in my mind, though, is what use HSBC’s or Citi’s Community Outreach Coordinator will make of a competitive bank’s blogger like myself? Will they just ignore me, or take a leap of faith and realise that the community is powerful regardless of who is in it?

Relevance to Bankwatch:
His final paragraph says it all. With the lone exception of Ed Terpenning at Wells Fargo, where are the community managers at the big Banks? I know a large part of the reason lies in the fear of loss of control of the message. Any Banks care to comment?

Rudder (formerly SpendView) Launches New Mint-like Personal Finance Site [NetBanker]

Jim Bruene http://www.netbanker.com — Sat Aug 23 19:44:55 UTC 2008

There's a new challenger in the online PFM space, aptly named start-up Rudder which is headquartered in Houston, TX (see note 1). The company was founded in 2007 and launched last year under the name SpendView (note 2). The company raised $2 million in January from Meakem Becker Venture Capital. The founder is Nikhil Roy.

What's innovative
While it's a bit busy for my tastes, Rudder's homepage is aesthetically pleasing, and more importantly, lays out a number of remarkable benefits that every financial institution should be able to deliver on:

Finances in your inbox: emphasizes that it's pushing info to you, not relying on your obsessive monitoring of a website
Paying bills on time: They don't just help you pay the bills; Rudder makes sure you pay them ON TIME, a huge difference in terms of consumer benefits
Think forward: Everyone has a sense of what they really have in the bank after upcoming expenses are met, but Rudder actually does the math for you and shows you what's truly "free cash" in your account after accounting for upcoming payments
Every morning: Rudder provides a personal-finance heads-up each morning so you can go about your day without thinking about your finances
Safe & secure: Self-explanatory, but cannot be overlooked

Clearly, Rudder has been studying how Mint grabbed an early following with great design, advanced functionality, and a brash point of view. However, it won't be able repeat Mint's PR coup last year of winning at TechCrunch40 and our Finovate 2007 (see note 4). Rudder has scheduled its public debut at competing techfest, Demo Fall, running Sept. 7-9 and unfortunately were not on our radar screen until after the Finovate 2008 lineup was set (note 5).

What it means
You gotta love Web-based startups. It took a decade for Wells Fargo to move from delivering plain old statement info on its website to offering rudimentary personal finance functionality in My Spending Report.

But less than two years after Wesabe (note 2) kicked off the Personal Finance 2.0 era, we have dozens of cool personal finance companies looking to make a name for themselves. Mint (note 2) is the most hyped (see coverage), but there are also great things going on at Geezeo, Jwaala (note 3), Buxfer, ClearCheckbook, Mvelopes, and, of course, Quicken Online, which has Coke-like brand awareness.

And don't rule out the incumbent financial institutions. PNC Bank (post here) and Frost Bank (post here) have both introduced novel accounts that incorporate advanced personal finance functions. And Bank of America has offered full-service PFM functions since late 2006 with Yodlee-powered MyPortfolio.

Rudder homepage with five key benefits highlighted (21 Aug 2008)

Your "real" balance widget
I love the focus on what you really have in your account, after netting out all the known bills in the coming month. Here's the graphical feedback Rudder provides.

Notes:
1. Rudder seems like a good name for a financial management app. What do you think Jeffry?

2. The previous version, SpendView, is still live at , but the original spendview.com now redirects to rudder.com.

3. See Wesabe and Mint demo their latest features at the upcoming Finovate 2008. Mint won Best of Show at Finovate 2007.

4. Jwaala was Best of Show winner at Finovate Startup, April 2008.

5. Attention startups: It's never too early to make an introduction and get on our Finovate watch list. We're already putting notes together for 2009. Contact Online Banking Report/Netbanker editor Jim Bruene.

6. For more info on the space, see our Online Banking Report on Personal Finance

Platform vs market logic, applied to P2P Lending [The Bankwatch]

Sat Aug 23 04:00:45 -0400 2008

Back from vacation, and thinking about all kinds of stuff.� Long post on Social Capital coming, but meantime, and kind of related Umair does a nice job of discussing the merits of platforms and markets.� It is an important distinction, and his final quote here explains what caught my eye.

What Apple Knows That Facebook Doesn’t - Umair Haque

This conclusion also helps us answer another critical question on the minds of today’s investors, entrepreneurs, and would-be revolutionaries: when will today’s crop of startups start making serious cash? The answer: when they shift from platform logic to market logic.

He finishes by asking which players are being held back by platform thinking?� I worry about P2P Lending�being held back back by that thinking, but feel a little better after going through this exercise.� First the background:

Platform logic vs market logic

Platform thinking; is based on consistent sets of principles including these taken from the book Platform Leadership: How Intel, Microsoft, and Cisco Drive Industry Innovation (Hardcover) that “drive success”.

1. Determine the scope of the firm
2. Design product technology strategically
3. Shape relationships with external complementors
4. Optimize internal organizational structures

The book was written in 2002, and the examples are interesting in that context.

Platforms are all about creating a monolithic enterprise that determines its own fate by being consistent and strong to the outside world.� Platforms are about convenience, including external and internal relationships, and products designed to dominate the space.� Platforms are about scale.� Think Microsoft, IBM, Intel, and in banking, Bank of America, Barclays, or HSBC.�

It sounds and feels very insular and inwardly focussed.

Market thinking;� is all about customers and offering something of value, for value.� Its about oferring something for sale that people want.� Market thinking will, as Umair says, “alter the basis of competition”.� This requires a structural shift and is designed to catch the competition wrong footed, not as platforms would, merely look to dominate, using corporate shock and awe.

P2P Lending is generally following a market logic approach

P2P Lending is in its infancy, so its hard to consider any of the players are market dominating at this early stage.

The three market attributes that Umair discusses are interesting though, to explore which, if any of the current players are exemplifying those attributes.

Markets alter the basis of competition
P2P Lending could be said to alter the basis of competition.� The interest rates and the customer processes vary, but generally they do achieve that.�

Markets cause strategic domino effect
Is there a strategic domino effect?� This will be based on scale, and as yet we are not seeing a�shift in banking as a result of P2P Lending.� Or are we?� Banks are seeking ways to enter the space and test the waters, by becoming lenders in some P2P Lending companies.��P2P Lenders are springing up around the world, with the latest count being over 30.

Yet, there is somthing holding back the ‘domino effect’.� That is regulation.� The one thing that prohibits the domino effect is regulation.� I am living that with CommunityLend, and Lending Club have filed their revised S-1 in the US.� Once we start to see regulataory approvals in place, how will the picture change?

However many are not considering, or dealing with the regulations.� Is that a good thing or a bad thing?� Regulation, and the ability to have P2P Lending be seen as a friend of safety and security will ultimately be a key factor.� Borrowing and investing are matters of finance that are all the more important to everyone concerned, following the major ball-drop by Banks’ lately.

Markets atomise the value chain
This is where existing players see their processes and products chopped into tiny pieces and taken over by new entrants who see better ways to manage things.� P2P Lenders are doing�a good job at this aspect.�

�

So it seems that P2P Lenders are pretty good on 1. and 3. but not quite so much on 2. yet.� Umair uses FaceBook and Apple to compare the platform to market approach.� He speaks of FB signing deals with incumbents and thus failing on 2.�

What of P2P Lenders allowing Banks to participate in their services?��On reflection I think this is not the same as selling out to incumbents.� Rather it is requiring incumbents to adapt to the new model if they wish to participate, and places them on the same playing field as the others in the P2P market.�

However the regulation impact is still troubling and whether enough P2P lenders will be able to see it through to establish the domino effect is key.�

Time will tell.

Take a Free Vendor Management Aptitude Test [Gonzobanker]

Fri Aug 22 04:00:00 -0400 2008

Let’s face it – the state of vendor management in the banking industry is below par. With the increased regulatory pressures and a corresponding vendor management deficit, I think a Gonzo vendor management aptitude test is in order.

Finovate 2008 Conference Demo Lineup Announced [NetBanker]

Jim Bruene http://www.netbanker.com — Fri Aug 22 02:41:38 UTC 2008

After looking at more than 100 companies, we've selected 24 finalists to present at our second annual Finovate Conference Oct. 14 in New York City (registration here). Three will emerge as Finovate Best of Show companies joining last year's winners: Mint, Mortgage Marvel from Mortgagebot, and Prosper (note 1).

In a single action-packed day, we'll see several financial startups launch, a few major product overhauls revealed, and a pile of new features shown to the public for the first time. It could be the single biggest "news day" in the history of online finance. Besides the amazing presenter lineup, the audience will contain many well-known industry analysts, press, banking and technology execs. Here are the subject that will be covered:

Person-to-person lending
Lead generation in financial services
Personal financial management and online banking
Mobile banking and payments
Payments/billing
Investing and retirement planning online
Security technologies
Social media and Web 2.0

Finovate 2008 Lineup (alphabetic order, note 2)
Below are the 21 companies we can name today, although two have not yet lifted the curtain on their product offering. The others, including two stealth startups, are keeping their identities hidden until closer to show time.

In all, seven of the companies presented at our sold-out Finovate 2007, three are graduates from Finovate Startup last April, and 14 are new to Finovate. But all 24 will be demo'ing substantial new products and/or features.

BillShrink <billshrink.com>
Boulevard R <boulevardR.com>
CheckFree <checkfree.com>
Check Point Software<checkpoint.com>
Credit Karma <creditkarma.com>
Digital Insight (Intuit) <digitalinsight.com>
FiLife (Dow Jones/IAC) <filife.com>
mFoundry <mfoundry.com>
Mint <mint.com>
MoneyAisle (NeoSaej) <moneyaisle.com>
mShift <mshift.com>
Inner8 <inner8.com>
LendingClub <lendingclub.com>
Pertuity Direct <pertuitydirect.com>
Quicken Online (Intuit) <quicken.com>
SmartHippo <smarthippo.com>
Sybase 365 <sybase.com/365>
Vidoop <vidoop.com>
Wesabe <wesabe.com>
WeSeed <weseed.com>
Yodlee <yodlee.com>

About Finovate 2008

Date: Oct. 14, 2008
Place: New York, NY (Crowne Plaza Times Square)
Cost: $995 through Sep. 30
Agenda: 12 demos in the morning (7 minutes each, NO POWERPOINT),
12 in the afternoon; each session followed by two hours of networking to meet with presenters for one-on-one discussions
Producer: Online Financial Innovations, publisher of Online Banking Report and Netbanker
Website: finovate.com
For videos of the sold-out Finovate 2007, click here

Press: Members of the media should contact Jim Bruene, jim@netbanker.com to secure a press pass.

Note:
1. Winners are selected by audience vote.
2. The list does not include two stealth startups and one company that will be named later

Top 10 UIs according to Jakob [The Bank Channel]

Thu Aug 21 18:49:00 -0400 2008

Jakob has posted his top 10 application UIs:

Campaign Monitor by Eyeblaster (Israel): Integrated management of multiple advertising campaigns for media buyers.
CMSBox by CMSBox (Switzerland): Content management system.
FotoFlexer by Arbor Labs (USA): Photo editor.
PRISMAprepare by Oc� (The Netherlands): Print shop software.
Seating Management by Magellan Network and DesignMap (USA): Hostess-stand reservation book for restaurants.
SQL diagnostic manager by Idera (USA): Database performance monitoring and diagnostics.
SugarSync by Sharpcast (USA): Synchronizing files across multiple computers.
SuperSaaS by SuperSaaS (The Netherlands): Creating and hosting scheduling and reservation systems.
Wufoo by Infinity Box, Inc. (USA): Online forms, surveys, invitations, and payments.
Xero by Xero (New Zealand): Accounting for small businesses.

Interesting point here - 70% are web based and 40% are locally hosted (Sugarsync does both). The idea of web 2 and good usability and interaction has permeated locally hosted systems.

Also - Jakob and team will be running some interesting sessions at User Experience 2008, in Chicago and Amsterdam in November.

The Burst - How Bout Them Banktastics? (Ep. 30) [The Banktastics � BanktasticTV - The Burst]

Thu Aug 21 09:39:41 -0400 2008

Download this video

Thanks for checking out this episode of BanktasticTV’s “The Burst.” Here are some important notes about this episode:

Brad at Texas Bankers Association
Brad’s back this week from spending some time with members of the Texas Bankers Association at their recent HR & Training Conference. We may not have any videos to show you from Brad’s trip, but we embedded some pics in the video. If you want to check out more, go here.

News: Ohio bank learns hard lesson about trademark law
I shared an article that I found on The Financial Brand Blog regarding a big lesson learned by a very old bank. Ohio Valley National Bank has been in business for 120 years, but another area bank changed its name to Ohio Valley Bank, which it immediately trademarked. After the 5-year contest period passed and the original Ohio Valley National Bank failed to make a move, they lost the right to use their name and have been forced to change it. This was a tough lesson learned by the original bank about trademark law. Don’t let this happen to you!

We Need Guest Bloggers for Finovate 2008
Mark and I are headed to NYC to cover Finovate 2008 on October 14, 2008. We’re looking to cover this event like we covered FinovateStartup 2008, which means we’ll need a couple of good guest bloggers! I’ll be in charge of making sure that the content is posted to the Banktastic Blog as soon as possible during the event, so we’ll need some people willing to share their honest opinions on the presenters while I’m doing the dirty work. If you’re going to attend Finovate 2008 and are interested in guest blogging for us, just shoot an email over to lisa@banktastic.com.

Subscribe to Banktastic on iTunes
All of BanktatsicTV’s shows are available on iTunes now! Click here to access our podcast page to subscribe, or open iTunes and search “BanktasticTV.”

Email Us!
Feel free to email comments or suggestions about “The Burst” to brad@banktastic.com, or post your thoughts on the Banktastic Community.

Thanks to our sponsors!
We’d like to give a huge thank you to our sponsors, Texas State Bank! We greatly appreciate your support!

See you next week!

-The Banktastics

Could Mobile Payments Get a Boost from Lowly Stickers? [NetBanker]

Jim Bruene http://www.netbanker.com — Thu Aug 21 00:42:03 UTC 2008

Even though I have credit cards from Citibank, Wells Fargo, US Bank, American Express and Chase, I have never been offered the opportunity to add contactless payment capability to my card, so I still haven't experienced that particular wave of the future firsthand.

But it hasn't been too high up on my list of things to try, since it still requires carrying a piece of plastic or an additional device such as key-chain fob (inset). I don't see much benefit to tapping a piece of plastic compared to swiping it.

However, I do look forward to NFC-enabled mobile phones. But given the hurdles for adoption among carriers, payment processors, and issuing banks, I wasn't expecting that much before the next summer Olympics.

But now an interim workaround is being tested around the world: the contactless payment sticker. It's a quarter-sized sticker you plop on the back of your mobile phone making it instantly payment-enabled.

That allows consumers to leave their wallets at home, a nice benefit for outdoor enthusiasts, club goers, or anyone who doesn't want to worry about losing their wallet while on the go. Of course, we'll need a few million more contactless-enabled merchants before the wallet-free world is realistic for most, but widespread use of stickers could move that along (see note 1).

Who has it?
There are several rollouts under way around the world. For example:

Turkish banking giant GarantiBank recently won an industry-innovation award for its RFID sticker (press release). The sticker is produced by On Track Innovations. The bank began a pilot a year ago with several thousand Turkish customers.
Silicon Valley-based Blaze Mobile says it will be delivering a Blaze Debit MasterCard with PayPass payment sticker to subscribers of its $4.99/mo Blaze Wallet this month.
Though not yet connected to a major credit card, Malvern, PA-based USA Technologies launched its Pay Dot contactless sticker this spring (press release).

Note:
1. There are about 110,000 PayPass merchants worldwide, less than 1% of the 25 million locations that accept regular MasterCard cards.

IDEO with a new site [The Bank Channel]

Wed Aug 20 07:56:00 -0400 2008

Have a look - takes some concentration.

NAB upgrades contact centre technology to include speech recognition [The Bank Channel]

Tue Aug 19 02:04:00 -0400 2008

From ZDNet:

"The National Australia Bank (NAB) is adding natural speech capabilities to its contact centres in an effort to ‘join the dots’.

Dubbed ‘Smarttalk’, NAB’s natural language speech portal will be launched later this year to replace current IVR (Interactive Voice Response) technology. Smarttalk combines speech recognition software and intelligent routing solutions to resolve customer queries efficiently. NAB also will be introducing a new voice to reflect the bank’s updated persona.

Smarttalk joins a range of technologies that Collier has introduced since taking the reins of NAB’s contact centre operations. Driven by the growth of Internet banking and customers’ demand for direct channels of communication to the bank, NAB’s contact centre technology has been developed to deliver a consistent multi-channel experience. “The reality is that customers are demanding more and more of us over time,” Collier said. SMS, e-mail and Web facilities have been introduced and improved to cater to the needs of modern, tech-savvy customers."

Article continues ....

Conflict of interest note - I work at NAB in this part of the business, so obviously blogging about it means I'm keen to share it - so I welcome anyone from other banks who would like to let everyone know about new capabilities in their own banks to let me know, so I can blog about it here at TheBankChannel.

P.S. Another article of note from ITNews.com.au - Banks turn backs on local technology - Technology is more innovative if it has been adopted overseas, a panel of financial services experts has said. Speaking at the ‘Opportunities and Innovation in Financial Services’ seminar in Sydney last week, the expert panel concluded that IT systems are more attractive to banks and other institutions if they are being used internationally, rather than just in Australia. “If it’s somewhere else, it’s better – I don’t know [why],” said David Fite, partner at J.C. Flowers & Co. “To find innovation, you have to look globally.”

Interesting chat with Head of CX at Wachovia [The Bank Channel]

Sat Aug 16 20:03:00 -0400 2008

From NewsObserver:

"Customer service, Wachovia-style - Former hotel executive runs the show

To find the person charged with keeping its customers happy, Wachovia went to the Four Seasons.

Michael Sherck, who became the Charlotte bank's first "customer experience executive" last fall, spent the first 22 years of his career in the hotel industry. He took the job after a couple of years in a similar position for the bank's central region. Before that he had no experience in retail banking.

But Sherck says good service is a universal language."

Some interesting comparisons with the hotel business, and some ways to approach CX. They do 2000 surveys a night (!), and are attempting to call over a million customers just to say hi ... incredible numbers.

Have a read here.

First Sales Report on an iPhone Finance App: Tipulator Downloaded 3,200 Times [NetBanker]

Jim Bruene http://www.netbanker.com — Sat Aug 16 01:13:33 UTC 2008

According to TechCrunch, the $0.99 tip calculator app from TapTapTap has been downloaded 3,200 times in the month it's been available. Net income to the developer, after Apple takes its 30% cut, is $2,200.

TapTapTap also markets a much more sophisticated location-based search tool that has generated $50,000 in revenues for the developer.

Tipulator ranked number 20 in our Aug. 5 rundown of the top-20 banking and finance apps. Today it ranked number 27.

Apple ranks the most popular apps within each category, but does not provide download totals. Tipulator numbers were provided by developer.

What it means
1. iPhone users, so far, are willing to pay for apps. Who would have thought that more than 3,000 people would go to the trouble to download an app to help them multiply their bill times 15% to 20%? And there are two tip calculators that ranked higher in the App Store.

2. There is real demand for mobile financial tools, even very simple ones. Financial institutions should consider launching a branded calculator app in the Apple App Store.

The Burst - Linked Breaches (Ep. 29) [The Banktastics � BanktasticTV - The Burst]

Fri Aug 15 09:52:08 -0400 2008

Download this video

Thanks for checking out this episode of BanktasticTV’s “The Burst.” Here are some important notes about this episode:

Banktastic LinkedIn Group
David G., one of Banktastic’s awesome members, took it upon himself to create a group on LinkedIn for Banktastic! You can get to the group by clicking here, or search “Banktastic.com” in LinkedIn’s groups. We are super privileged to have members like David that do little things like this for Banktastic. David, you rock!

News: At Countrywide, One Overlooked PC Led to Loss of 2M Records
I shared news yesterday about an insider breach at Countrywide Home Loans. The company had sealed up all of the USB ports on employee computers, but they missed one. An employee caught the open USB port and began stealing customer information over the course of two years. The article discusses that closing off a port can be done with something as simple as glue, but that stronger measures, such as a registry hack, may need to be taken if you want to ensure that your company’s data won’t be transferred via USB ports.

Brad working with Texas Bankers Association
Brad was unable to join us this week as he was out of town working with Texas Bankers Association. As you know, TBA is the first private network to join on with Banktastic. We are super excited to have them on board! Brad has been attending one of their conferences to showcase the network this week, and he’ll have some great footage for us next week. Look forward to that!

Subscribe to Banktastic on iTunes
All of BanktatsicTV’s shows are available on iTunes now! Click here to access our podcast page to subscribe, or open iTunes and search “BanktasticTV.”

Email Us!
Feel free to email comments or suggestions about “The Burst” to brad@banktastic.com, or post your thoughts on the Banktastic Community.

Thanks to our sponsors!
We’d like to give a huge thank you to our sponsors, Texas State Bank! We greatly appreciate your support!

See you next week!

-The Banktastics

GonzoBanker of the Month: Andrew Young, Northwest Savings Bank [Gonzobanker]

Fri Aug 15 04:00:00 -0400 2008

This month, GonzoBanker salutes Andrew Young at Northwest Savings Bank for demonstrating that strong leadership, a carefully considered approach and a well mapped plan can turn technology early adopters into bona fide beneficiaries.

Lending Club Adds Secondary Market to Updated S1 [NetBanker]

Jim Bruene http://www.netbanker.com — Fri Aug 15 02:32:26 UTC 2008

Lending Club filed an amended S1 statement, a positive sign that it is moving through the registration process in a timely fashion.

As we noted here after reading the original S1, Lending Club has indeed added a secondary marketing piece to its business plan. Holders of its notes (aka individual lenders), will be able to sell their Lending Club loans through a market run by an undisclosed third party.

Here's the pertinent section from pp. 50-51 of the August 1 S1 (note: the name of the partnering broker-dealer is not disclosed; hence, the blank space below):

Trading System
Lender members may not transfer their Notes except through the resale trading system operated by , a registered broker-dealer. This trading system is an Internet-based trading system on which Lending Club lender members who establish a brokerage relationship with the registered broker-dealer operating the trading system may offer their Notes for sale. In this section, we refer to lender members who have established such brokerage relationships as “subscribers.”

Subscribers may post orders to sell their Notes on the trading system at prices established by the subscriber. Other subscribers will have the opportunity to view these prices, along with historical information from the original loan posting for the member loan corresponding to the Note, an updated credit score range of the borrower member and the payment history for the Note.

I skimmed the updated S1 and didn't see anything else particularly noteworthy. Another blogger, Doughroller.net, noted that the company is adding more credit factors to its loan-pricing model. You can see the new formulas in the S1 filing (pp. 36-38).

Reward Checking Account Results: $5.5 billion Down, $2.994 Trillion to Go [NetBanker]

Jim Bruene http://www.netbanker.com — Thu Aug 14 03:23:08 UTC 2008

In the year or so that they've been widely available, so-called reward checking, those high-yielding accounts that require a hefty number of debit card transactions (see note 1), have attracted quite a following.

But besides the number of blog posts and press mentions, we've had few other metrics in which to gauge their success. Until now. In an email to me yesterday, the company behind many of the accounts, BancVue, laid out the totals rewards checking results across its client base:

381 financial institutions live
610,000 reward checking accounts
$5.5 billion on deposit in the accounts
$9,000 average balance
Opening more than 13,000 accounts per week (700,000 annual run rate)
Average of more than $14 million in deposits per financial institution
Average of 1,600 accounts per financial institution

Although $5 billion isn't even the rounding error across the entire $3-trillion U.S. retail deposit market, it's real money to the smaller banks and credit unions offering the program.

Notes:
1. Most accounts require 10 to 12 debit transactions per month in order to earn the high yield. For more info, see our previous coverage and Finovate Startup video here.
2. Upper-right graphic comes courtesy of First State Bank, Gainesville, TX.

My “email for Bankers” system [The Bankwatch]

Wed Aug 13 20:07:57 -0400 2008

Every Banker needs to read James post here. This particular paragraph resonated for me, having lived this life for years, and now being in a position to re-orchestrate my day according to my schedule. I have some suggestions …. the back to back meeting day is the death of effectiveness.

BankerVision: Email bankrupt

A cultural oddity of the bank is that we do back-to-back meetings, probably most days. So our email keeps piling up, and so many of us have resorted to fitting email processing into odd slots of the day.

I have some cures for this ailment, before you follow the person James speaks of and eliminate email. Some hard hitting comments to follow, so don’t anyone take personally.

Eliminate executive assistants. Their job is to slot meetings into the empty spaces in your calendar. They are your worst enemy. The better they are at their job, the worse your life will be. Eliminate them and do yourself. This is paramount. The rest of my suggestions are just window dressing. PS, you will also save the Bank money here.
When someone requests a meeting, ask why?
Manage the number of “Executive time” meetings where career advancement of the meeting requestor is the desired outcome. You cannot sponsor 90% of the upcoming stars in a 50,000 employee organisation. You are NOT superman.
Schedule days (not hours, days) for yourself.
Get an ipod, and earphones … best time management device ever invented … think about that!! Go here for help.
If you use Outlook (poor you) set up a filter to place the cc’s in a cc folder, and eliminate from your inbox. Read the cc folder once a week, and only if you have to. Control that urge! Do NOT tell anyone you have done this.
Use Xobni, and boggle at your own ineffectiveness

Thats it. My “email for Banks with 50,000 employees system”. Thanks James, for letting me reflect on years of falling into these traps.

Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ invest further in UnionBanCal [The Bankwatch]

Wed Aug 13 19:45:43 -0400 2008

As predicted, here is the first example of Asian Banks seeking positive investment opportunities amongst the American Banks. In this case they are being characteristically careful and investing in one they already know.

FT.com / Lex / Financial services & property - MUFJ/UnionBanCal

The second is that the would-be buyer is Japanese. Mitsubishi UFJ wants to buy the 35 per cent it does not already own of UnionBanCal for $63 a share, implying a valuation of $8.8bn for the owner of Union Bank of California. Relatively unscathed, Japanese banks have already lent a financial hand to struggling global peers. MUFJ has bigger plans.

Time to learn about data security | Banks [The Bankwatch]

Wed Aug 13 00:35:38 -0400 2008

This latest breach of customer data at Wells highlights an issue that Banks are just not getting the message about. I don’t know the specifics of the Wells breach, but based on the theme of this post, there is absolutely NO reason for customer data to be resident on an employees laptop. Very few data breaches are as a result of hacking. More likely they result from physical theft of hardware, and that is avoidable.

Finextra: Wells Fargo hit by data breach

News of the latest Wells Fargo breach comes after reports of the theft of computer equipment containing confidential data from a Vancouver branch of TD Canada Trust.

The bank told reporters last week that the stolen equipment may have contained names, addresses, dates of birth, social insurance numbers, account numbers, bill payment details, transactions and balances.

Meanwhile earlier this month two men were arrested by the FBI on charges related to the illegal access of computers containing personal identification information of Countrywide Home loan customers and the illegal sale of the data.

Why do I say that? Employees are required to perform data analysis and all sorts of analytics. They are required to relationship manage customers, which requires data, right?

Of course these employees are required to do those things, but the Bank’s are doing them a disservice by providing a poor toolset. This is another aspect of not moving with the web lifestyle, embracing it, security and all.

First off, there is this new thing called internet. Data can be retained in ‘the cloud’. Customer data should never be permitted on a portable computer that leaves secure premises. I am now at a social lending company, and we do not even allow customer data on our premises, let alone on anyones computer. Its just not necessary.

Next, which data is required to be used. There is a concept that expert programmers and developers have teach called ‘abstraction’. The concept can be applied to any use of data. It means that the data that is to be analysed does not have identifiable customer information located with it. In that instance there some ability to prevent fraud because if the data is stolen, it is just useless data.

Finally, data that is confidential, and not abstracted, ie identifiable, must only be analysed on secure computers inside the enterprise.

In any event … rule # 1 - never allow customer identifiable information on to a portable computer that is allowed to leave secure, locked down areas in your organisation.

Intersections Inc.'s Identity Guard Brings Back 6-Month Free Trial and Adds Free Credit Report and Score [NetBanker]

Jim Bruene http://www.netbanker.com — Wed Aug 13 02:36:36 UTC 2008

Identity Guard, the direct-to-consumer credit-monitoring brand from Intersections, has a new logo, homepage design, and a compelling new offer: six months of free credit monitoring (Good Start option) PLUS 30 days of access to your credit report and score (see previous look here).

And unlike most offers in this industry, this freebie is made with no obligation. Intersections does take billing info as part of the sign-up process, but unlike most others, they will not automatically begin charging a monthly fee at the end of the six-month free trial (see note 1). Last year, Intersections offered the six-month free trial (post here), but did not include the free credit report/score (see note 2).

Identity Guard hompage (11 August 2008)

Separately, I ran across the company's banner ad today at Amazon's IMDB site (below). Here, the company is taking a more traditional approach, offering a 30-day free trial plus $3/mo discount on its flagship Total Protection service (regularly $17.99/mo).

Identity Guard banner at IMDB (12 August 2008)

Landing page from the IMDB banner (12 Aug 2008)

Notes:
1. I tested the free offer last year and can confirm that they did NOT bill me for the service after it expired, nor did they pester me to become a paying customer at the end of the trial.

2. See our Online Banking Report on Credit Monitoring Services for more information.