NetBanker

Green Sherpa to Enter the Online Personal Finance Market in September

2008-07-19T01:59:39Z

I came across Green Sherpa in a Web search a few weeks ago. The Santa Barbara, CA-based startup is planning a Sep. 8 launch. The homepage (shown below) is not currently functional. All links point to a page where users can signup for more info to be delivered at a later date.

The tagline, "a more efficient way to track your personal finances," is intriguing (note 1), but no word on how it will differentiate itself from Mint, Jwaala, Wesabe and the rest. But the name is wonderful.

Note:
1. This tagline was visible on its placeholder site in early July but has been replaced with, "sophisticated cash flow management that's simple to use."

Online Financial Services Scorecard: April 2008

2008-07-17T01:10:16Z

Summary
Looking at the data from Compete's consumer panel, there were several significant swings in activity compared to a year ago (see note 1):

Credit card applications up 37%
Checking account applications up 28%
Home equity applications/leads (see note 2) down 34%
Refinance applications/leads up 41%

Commentary

Credit cards seemed to settle down after the large jump in March. Both shoppers and applicants were down 1% compared to March, but year-over-year applications were up 37% (in comparison, last month card apps were up 53% compared to a year earlier)
Deposit shopper volume stayed relatively consistent except for checking which saw a 9% increase. However, applicants for savings and high yield savings dropped 17% and 12%, respectively. Last year, high yield savings accounts were more in demand, with 50% more applications in April 2007 compared to April 2008. Declining interest rates appear to be impacting consumer demand.
In the home-secured sector, there was more activity in the refinance sector with a 4% gain in shoppers and a 3% gain in applications compared to last month. Compared to a year ago, refinance apps were up sharply 41%.
Purchase mortgage activity was flat.
Home equity showed a significant decline, with shopping down 8% from March and down 17% from a year ago. Application levels were flat compared to last month, but down 34% year-over-year.

About the Financial Services Scorecard
A year ago, we introduced the Financial Services Monthly Performance scorecard produced by Compete. It summarizes the overall performance of 23 large U.S. financial institutions and lead-generation sites. Refer here for the detailed methodology as well as companies tracked.

Notes:
1. Year-over-year comparisons were added to the chart beginning in March. Because of ongoing methodology tweaks, the percentages in this table may be slightly different than if you went back to the data from a year ago and calculated the change.

2. Leads/applicants = Leads or applications depending on whether the site being tracked is a lead generation site or an actual lender.

PNC Bank Takes on Mint & Quicken with PNC Virtual Wallet

2008-07-15T02:53:57Z

Just when you though, Mint, Wesabe, and Geezeo had a lock on all the headlines for Gen Y personal finance, along comes a truly inspired effort from a major U.S. retail bank. Furthermore, it's not from Wells Fargo, Bank of America, Chase, or even ING Direct.

Pittsburgh, PA-based PNC Bank, the 15th-largest U.S. retail bank with $83 billion in deposits (see note 1), today launched a new online combo account called PNC Virtual Wallet.

The account comes with a checking account, bill payment, and two types of savings accounts. It also features several unique personal financial management features with an emphasis on functions most likely to appeal to a 20-something audience:

Cash flow: debit card, checking, online bill pay, financial calendar, recent transaction report
Savings: two types of savings account, automated savings options, wish list, and a random video-game-inspired savings tool called "punch the pig" (see below)

Finally, the account is priced well:

No fees (except $0.50 per written check after the first 3 per month and the usual penalty fees)
Free overdraft protection between the linked accounts
3% APY on the growth savings component
ATM-free rebate (but only if there's a $2000 average monthly balance in the checking account portion)

What's innovative? (note 2)

Package of three deposit accounts: Spend Account (e.g. checking), Reserve Account (e.g. savings) and Growth Account (e.g. high-yield savings or money market deposit account)
Ability to move money between the three accounts by moving a slider across the screen, called the Money Bar
Automated savings function called Savings Engine that allows users to set up time-triggered (eg. once per week) or event-triggered (eg. each debit card use) automatic savings transfers
Savings game called Punch the Pig, a video-game inspired savings gimmick: each time the pig appears on screen, users can elect to "punch" it to automatically move money from checking to savings
Wish List with savings goals and progress reports

What can be improved?
Four areas that are noticeably absent, or at least not mentioned:

Mobile functionality, especially text banking and alerts
Online customer support: Customer can apply online through the Andera-powered app, however there is no link to any online support options such as chat, IM, text, or even a web-based input form or old-school email address
Social aspects: forums, reviews, blogs, or even testimonials (note 4)
Credit: credit cards, line of credit, auto loans, and so on

The website design is impressive and very un-banklike, yet it lacks some basics:

No demo: There are several Flash instructional videos that show most of the key features, but there is no all-encompassing demo for users that want to try it on before buying.
Lame homepage videos: Granted, I'm not in the Gen Y target market so I could be wrong, but if I think the videos are lame, what do you think a 22-year-old will make of them? I say lose the "man on the street videos" or reshoot them in a less-scripted manner.
Extensive FAQs: The FAQs need to be expanded 10-fold. Currently there are only 16 questions and answers, but with so many unique features that doesn't even come close to answering many basic questions, such as "are their account alerts?" or "what's the rate of interest on the reserve account (note 3)?, or "how long are transactions stored?"

PNC Bank Virtual Wallet Homepage (14 July 2008)

Explanation of "Punch the Pig" savings feature

Notes:
1. Deposits as of 31 Dec 2007; deposits were up 25% compared to $66 billion as of year-end 2006.

2. PNC has applied for a patent on the account and tools.

3. Eventually I did find a link to interest rates and fees on the "how to apply" page

4. See Online Banking Report on Social Personal Finance for more info

Kiwibank Uses iPhone Launch to Spark Interest in Mobile Banking

2008-07-12T17:46:12Z

Kiwibank has one of the most eye-catching homepage designs in the world. Who can resist a lime green Smart Car with four monstrous speakers strapped to the roof?

As I was obsessing about iPhone apps this week (see note 1), I ran across Kiwibank's landing page for iPhone banking (see second screenshot below). Now that the iPhone has gone global, we'll see if more banks leverage the iPhone hype, something that didn't really happen in the United States so much. According to CNet Australia, ANZ is building an iPhone-specific interface, but a search of the ANZ website found nothing.

Kiwibank's homepage iPhone promo, one of three rotating in the lower right, leads to the not-so-exciting landing page. Still, when you are riding the hype, you don't necessarily have to put that much effort into your own work (see note 2), just grab a hold of Apple's coattails and hang on tight.

Kiwibank homepage featuring iPhone promo (11 July 2008)

Kiwi Bank iPhone banking landing page (11 July 2008)

Notes:
1. Yesterday, I promised it was my last iPhone post for a while, but I couldn't resist one more. Consider it a Saturday bonus post.

2. Case-in-point, the BofA non-app app being dissed by the vast majority of early-early-adopter reviewers at the Apple App Store (see yesterday's post).

Bank of America iPhone Mobile Banking App Criticized in Early-User Reviews

2008-07-11T19:58:44Z

The good news: Of the 135 free applications in the new iTunes App Store, Bank of America's is a solid number 20, three spots ahead of PayPal, according to rankings within iTunes this morning.

The bad news: The first batch of reviewers hated the app. Their main complaint: it's not really a native app, just a front door to the bank's existing mobile site.

The reviews: On a five-star scale with one-star the lowest choice, the app has only a 1.5-star rating (see note 1). Of the 81 reviews, only 19 rated it above 1 star. Throwing out the five 5-star ratings which are probably from people associated with the product, that leaves only 14 above the bottom rating...an abysmal score by any standard. Following is the breakdown:

Stars	Number of Votes	My Comments
*****	5	I'm skeptical of the objectivity of these reviews
****	0	Other than the suspect 5-star fans above, no one was willing to go 4 stars
***	6	Only six legit users were even OK with the app
**	8	Most of these were critical in their comments
*	62	one star is the lowest choice on the review form

Source: Online Banking Report review of iTunes data, 11AM PST 11 July 2008

What's innovative?
1. I was astounded to see 81 reviews in the App Store already...it just opened this morning! It should be noted that you don't have to actually download the app to post a review. So if and when you post an app here, be prepared for criticism. Even more important, this demonstrates the impact the user voice will have going forward
(see note 2).

2. Early adopters, especially techies can be brutally honest especially with large corporate efforts they deem lame. But even though the overall grade was very poor, a number of reviewers pointed out that the automatic ATM locator was a significant improvement.

3. BofA needs to get upgrade this app ASAP. Some of the criticisms about font size and design, can be fixed relatively easily.

Summary
Despite the harsh criticism from the first batch of reviewers, I think BofA did the right thing strategically. It's too bad they didn't have something a little flashier, but the bank will get far more mileage by being the first bank in the App Store that it will lose by disappointing the mobile early adopters. It's unlikely they will lose any business from the negative reviews. They are mostly in the "you should have done better" category, not the "BofA sucks" variety.

You only have one chance to be first, and BofA took it. No one else will ever be able to say they were the first bank in the iPhone (who's going to be the first credit union?). But the bank better get cracking on version 2.0! (see note 3)

Notes:
1. The only other app from a financial services company was Paypal, which only mustered a 2-star rating. But it only had one-sixth the number of reviewers, just 13. Because you don't have to actually download the app to post a review, BofA may be getting slammed by people just reading the reviews and jumping on the bandwagon with me-too critiques.

2. See our latest Online Banking Report for more on growing importance of user reviews. We've also published reports on Mobile Banking and Mobile Payments.

3. OK, this post marks the end of iPhone week at Netbanker. We'll get back to our regularly scheduled programming next week.

Bank of America and PayPal are Only Financial Brands in Apple's App Store at Launch

2008-07-10T20:43:21Z

Bank of America once again proved its mobile mettle as the only financial institution to have a native app available at the launch of Apple's new App Store (note 1). PayPal also launched an app on Day 1 (see screenshot below). Both are free.

Bank of America iPhone 2.0 App in Apple App Store in iTunes (10 July 2008)

Apple launched the store today within iTunes (see note 1). There are 552 apps at launch according to Pinch Media, here's the price breakdown:

Free >>> 135
$0.99 >>> 85
$1.99 to $3.99 >>> 110*
$4.99 >>> 62
$5.99 to $8.99 >>> 35*
$9.99 >>> 82
more than $10 >>> 40*

The new Finance category in the App Store has 23 entries at launch. Most are small utilities for calculating tips or splitting the dinner check. Only two recognizable brands are available, PayPal (lower left) and Bank of America, which by design or omission, is listed not with its name but as simply "mobile banking."

Finance listings in Apple App Store in iTune 7.7 (10 July 2008)

PayPal App (10 July 2008)

Notes:

*Interpolated from graph, plus or minus 3%

1. To view the App Store, download iTunes v. 7.7. Some users including myself (Windows bug?) have reported not being able to see it even after updating iTunes. I was able to access through this link published by TechCrunch.

New Online Banking Report: New Models for Lead Generation

2008-07-10T01:17:58Z

Our parent publication, Online Banking Report, just published a new report: New Models for Lead Generation: How auctions, community recommendations, product placements, and specialized search provide alternatives to Google AdWords.

Not only is this the longest report title in our history, it's the first time we've looked specifically at lead gen sites (click on the Table of Contents right, to download the abstract).

The report was inspired by MoneyAisle, an auction-based retail deposit market, that debuted June 9. Although, it has a few kinks to work out, we are impressed by its work and are awarding it the second OBR Best of the Web this year (see note 1 and Credit Karma below).

But auctions were not the only new lead gen model we looked at. Others included:

Community-based deal finders such as Credit Karma, the winner of our third OBR Best of the Web award for 2008 (see screenshot below, watch Finovate Startup demo here), SmartHippo (demo), and FiLife which also launched in June
Specialty financial search services such as BancVue/FirstROI's CheckingFinder (coverage, demo) and Mortgagebot's Mortgage Marvel (coverage, demo) both Best of Show winners at Finovate
Product placement in financial tools such as Mint (coverage, demo), Credit.com, FindABetterBank (demo), and Credit Karma

The report, which includes a ten-year forecast for auction and personal finance community involvement, is available as part of an annual Online Banking Report subscription or it can be purchased individually for $495 here.

Next month: New security technologies your customers are going to love, or not.

Screenshot: Credit Karma offer page: Countrywide's high-yield savings offer is rated positively by 53% of Credit Karma users and earns a composite score of 63% which also factors in clickthrough rates and exclusivity, see box in upper right (9 July 2008)

Note:
1. The first winner in 2008 was SmartyPig (here). Best of the Web awards are given for new products/features that "raise the bar" for online banking. It is not an endorsement of the company or even the product itself. See previous coverage here.

USAA and Provident Bank Post iPhone Web Apps in Apple's Directory

2008-07-09T18:02:16Z

It took almost six months, but Bank of America finally has company in Apple's iPhone Web App Directory (see note 1).

USAA posted its iPhone-optimized web app on July 2 (here). USAA's browser-based app can be used by anyone with online access to their USAA accounts
(see note 2).

The resolution in the screenshot (right) is not great, but you can see the bank is using large iPhone-like icons to navigate to the main functions:

Balance/transaction inquiry
Funds transfer
Bill payment
Stock trading
Order auto insurance cards

Provident Bank added its mShift-powered solution to the Apple directory June 11. Users are able to perform all typical online banking functions: balance/transaction inquiry, transfer funds, and pay bills. It has a more pedestrian look (see below), clearly built to work across many different mobile devices. The small links would be harder to navigate on an iPhone compared to USAA's icons.

See previous iPhone banking coverage here.

Notes:
1. BofA was first in the United States. Germany's Postbank, was the first bank in the world in the app directory, beating BofA by a few weeks last fall.

2. These are mobile-browser based solutions optimized for the iPhone. They are NOT native apps running on the iPhone OS, that are soon to be featured in the Apple App Store (see previous post).

FirstAgain Targets Online Users with Excellent Credit

2008-07-09T02:00:53Z

I had a great conversation today with the founders of FirstAgain, a startup online lender from the same folks that brought us PeopleFirst Finance ten years ago.

People First invented "blank check" auto lending earning it one of the first OBR Best of the Web winners (1998 article reprinted here). The company was purchased by Capital One in 2001.

FirstAgain made its first loan in late 2006 and officially launched its unsecured AnythingLoan in July 2007. But the company is just gearing up to start lending in higher volumes after a $30 million venture investment from Arsenal Capital Partners in January. Merrill Lynch provides the warehouse line.

Founders Gary Miller and Dave Zeller outlined their vision of simplifying online lending for customers that pose minimal repayment risk, the FICO 740+ crowd. Having watched them create a new segment in auto lending a decade ago, I expect they will succeed. The company has already originated more than $100 million in unsecured loans.

What's Innovative?
We've added FirstAgain to our watch list and will report back on its innovations in more detail. But here a two small things that demonstrate its creative approach:

1. The little green tree icon on the homepage (see above) highlights the company policy to plant one tree for every loan originated. While that isn't exactly an earth-shattering benefit, it helps differentiate the company from fly-by-night website operators who'd never think about giving something back to the world.

2. This is the best featurette I've seen in a while: "real" online signatures. Users "sign" their loan docs by moving their mouse to draw their signature online. The company also offers a typing option, so users type their name on the keyboard and it's rendered on-screen with a standard script font.

I imagine FirstAgain is not the first to do this, but I've never seen it before. While this new doodad isn't quite enough to warrant another Best of the Web, it's still pretty cool, at least if you are on Internet banking geek.

Finovate Startup Demo Videos Now Available Online

2008-07-08T01:52:37Z

Full-length videos from the 40 presenters
(see note 1) at FinovateStartup are now available at our conference website (see VaultStreet example below). They are free of charge.

The no-Powerpoint, five-minute demos are hosted on our servers, so you should be able to access them from work. Both QuickTime and Windows Media formats are available. Choose QuickTime if you'd like to watch it in a bigger screen.

Finovate 2008
Our second annual Finovate Conference will be held in just three months: Oct. 14 in New York City. We are finalizing the presenter lineup now and it's shaping up to be a winner with a great cross-section of newer companies mixed in with established names launching new products this fall. You can save $200 by registering before the end of July.

Note:
1. There are demos posted from 37 presenters. Two of the presenters, Guardian Analytics and Wonga, displayed confidential screenshots during their demo so they have elected not to show them online. And unfortunately Buxfer had a server problem during their demo, so we were not able to capture it on video.

Who Has the Holiday Spirit?

2008-07-03T07:42:11Z

With consumer confidence diving, the banking industry reeling, and even Starbucks closing 600 stores, what we need is a national holiday! Well happy Fourth of July to U.S. readers, and happy Friday to everyone else.

What are the big banks doing to celebrate the holiday online? Not much it seems. We are 25 hours away from the birthday and of the thirty largest banks, only ING Direct and WaMu (in the Seattle area at least) are showing the red, white and blue.

Anyone else know of a financial institution with an Independence Day theme on its home page? Drop it in the comments. Enjoy!

ING Direct's homepage features a fireworks animation (2 July 2008)

WaMu trumpets its July 4 Seattle fireworks sponsorship (2 July 2008)

Beehive Credit Union Uses Blogging Platform to Create Custom Websites for Each Branch

2008-07-02T03:10:32Z

Salt Lake City's Beehive Credit Union is launching eight microsites, one for each of its eight branches. The sites are based on a blogging template and are nearly identical.

As you can see in the screenshot below, the only differences are:

Branch name and photo across the top
Branch name inserted into various headlines and copy throughout the site
Contact Us page lists only the specific branch

URLs are based on the main site, with the branch/city name in place of the "www":

Murray >>> murray.beehivecredit.com
Parley’s Way >>> parleysway.beehivecredit.com
Provo >>> provo.beehivecredit.com
Salt Lake City >>> saltlakecity.beehivecredit.com
Sandy >>> sandy.beehivecredit.com
South Jordan >>> southjordan.beehivecredit.com
St. George >>> stgeorge.beehivecredit.com
Taylorsville >>> taylorsville.beehivecredit.com

What it means
The Beehive sites illustrate two trends:

Developing a full Web presence from a blogging template
Creating custom websites for geographic areas or individual branches

While I like what Beehive is doing, I hope they take it to the next level and create a more customized experience by letting branch employees add content themselves or at least control some aspects of the microsites.

The CU is working with Listpipe for content creation. Thanks to Jeffry Pilcher for the find.

Beehive South Jordon site (1 July 2008)

Beehive Taylorsville site (1 July 2008)

Small Business Networks from American Express, Capital One, Advanta, Bank of America, QuickBooks, and HSBC

2008-06-27T00:00:41Z

Earlier this week, Visa launched its Facebook Business Network. While the first to use Facebook, several other major financial institutions have opened small biz networks on the Web in the past six months:

Advanta's Ideablob launched last September at DEMOfall (previous post here). It's a unique website with monthly contests awarding $10,000 to the best idea, as voted on by users. It's an intriguing concept with decent traction, almost 30,000 unique visitors last month according to Compete (see chart below). (Full disclosure: I just realized I'm wearing an Ideablob t-shirt; schwag can still pay off!)
American Express's OpenForum: As the name suggests, it's a business forum and resource directory, not unlike Bank of America's (see below). American Express has added posts from several prominent bloggers such as John Battelle's Searchblog and Anita Campbell's Small Biz Trends to keep the site fresh. The site has 5,400 members and monthly traffic of about 11,000 unique visitors, up threefold from a year ago.
Bank of America's Small Business Online Community, a general forum and resource directory, launched in Oct 2007 (see original post here). It's primarily a forum, with some additional articles on the side. Total membership is just under 15,000.
Capital One's Slingshot, launched in February, is primarily a business directory. But it does aim for community involvement with user-submitted business reviews and comments on certain topics.
HSBC's (UK) Business Network: Another forum-and-blog site similar to AmEx's OpenForum. So far it appears lightly used, with just six blog entries this year and 270 member profiles.
Intuit's Quickbooks Group: Although not a financial institution, the Quickbooks site is a good example of an active community with more content, including ten blogs, and as much traffic as the others combined (not including BofA which is unknown) with nearly 90,000 unique visitors, almost double the number a year ago.

Unique website visitors in May 2008 (source: Compete)

Quicken Loans Shows Customer Focus with Call Center Wait-Time on Homepage

2008-06-25T23:59:37Z

Every time I visit Quicken Loans, I find something else to like about this lender's online efforts (previous coverage here). Here's the two latest from today's homepage:

News flash on homepage announcing today's rate action at the Fed, complete with brief mortgage sales pitch (middle of page). This screenshot was taken at 3:30 PM Pacific Standard Time, about four hours after the Fed decision was announced.
Call center wait times posted. Each time I've checked (today and last week), it said "Wait time is less than 10 seconds." (upper right corner ... see also closeup below). The 800-number is part of the header across every page.

Close up of call center area in upper right:

Visa Launches Business Network on Facebook

2008-06-25T03:04:38Z

After seeing the little blurb buried deep in today's Wall Street Journal
(p. B-9), I checked out the press release, and then headed to Facebook to see Visa's new app aimed at small businesses. To gain that all-important viral effect, Visa is giving away $2 million in Facebook advertising credits, $100 to the first 20,000 businesses that join its new The Visa Business Network on Facebook (see note 1).

Visa's Facebook page advertising the network looks good (see screenshot below). It's very "corporate," but I prefer that over lame attempts to look hip. It's dominated by a large video at the top explaining the program, plus three more along the bottom explaining other aspects.

Visa Business Network (promotional) page on Facebook (24 June 2008)

Selecting the Join this Network button takes you to a page where you are encouraged to add the Visa Business Network app to your Facebook profile. After adding the app, you must complete a short form to identify your business to the network and upload a picture if desired.

It only takes a few minutes, and your company is visible to anyone searching the Visa Business Network. It doesn't appear that Visa's network is searchable through the regular Facebook search. If and when that happens, the network would gain considerably more value.

Here's how my Visa Business Network page looked after uploading a graphic:

Summary
The application also features a Business Resource section with the usual collection of business tools (from Google), articles and videos plus an Ask the Expert section.

While the idea of a general business network within a larger network seems a bit superfluous, Facebook hasn't exactly been known as particularly accommodating to business needs. Maybe this will work. Certainly, if Visa attracts the 20,000 businesses it's earmarked advertising credits for, it will have a head start on others wanting to do the same thing.

However, we wonder how much effort the card giant will devote to the service. It doesn't seem to align that closely to its core card-processing business. But if its goal is to merely improve brand recognition with small business owners, it could be a valuable effort. Clearly Visa has the deep pockets to fund it for the long term. Who knows, maybe some lucky Business Network member will appear in a Visa Super Bowl ad some day.

Note:
1. The $100 advertising credit was handled flawlessly. A few minutes after joining the network, I received an email to my main email account explaining how to redeem the credit.