March 2010 Archives

Just a quick reminder that the early-bird ticket prices for FinovateSpring 2010 (May 11, San Francisco) will expire at the end of March (less than 2 days from now). If you register by March 31, you'll save $100 on your ticket and lock in your spot to see debuts and demos of dozens of new financial and banking technological innovations. 

We've handpicked an amazing list of companies to demo their latest including:

Tickets are selling well with hundreds of registered attendees from great organizations like: 

FinovateSpring is one of our twice-yearly showcases of the best new ideas in banking and financial technology. The show is built around a unique blend of fast-paced demos of actual technology (no slides!) and high-quality networking with an audience of senior FI executives, fintech entrepreneurs, VCs, press, industry analysts and bloggers. It's an awesome environment to find your next competitive edge.

Don't miss out on the early-bird price on your ticket to this great show. Register now!

P.S. Online Banking Report subscribers are entitled to an extra discount to our Finovate conferences. Email me to get it.

Bling Nation

Bling Nation provides payment stickers called Bling Tags designed to fit on mobile phones. Participating financial institutions provide the stickers to their customers. To make a purchase, the consumer touches the Bling Tag to a point-of-sale device called a Blinger (see screenshot #1, below). The money is debited from the user's account, and Bling Nation sends a text message confirming the transaction. For larger purchases, the bank has the option to call the user's mobile phone for a PIN to authorize the transaction.

A Brief History of the Program:

• 2007: Bling Nation tests the system in Palo Alto using Facebook employees as customers
• December 2009: Bling Nation enters discussions with State Bank of La Junta
• February 2009: State Bank begins the Bling Tag project, becomes Bling Nation's first paying customer
• May 2009: State Bank begins offering Bling Tags to the public
• September 2009: Bling Nation presents its system at Finovate2009 in New York (video available here)
• March 1, 2010: 500 of The State Bank of La Junta's 1,100 checking account customers are signed up for the system
• March 23, 2010: Bling Nation announces its first east coast client, Adirondack Trust Company, based in Saratoga Springs, New York

Bling Nation focuses on small communities where local banks support a large share of the retail market. In addition to the Colorado trial and the recently announced effort with Adirondack Trust (press release here), the company is looking to expand in similar communities in New England, Boston and Nashville.

Bling Nation authenticates transactions over cell phone networks, connecting the merchant directly to the bank without involving national processing networks. By providing a local payment system, the company can offer lower transaction costs, encouraging retailers to work with local banks. The company also allows merchants to offer savings to customers in the form of loyalty programs, which can be tracked automatically.

#1. Bling Nation's website shows a Bling Tag and a Blinger

#2. State Bank prominently features a Bling Nation video on its homepage

Here are the news headlines we posted this week on Twitter (follow it here).

Billeo includes AARP discounts in Offer Assistant - Billeo's Offer Assistant program, which helps online shoppers find discounts and incentive rewards, now includes AARP (American Association of Retired Persons). The association has about 40 million members. http://bit.ly/dtxfzU

BillShrink holds Facebook sweepstakes - BillShrink is giving away an iPad in a sweepstakes to encourage Facebook users to follow the company. The company will also give an iPad to the person who referred the winning user. The contest is similar in structure to a Mint promotion (our story here). Both are being handled by Wildfire. http://bit.ly/b8Vr6M

Bling Nation signs Adirondack Trust Company - The Adirondack Trust Company, located in Saratoga Springs, New York, is offering mobile payments through Bling Nation's system. This is the first East Coast deployment of the payments system. http://bit.ly/8Y0QR2

Bling Nation helping banks and merchants build relationships - According to a report from American Banker, Bling Nation's community-based payments system is building stronger ties between banks and retailers. By providing a payment system between community banks and merchants, Bling can offer lower transaction costs, encouraging merchants to work with local banks. http://bit.ly/9JkfgK

CashEdge provides P2P to Boeing Employees Credit Union - Boeing Employees Credit Union (BECU) is the first credit union in the country to offer CashEdge's POPMoney person-to-person payments service. The service launched on March 20. http://bit.ly/9RPJ2k

Diversinet expands focus on healthcare sector - Diversinet announced at the CTIA Wireless 2010 conference that it would increase its focus on providing mobile solutions to the healthcare market, connecting care providers and payers with healthcare information. The company's new strategy involves introducing new mobile applications, creating custom data portals for care providers, and developing systems to connect mobile devices to medical equipment. http://bit.ly/dcshRf

Fiserv to provide Mobile Money services to SunTrust Banks - SunTrust Banks selected Fiserv's Mobile Money to provide customers with mobile financial services. The Fiserv system will allow SunTrust to offer account access and customer alerts via text messaging and mobile browsers. http://bit.ly/bvvcFY

Lending Club photo contest with up to $2,500 in prizes - Lending Club launched a photo contest to encourage submission of new background images to use in its redesigned website; as many as six winners will take home cash prizes. http://bit.ly/b632aj

Mortgagebot case study: Community Bank - Charmichaels, PA- based Community Bank is using technology from Mortgagebot to open up new business channels and make the mortgage loan process more efficient. A Mortgagebot-produced case study on the bank reported a 68% increase in the volume of closed loans in 2009, compared to its results in 2008. http://bit.ly/9fi0t2

SecondMarket plans presence in Asia -- SecondMarket is preparing to push into Asian markets, where it may eventually employ as many as 150 people. The move into Asia follows $15 million in financing obtained from two Asian investors in February 2010. http://bit.ly/9OcLyQ

Yodlee data aggregation powers new PFM -- Newly launched online PFM In & Out Cash Management has partnered with Yodlee to import transaction data from more than 10,000 U.S. financial institutions. http://bit.ly/ah4nbY

Zopa marks fifth year in business -- Zopa (UK) announced its fifth anniversary in March. To celebrate, the company is running a sweepstakes awarding a 5% loan each day. http://bit.ly/9O5nQu

As part of our regular monthly tracking of Finovate alums, we examined the U.S. website traffic for the 134 sites they operate, using data from web-analytics company Compete. (Our review for the previous month is available here.)

Out of 109 sites with data available (see note 1), 42 (38%) had more than 10,000 unique U.S. visitors in February 2010 (see table #1, below). Of those, 32 (76%) had fewer visitors than in the previous month and 22 (52%) saw a decline year-over-year.

Notable successes:

• Expensify was up nearly 9-fold over its count for the previous year.
• FiLife, with an increase of more than 1.3 million visitors, scored more than eight times as many visitors in February 2010 than in February 2009. ThreatMetrix followed with nearly eight times as many.
• Mint.com saw more than one million visitors for the ninth month in a row.
• TradeKing is up nearly 9-fold over the previous month.

Of the alumni with more than 10,000 visitors, January's traffic leader FiLife is still topping the chart, despite a 44% decrease in visitors from the previous month. In fact, the top six from last month all retained their positions on the list, despite seeing fewer visitors than in January. BillShrink rose to displace CashEdge in the seventh spot.

#1. Finovate alumni with more than 10,000 unique U.S. visitors in Feb. 2010

Source: Compete.com, March 16, 2010

#2. Finovate alumni with year-over-year growth of at least 5,000 U.S. visitors

Source: Compete.com, March 16, 2010

Notes:

1. We reviewed 134 unique sites. Data was unavailable for 25 sites because they had been acquired, were no longer available online, or had active sites that were not covered by Compete for various reasons, including some that were not U.S. domestic companies.

2. At larger companies we tried to measure traffic to the sub-domain most closely aligned with the Finovate demo, e.g. www.checkfree.fiserv.com. Also, searscreditscore.com, a private-label site supported by Credit Karma, has been added to the list.

3. Numbers have been rounded to three significant digits.

4. The charts include companies that did not have measurable traffic in February 2009, indicated by a N/A.

5. Compete draws its information from the online activity of a panel of more than 2 million US Internet users. It is only an estimate of traffic, and may undercount at-work usage. 

In the year that Expensify has been available to the public, the company has achieved a number of milestones:

• In May 2009, the company raised $1 million in seed funding. Investors included Hillsven Capital, Baseline Ventures, and Travis Kalanick.
• Four new employees have been hired to support product development and marketing.
• In August 2009, the company began offering customized, branded versions of Expensify that businesses could add to their own websites.
• An application for CRM service Salesforce has been developed. The Salesforce application allows users to add Expensify's tools directly into their Salesforce accounts.
• By integrating with Outright.com and Intuit, expense data can be automatically imported into the bookkeeping sites through Expensify's application.
• In December 2009, the company moved out of beta into version 1.0. The upgrade featured a new user interface, international currency support, and improved Quickbooks export functionality.
• Mobile apps for BlackBerry, iPhone, Android, and Palm Pre debuted; also launched in the new Google Apps Marketplace.

Expensify charges a $5 fee per submitter per month for its approval and expense-reimbursement services. Using the site to generate and submit expense reports is free.

Web traffic for Expensify has grown over the last year. In February, the site had nearly 18,000 U.S. visitors, nearly double what it saw a month earlier and up significantly from the 2,000 it had in February 2009.

Source: Compete.com, March 2010

#1. Expensify creates expense reports ...

#2. ... and automatically generates receipts

BancVue announces results for Kasasa - Since its launch in May 2009, Kasasa has produced 71% lift in new account acquisition at its member banks and credit unions, says parent company BancVue. Of these new accounts, 53% represented new customers to the financial institutions. http://bit.ly/9zbvae

CashEdge cuts fraud by $140 Million - CashEdge announced that it has prevented an estimated $140 million in client fraud losses in 2009 through its risk-management services. The dollar amount is derived from the total value of potentially fraudulent transactions detected and prevented by CashEdge's risk-monitoring services. http://bit.ly/aoyaaZ

ClairMail announces new Mobile Connectivity Architecture platform - ClairMail's new platform for financial institutions will allow institutions to offer mobile banking services including real-time transactions and account management. http://bit.ly/9SjpK7

Digital Insight changes name - Digital Insight has rebranded as Intuit Financial Services. The company was acquired by Intuit in 2007. http://bit.ly/9jM4QB

Expensify celebrates first anniversary - During Expensify's first year, it raised $1 million, came out of beta, launched in the Google Apps Marketplace, and integrated with Outright.com, Salesforce, and Intuit. http://bit.ly/asZr1z

Kapitall demos at Apple Store - Kapitall will preview the beta version of its online investing platform on March 24, in the San Francisco Apple Store. CEO Gaspard de Dreuzy will present the product. http://bit.ly/a4i4Oh

Kasasa adds SMW Federal Credit Union - SMW Federal Credit Union is the first financial institution in Minnesota to offer Kasasa brand checking accounts. SMWFCU offers three of Kasasa's four products - Kasasa Cash, Kasasa Tunes, and Kasasa Giving. http://bit.ly/bKvXFC

Lending Club reaches milestones - Lending Club issued its 10,000^th loan, surpassing $95 million in loans issued. The company also exceeded $1 billion in loan applications. http://bit.ly/dmC9VK

Mint.com wins Web award at SXSW Conference 2010 - Mint won the "Classic" category at the SXSW Conference Web Awards. While the SXSW awards generally note the best new Internet destinations, the Classic Award honors sites that have been in operation for more than a year. http://bit.ly/dDyP5t

ThreatMetrix launches Fraud Network - ThreatMetrix launched Fraud Network, a suite of tools for e-commerce, financial services, and information-technology companies. Fraud Network provides tools for verifying new accounts, authorizing payments and transactions, and authorizing user logins. http://bit.ly/b26pLo

ThreatMetrix partners with Verifi - ThreatMetrix is partnering with Verifi to deliver its fraud detection and risk-assessment tools to merchants through Verifi's payment risk-management system. Verifi provides global electronic payment solutions for card-not-present retailers. http://bit.ly/bGcqW3

TradeKing earns 4-star rating from Barron's - Online broker TradeKing was awarded a four-star rating in Barron's 15th annual Best Online Brokers survey. TradeKing ranked sixth overall out of 22 firms evaluated. This is the fourth consecutive year that TradeKing has received four stars (out of a possible five) from the survey. http://bit.ly/9Zz1cF

TradeKing launches trading-info site - TradeKing launched OptionsPlaybook.com, a free online resource for beginning and advanced options traders. The site includes jargon definitions, a brief history of the options market, and more than 40 options strategies. http://bit.ly/9Gxda7

Tyfone partners with First Data - Tyfone is partnering with First Data to provide SideTap micro secure digital (MicroSD) memory cards. The cards can contain financial information and secure identification from multiple sources such as retailers and financial institutions, creating a virtual wallet. http://bit.ly/byoHJH

Yodlee to host webinar - Yodlee is hosting a free webinar on conversion strategies for bill payment systems on March 23. The webinar will focus on changing bill payment systems without disrupting users. http://bit.ly/aslHQG

ZimpleMoney offers Starbucks card - ZimpleMoney sent a promotional message to its members, offering a $25 Starbucks card if a loan is initiated. The loan must be accepted by March 31 to qualify. www.zimplemoney.com

The site provides a simple interface for visitors to post their stories. Users simply enter their first name, email address, an optional photo, and a personal story. Prosper is also offering a $1,000 sweepstakes to encourage visitors to post their stories. The winner will be selected in April.

Will the Taboo site drive traffic to Prosper? The Talk Taboo landing page includes a link to the Prosper site, encouraging consumers to consolidate their debt with a Prosper loan (screenshot #1). The stories page, where readers can find personal stories posted, has an endorsement from a Prosper borrower (screenshot #2). Both pages also contain a link to a Debt Consolidation Guide, which, among other possibilities, recommends peer-to-peer marketplaces like Prosper.

While the Talk Taboo site promotes Prosper, the reverse does not appear to be true. Aside from the blog entry announcing Taboo's launch, there is no mention of it at prosper.com. However, the Stories tab on the homepage seems a likely candidate for a future linkage.

Talk Taboo isn't Prosper's first experience with social sites. In 2007, the company had a thriving forum community with more than 280,000 posts (see Netbanker story here). Prosper also uses social tools to allow family and friends to endorse borrowers and display how much of the loan they are willing to fund.

In February, the number of unique U.S. visitors at Prosper's website fell to 145,000, as compared to 219,000 in the previous month (see March 23, 2010 update, below). Traffic data is not yet available for Talk Taboo.

Traffic data from Compete.com, March 2010

# 1. The Talk Taboo Site - Note the Link to Prosper

#2. Talk Taboo stories

Update: March 23, 2010:

We’ve received an update on Prosper’s web traffic numbers. According to data from Google Analytics, provided to us from Prosper, the site had 210,000 unique visitors in January and 158,000 in February.

We're very pleased to announce the lineup for the upcoming FinovateSpring 2010 conference. Taking place on Tuesday May 11 in San Francisco, the conference will showcase dozens of handpicked companies debuting and demoing their latest and greatest fintech innovations. The quality of the new ideas that will be demoed on stage is very high this year and we're incredibly excited to showcase them to you.

The demoing companies selected (that we can reveal so far) are:

These companies will be showcased to an audience of senior financial/banking/credit union executives, influential press, industry analysts, venture capitalists, bloggers, tech companies and entrepreneurs.

A sampling of the great organizations already registered to attend includes: AARP, Aite, Alliant Credit Union, BNP Paribas, Capital One, Celent, Discover, Experian, Fidelity, Filene, Forrester Research, Google, Highland Capital, Intuit, Javelin Strategy, Jack Henry, Mechanics Bank, Motley Fool, NY Times, PayPal, Tower Group, USAA, US Bank, Venrock, Wells Fargo, and Wired Magazine.

We'd love to have you join us at the spring event and watch the future of finance/banking unfold onstage. If you register today you'll save $100 via the early-bird ticket discount. Please note that the early-bird prices expire at the end of this month and space is limited so lock in your spot now!

Here are the news headlines we posted this week on Twitter (follow it here).

AlphaClone to Launch Investment Accounts -- Investment research firm AlphaClone announced that it plans to offer managed account services later this year. http://bit.ly/ayOI5t

BrightScope Partners with Acceleration Retirement -- BrightScope announced a partnership with Acceleration Retirement, a provider of marketing and lead-generation services to retirement plan advisors. The deal combines BrightScope's data and analytical tools with Acceleration's marketing and practice-management experience. http://bit.ly/c780Zs

CashEdge to Support HelloWallet -- CashEdge will provide financial data aggregation for new PFM website HelloWallet. CashEdge draws data from bank accounts, investments, retirement accounts, insurance plans, credit cards, mortgages and annuities. http://bit.ly/9xjRqD (Netbanker coverage of HelloWallet here.)

Check Point Wins Award from SC Magazine -- Security software firm Check Point was recognized with a Reader Trust Award from SC Magazine for its Security Gateway R7, which took the award for Best Enterprise Firewall. This is the sixth time SC Magazine has given Check Point an award for achievement in information technology and security. http://bit.ly/doRu4B

Expensify Offers App on Google Apps Marketplace -- Expensify announced that its small-business expense management app is now available on Google Apps Marketplace, Google's recently launched storefront for online products and services. The Expensify app enables users to import expense data from their credit cards, manage receipts online, and create expense reports. http://bit.ly/cYjDLq

Four Finovate Alumni in Panel Discussion at SXSW - Credit Karma, Lending Club, Mint, and SmartyPig will discuss banking industry innovation at the SXSW conference on March 13 in Austin, Texas. The panel discussion will include Rob Garcia, Senior Director of Product Strategy for LendingClub.com; Aaron Forth, VP of Product at Mint.com; Kenneth Lin, CEO of CreditKarma.com; and Bob Weinschenk CEO of SmartyPig.com. http://bit.ly/dbuYuR

GreenSherpa Upgrades -- GreenSherpa announced several upgrades to its web-based application, including changes to user collaboration and integration features, cash flow projection capabilities, and the graphical user interface. http://bit.ly/alnZeW

New Funding and Board Member for Home-Account -- Bills.com has doubled its financial investment in Home-Account. In addition, Mark Goines, a former director of Mint and a former Intuit executive, has joined Home-Accounts Board of Directors. Goines also made an unspecified angel investment in Home-Account. http://bit.ly/aJGuzs

Intuit Offers Payroll Suite on Google Marketplace -- Intuit is offering its Online Payroll suite of web applications on Google's new Apps Marketplace. Intuit also intends to make the payroll solution available through its own Intuit App Center. http://bit.ly/9dsR19

iPay Technologies Partners with Q2ebanking -- iPay Technologies and Q2ebanking announced a new alliance that will allow iPay to offer its bill payment solutions to Q2's customers. Q2 provides financial services technologies to community financial institutions. http://bit.ly/9T6CQ9

Tom Burgess Joins Micronotes' Advisory Board -- Tom Burgess, the founder and CEO of Third Screen Media, has joined the advisory board of online marketing company Micronotes. Burgess will serve as a marketing practices advisor. Third Screen Media was a wireless advertising company that was acquired by AOL in 2007. http://bit.ly/bUEd7Q

mFoundry Receives Paybefore Award -- mFoundry won the Best Virtual Prepaid Card category in Prepaid Media's fourth annual Paybefore Awards. mFoundry was recognized for its work on Starbucks Mobile, which allows consumers to use mobile devices to track activity on Starbucks cards. http://bit.ly/doCsP4 (Netbanker blog on Starbucks Mobile here.)

Mozo Launches Program for Students - Australian financial comparison company Mozo has launched a new service called the Student Room. The program helps university students find deals on banking services, including special offers designed for students. http://bit.ly/dBsgMu

S1 acquires PM Systems -- On March 4, S1 completed acquisition of PM Systems for $29 million. PM Systems provides internet banking, bill payment, and security solutions for credit unions. S1 announced the acquisition in its statement of its fourth quarter results. http://bit.ly/aF2Jvz

The Receivables Exchange Reports Sales Growth -- The Receivables Exchange, an online marketplace for receivables trading, reported 100% quarter-over-quarter growth in receivables sold in Q4 2009. http://bit.ly/asQqNm

Mint.com is encouraging people to follow the company on Facebook by giving away a free Apple iPad. The winner will be selected on March 17. Mint is the first company we've seen to capitalize on the current iPad publicity with a sweepstakes. The company is advertising the promotion on its blog page.

Mint is an industry leading PFM website with about 1.7 million unique visitors last month (see our previous blog entry here). The company is also a Finovate best of show winner. (Finovate2008 video here.) Mint is owned by finance software company Intuit.

Mint is using the social networking power of Facebook to promote its services. The PFM company has a public Facebook page (see screenshot #1, below), allowing visitors to become "fans" that can follow company news and enter user discussions. Mint currently has 51,000 fans.

The page provides a free public forum where Mint can not only promote its services, but also make announcements (the page currently supports a help-wanted ad for a Systems Administrator) and encourage user interaction (Screenshot #1).

Facebook revenues are primarily derived from targeted advertising on its user's pages. By making its own services free, the company draws in participants, increasing the value of its advertisements. Facebook currently enjoys more than 130 million unique U.S. visitors per month, according to traffic data from Compete. Companies that provide free services on their own websites, such as Mint, are a natural fit for Facebook's audience.

  Mint's iPad sweepstakes capitalizes on Facebook features that share information across its social network. The promotion requires users to become fans of Mint's Facebook page in order to enter the contest. When I became a fan of Mint, everyone on my friends list was notified, complete with a link that leads directly to Mint's sweepstakes page (screenshot #2).

Mint is giving away two iPads. The contest allows entrants to name the person who referred them, with the referrer winning the second iPad. This means that the more friends you send to the promotion, the greater your chances of getting a new toy become (screenshot #3). And when your friends become Mint fans, all their friends are notified.

Mint's sweepstakes is being handled by Wildfire Promotions, which offers social media marketing campaigns based on Facebook and Twitter. Entering the sweepstakes takes the user seamlessly and almost invisibly from Facebook to a Wildfire page.

#1 Mint's Wall on Facebook

#2. The Sweepstakes Page

#3. The More Friends You Refer, the Better Your Odds (This is a Wildfire Page)

In what we believe is a first for any US online banking platform, Jwaala has added Skype alerting capabilities to its MoneyTracker BOB (Better Online Banking) platform. Twitter alerting has been added as well. SMS and email alerts have become fairly common in recent years but it will be interesting to see if these new alert channels catch on with users.

The platform is a ready-to-deploy online banking system that allows financial institutions to offer money management services -- including features such as search functions, alerts, dashboards and widgets, and budgeting support. Jwaala announced in January that it added ten new credit unions to the list of institutions using this service. (FinovateStartup 2009 video here.)

Both Skype and Twitter have tremendous adoption -- Skype claims more than 20 million users and Twitter, which had over 50 million users in September, gains about 8 million new users each month. (See note, below.)

Consumer alerts allow financial institutions to provide personalized information to their clients. Alerts might be security notices, balance information, transaction confirmations, or other account data. By incorporating Skype and Twitter capabilities into MoneyTracker BOB, Jwaala differentiates itself from other PFM add-on platforms by giving its clients the flexibility to offer alerts through channels that are already familiar to their customers.

Financial institutions may need to reassure consumers who will naturally have privacy concerns about receiving financial data through public, third-party media. Twitter, particularly, is well known as a public forum. But both Skype and Twitter have security features in place. Skype uses encryption, digital certification, and authentication protocols to ensure private communications. Twitter has privacy settings that allow communications to be limited to approved users, which would be more appropriate for personal account information.

Note: While Skype usage data is not readily available, the company reports peak hour traffic over more than 20 million users. Data on Twitter users is drawn from analysis by TechCruch.

Here are the news headlines we posted recently on our Finovate Twitter feed (follow it here).

Acculynk Provides Debit Payment System for Ritz Interactive -- Acculynk will provide its PaySecure debit payment service to Ritz Interactive. The service, which allows consumers to make PIN-based debit transactions online, is being deployed on 16 Ritz e-commerce sites. http://bit.ly/aE5DlD

FIRST ROI Joins BancVue -- FIRST ROI, which develops interactive products for financial institutions, is joining its parent company BancVue and changing its name to BancVue Interactive. http://bit.ly/auuovg

NFCNews Covers Bling Nation's Mobile Payments Pilot Program - Bling Nation is testing its mobile payments program in Colorado. According to the NFCNews report, about 500 customers of The State Bank of La Junta use Bling Tags - tiny chips attached to their cell phones - in order to make debit purchases at more than 50 participating businesses in the Colorado town. Bling Nation authenticates the transactions over cell phone networks. About half the bank's customers have signed up for the service. http://bit.ly/bqHhMa

Financial Institutions Adopting POPMoney -- CashEdge announced that more than 100 financial institutions will add its POPMoney person-to-person payment service to their customer options by the end of the second quarter of 2010. POPMoney allows payment transactions over e-mail and mobile services. http://bit.ly/aNNazq

Fiserv Introduces Boardroom Series -- Fiserv announced a new information service for its clients. Called the Fiserv Boardroom Series, the service provides clients with research data and business advice from a series of subject matter experts. The Series will include videos, webinars, and white papers. http://bit.ly/9hEA8J

Fiserv Study on Gen Y Banking Habits -- Research conducted by Fiserv shows that members of Generation Y are frequent users of online and mobile financial services. Gen Y also favors debit cards over credit cards and is more comfortable with Internet-based services than previous generations. http://bit.ly/cLbHBu

Firethorn Expands its Mobile Offering to More Banks -- Firethorn has updated its mobile banking app to allow consumers to access their accounts at more than 3,700 US financial institutions. Previously, Firethorn's mobile banking solution only worked with institutions that were integrated Firethorn providers. http://bit.ly/apbePC (Finovate blog entry here.)

Geezeo to Provide PFM & Social Tools to Vantage Credit Union -- Vantage Credit Union selected Geezeo to provide additional online tools to its Internet banking services. Vantage members now have access to Geezeo's customizable online personal finance management and social networking platform. http://bit.ly/9tHqWH

iPay Technologies Announces Invoicing System -- iPay Technologies announced Billpayperless, a new electronic invoicing and receivables management product for small businesses. The system allows small business owners to receive electronic payments through credit cards or PayPal accounts. http://bit.ly/9C9hUb

iThryv Rebrands to Alkami Technology -- iThryv announced on March 2 that it has completed the transition to its new corporate identity, Alkami Technology. Under the new name, the company will focus on providing online banking solutions for the financial services industry. http://bit.ly/domtAa

Mint Giving Away Apple iPad -- Mint.com is encouraging people to follow the company on Facebook by giving away a free Apple iPad. The winner will be selected on March 17. http://bit.ly/cvRsPi

Prosper Launches Talk Taboo Website -- On March 3, Prosper launched its new Talk Taboo website. The site allows users to share personal finance stories. The site offers a debt consolidation guide and is running an introductory sweepstakes to encourage users. http://bit.ly/9SuG02

TradeKing Launches Mobile Trading Site -- Online broker TradeKing announced a new mobile trading site. After activating the mobile features, clients can access TradeKing from any mobile at http://m.tradeking.com to get stock quotes, check account balances, and place trades. http://bit.ly/b4GRrP

Tyfone Announces MicroSD Secure Digital Memory Cards -- Tyfone announced the completion of its SideTap micro secure digital (MicroSD) memory cards, which will become available to consumers in the second half of 2010. The memory cards, which carry financial information, can be used in mobile phones and accessed at contactless payment terminals, creating an electronic wallet. http://bit.ly/9wi5aR

WorkLight to Host Widget Webinar -- On March 16, 2010, WorkLight will host a webinar entitled, "5 Questions You Should Answer Before Launching Widget Banking." The webinar will cover widget technology and its impact on the banking world, as well as providing discussion on implementation. http://bit.ly/d7LhDz

Zecco Updates Website with New Tools -- Online broker Zecco has rebuilt its website to offer new data tools for investors. New additions to the site include real-time quotes, charting tools, and real-time portfolio monitoring. http://bit.ly/aYghMi

Firethorn has updated its mobile banking app to allow consumers to access accounts at more than 3,700 US financial institutions. Previously, Firethorn's mobile banking solution only worked with institutions that were integrated Firethorn providers. Firethorn's provides apps for iPhone, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile, and Java devices.

By creating a mobile interface for existing online banking platforms, Firethorn provides   consumers with mobile services even if their bank doesn't support them. Firethorn's app also  allows users to access account information from multiple institutions through a single mobile interface. (Finovate2009 video here).

Firethorn isn't the only company with this type of mobile offering; Pageonce, Mint and Wesabe all provide similar functionality.

How it Works

1. Users can download the free app using their mobile device or from online at their platform's app store. Firethorn also provides instructions for downloading at mobilebanking.com. (See screenshot #1, below.)

2. After downloading, users launch the app and search for financial institutions. The app provides information on enrolling for mobile service with the various institutions covered. For example, searching for Bank of America leads to an "enroll now" button, along with the information that mobile enrollment is not valid for California, Washington, and Idaho. Choosing USAA requires you to contact the bank to enroll and provides a web address and phone number (screenshot #2).

3. Once enrolled, consumers can log in to check their financial account balances, see their latest transactions, and track if payments have cleared. Financial institutions providing integrated Firethorn services may offer additional services, such as paying bills and transferring funds. Firethorn partners can also offer person-to-person payments from within the mobile banking app, powered by CashEdge's POPMoney technology.

Firethorn is owned by wireless technology company Qualcomm. Firethorn makes its money by providing its partners with a secure mobile banking system. Expanding its network beyond its current list of integrated partners brings the company's app to a wider range of consumers.

#1. Downloading Instructions are Provided for the App

#2. Search in the App for the Bank, and Follow the Enrollment Instructions

Fast Company Magazine released its annual list of the 50 most innovative companies for the year. In addition to the top 50, the most innovative firms in a wide range of categories, including the financial sector, were named. We are happy to see that five Finovate alumni made the cut.

1. FiLife. Not only was it the first on the finance category list, FiLife was the only finance company to make it on the overall Top 50, joining Facebook, Amazon, Google, and IBM. FiLife was ranked #27, placing it above Microsoft and Twitter. FiLife provides a social site for financial advice and discussion (Finovate2008 video here).

2. Intuit. Runner-up Intuit, with a rich portfolio of products including Quicken, Quickbooks, TurboTax and now Mint.com, was described as "the new leader in online money management." (Finovate2009 video here.)

3. Yodlee. The leading provider of aggregation services to banks and PFMs was cited for its   FinAppStore, announced at Finovate2009 (Finovate2009 video here).

4. Triodos. A Dutch bank that backs organizations that create social, environmental, or cultural value.

5. Enterprise Community Partners. An investment company working to fund affordable housing.

6. Itaú Unibanco. This Brazilian bank is the largest financial conglomerate in the southern hemisphere.

7. Credit.com. Provider of free credit information and advice. The article notes that Credit.com won Finovate2009's Best of Show (Finovate2009 video here).

8. Vancity. Canada's largest credit union and funder of community-benefit initiatives.

9. Simplifi. A personal finance and investment advice website. The article mentions Simplifi scoring Best of Show at FinovateStartup 2009 (FinovateStartup 2009 video here).

10. Vittana. An education-funding startup financed by small donors in the US, Germany, and Sweden, providing the first student loans ever to Peru, Paraguay, Nicaragua, Mongolia, and Vietnam.

Fast Company Lists Ten Most Innovative Financial Companies.

(Note: The article uses a screenshot from Credit.com)