We're live at Finovate 2009, coming from the Metropolitan Pavilion in New York. Looks like we have a big audience here today, too, which no doubt will please organisers Jim Bruene and Eric Mattson of Netbanker.
by mikelinskey at 9/29/2009 12:20:24 PM
The first session consisting of 8 live demos is due to kick off in just under 15 minutes; first up will be Ryan Alfred of Brightscope, a 40k data analytics company. Will we start to see propositions like this in the UK if Personal Accounts ever get out of the door?
by mikelinskey at 9/29/2009 12:22:14 PM
Hall is filling up now, with just 5 minutes to go...
by mikelinskey at 9/29/2009 12:27:56 PM
And here we go. Jim's onstage introducing the event, and plugging the live twitter stream. Plenty of twitter users already in action...
by mikelinskey at 9/29/2009 12:32:53 PM
Ryan Alfred's up to demo BrightScope. Nice looking UI, gets to the meta very quickly, showing a 401k participant how their plan rates against the best & worst in the peer group, quantifying this in terms of dollars potentially lost or extra years needed to work before retirement
by mikelinskey at 9/29/2009 12:36:06 PM
They've rated around 50% of all 401k plans, and have a userupload facility for the five documents needed to create a rating. Ratings take around 2 weeks to produce, and it's all free! BrightScope makes money from plan sponsors by providing them with tools to assess their 401k offering.
by mikelinskey at 9/29/2009 12:38:01 PM
Sponsors & Advisers can use a Plan Management Dashboard, with TERs and revenue sharing analysis, and a Plan Cost Comparison against the 401k market. Sponsors can build custom peer groups for benchmarking purposes, and create reports for quarterly investment meetings.
by mikelinskey at 9/29/2009 12:39:33 PM
Today, BrightScope launches a new module for Plan Advisors. Advisors can search through over 700,00 plans for prospecting purposes, identifying the sponsors who need specialist help.
by mikelinskey at 9/29/2009 12:41:07 PM
Next up is Michael Ferraris of SmartyPig, based in Iowa. Smartypigs is a leader in web 2.0 banking, and is "like an online piggybank" which allows you to save for everyday financial goals.
by mikelinskey at 9/29/2009 12:42:43 PM
SmartyPig launched at Finovate 2008, and has become popular due to competitive interest rates and goal sharing with friends & family.
by mikelinskey at 9/29/2009 12:43:36 PM
Now demoing redemption options, essentially gift and debit cards from SmartyPig's partners. SmartyPig can be shared via Twitter & Facebook, so that any time funds are saved towards a goal, a note is posted to your social media accounts!
by mikelinskey at 9/29/2009 12:46:05 PM
There's also a Public Page where people can review how you're doing against goals and contribute themselves! I like that, but wonder who amongst my friends wants to help me pay for next year's holiday?! Any volunteers?
by mikelinskey at 9/29/2009 12:47:28 PM
SmartyPig now launching customised widgets, with great "Feed Me" buttons! Very clickable!
by mikelinskey at 9/29/2009 12:49:15 PM
Well done, SmartyPig, but now it's Thomas Shelton's turn...
by mikelinskey at 9/29/2009 12:49:38 PM
People Capital - "the way education finance should work". It measures the value of an education in pure financial terms for its inbuilt lending platform.
by mikelinskey at 9/29/2009 12:51:02 PM
Looks like a peer-to-peer lending platform for lending to students, with lending criteria being based on future income projections. Interesting concept.
by mikelinskey at 9/29/2009 12:52:35 PM
Thomas is demonstrating "autobid", essentially filtering search criteria to find the type of student you want to lend to, based not just on credit risk, but which college a student is attending, expected graduation date, courses being taken etc.
by mikelinskey at 9/29/2009 12:54:41 PM
Once a student matches a set of criteria, People Capital automatically bids for the loan business.
by mikelinskey at 9/29/2009 12:55:24 PM
Human Capital Score looks very clever, showing 1o year income projections based on different undergraduate scenarios.
by mikelinskey at 9/29/2009 12:56:49 PM
MShift are next onstage. Scott & Jeff's product is the "grandfather" of the mobile banking platform world, having been around since 2000. But, Jeff's not here to talk mobile banking...
by mikelinskey at 9/29/2009 12:59:21 PM
...instead we're going to see deposit-making via mobile phone. All you need is 2 megapixel camera on your phone and a dataplan to access a secure email application which sends images of checks to your bank. Once sent, MShift validates the cheque using a 3rd party service.
by mikelinskey at 9/29/2009 1:02:03 PM
Two-stage process is a bit clunky, but kudos to the guys for live demoing on a Palm Pre.
by mikelinskey at 9/29/2009 1:02:50 PM
Field research indicates people would be happy to pay for this service: it's a "compelling" service which is driving take-up of mobile banking for MShift's clients.
by mikelinskey at 9/29/2009 1:05:00 PM
MShift also offer a mobile gift card, and airline ticketing/ boarding pass presentation.
by mikelinskey at 9/29/2009 1:05:30 PM
Backbase, from San Francisco, are on next. Jouk and David "help customers in financial services to optimise channels". Backbase "revolutionises" the way consumers interact with their providers online; the "next generation portal"
by mikelinskey at 9/29/2009 1:06:46 PM
Feels like Jouk is playing buzzword bingo with us.
by mikelinskey at 9/29/2009 1:07:41 PM
Banking platform is widgetised, a bit like iGoogle. Reminds me of iThryv's product from Finovate Startup 2009; but I think iThryv looked slicker!
by mikelinskey at 9/29/2009 1:09:14 PM
Not exactly bowled over by Backbase. Allowing users to personalise their banking experience doesn't feel ground-breaking any more.
by mikelinskey at 9/29/2009 1:11:29 PM
Firethorn are up next; hope they are a bit more exciting! Cullen & Fred are here to present their mobile banking application.
by mikelinskey at 9/29/2009 1:14:24 PM
Today, they are announcing three new mobile banking products to drive consumer adoption. Mobile enrolment is first...
by mikelinskey at 9/29/2009 1:15:26 PM
Demoing an iPhone app that can be customised on a provider to provider basis.
by mikelinskey at 9/29/2009 1:16:39 PM
User don't have to be enrolled for internet banking to use the mobile enrolment service; like that. Whoops, having trouble entering a PIN - damn iPhone keyboard!
by mikelinskey at 9/29/2009 1:18:24 PM
Second new product: peer-to-peer payments, the next key driver for user adoption according to Firethorn's research.
by mikelinskey at 9/29/2009 1:19:09 PM
Third capability, provider payments - a consolidated view of payments due and the ability to make the payments from one place.
by mikelinskey at 9/29/2009 1:20:22 PM
Very slick demo, Firethorn
by mikelinskey at 9/29/2009 1:20:53 PM
Home Account are next. Mark & Missy want to create the kayak.com of mortgages.
by mikelinskey at 9/29/2009 1:23:29 PM
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