For open-collared shirts and sunglasses, it’s hard to beat San Francisco. And this week at Finovate both, along with an eclectic mix of what’s next in electronic finance, were on full display. Finovate is a conference for financial technology companies to get their latest innovations in front of customers, VC funders, the press, and gadflies like us. I won’t do a full review of each product or presentation; some had very little to do with credit unions. But here are a handful that fall under these credit union categories: Promising, Helpful, Interesting, and Dangerous.
Promising
These three products are not for everybody now, and indeed may never be for everybody, but they do promise relief to those who complain that credit union tech is forever playing catch up.- Segmint does the work of a keen-eyed MSR, scouring the transaction data of members to categorize them as travelers or newlyweds and presenting customized messages. Upside: The data already exists, so why not use it? Downside: The ROI exists in theory, but would it play out in reality?
- With big-name clients on board Backbase is not really a startup. They make “portal widgets” that let members connect to online banking data in any which way. From custom iPad PFM apps to Android account balance checker. Upside: Take all the hassle out of a good/flexible user interface. Downside: Your database better be pretty solid before overlay something like this.
- WorkLight hoes a similar row by getting your online banking widgets designed and distributed where you want them (iGoogle, iPhone, desktop widgets). Upside: Overnight, you’re a 21st-century financial institution. Downside: If your regular online banking isn’t already pretty hot, then members will be jarred.
Helpful
Sometimes it’s not just about the sexy future; instead you have to deal with today’s demands today. Today’s big demand is compliance.- RiskKey purports to make compliance “not suck”. That’s lofty, but for credit unions just starting down the enterprise risk management path, having templates, reminders, and a central repository can help. Upside: You’re buying a roadmap for compliance. Downside: Even a roadmap doesn’t mean the heavy lifting is done. (Full disclosure: I know, and rather like, the company’s CEO, Brad Garland)
- What if somebody had told you three years ago about “an app store for financial compliance tools”? You’d have encouraged them to check both their diction and their predictions. But with “app” in common usage, Continuity Control actually lets you take an a la carte approach to compliance software. Upside: Simple pricing and format. Downside: You still have to do the heavy policy/procedure lifting.
Interesting
Nothing may even come of these two very different products, but they distinguish themselves for their ambition and their polish.- Payments behemoth Visa demo’d a very clean Rightcliq, which lets users aggregate their online shopping, compare offers, and autofill forms across the Web for quick payment. Upside: Mitigates the tedium of refilling forms and gets considered products into one place; Visa even lets you put non-Visa cards in a virtual wallet. Downside: Despite the slickness, consumers may (ironically) be loath to fill out one more form just to avoid filling out other forms.
- You’ll have to take my word that Bobber is a compelling social tool for the pre- to mid-teen set, because the tool is still in private beta. But if Farmville can blow up on the simple premise that people get addicted to simple acquisitive interactions, then this goal-based savings program just might teach kids some good financial principles along the way. And the user interface is very smooth. Upside: Getting people to watch your savings goals and cheer you on could be powerful. Downside: Getting people to watch your savings goals and cheer you on could be annoying.
Dangerous
Here dangerous doesn’t mean nefarious. Instead it means “dangerous to the traditional business model of credit unions.” And maybe that’s healthy.- Goalmine lets nonsavers and small savers get gift cards that connect straight to a mutual fund. Instead of cash, little baby Sam or Sanjay gets a gift certificate for a mutual fund or simple savings account. Upside: In-store gift cards put savings right in people’s faces. Downside: For CUs and other traditional FIs, this is one more slice of disintermediation.
- MoneyAisle just last weeked moved from offering brokered CDs to brokered loans, guaranteeing consumers get the best rate from banks and community credit unions for saving and borrowing. Credit unions have a very valid reason for participating, namely one more way to lend when lending volume is hard to grow, but this seems like lowest common denominator indirect lending. The long-term relationships may never materialize. Upside: Loan volume. Downside: Another slice of disintermediation; the borrower’s relationship is with a Web site, and it’s not even yours.
Nota bene: The flavor of the conference, invoked in different ways by a half dozen disparate companies, was goal-based savings. It’s not the saving itself that’s fun, it’s the XBox, the car, the trip.
Picture credit to jeanxtof, and you can see more pics on this flickr stream.
Comments
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Missed the morning session, did we? I don’t blame you – San Francisco is a fun place to go out on the town…
oFlows (which admittedly presented quite early in the day) won Best of Show honors for its kick-ass paperless originations technology platform for loans, deposits and memberships for credit unions and community banks.
Upside: no more crappy paper-based processes = better member experience, increased cross-sales, decreased costs, improved risk management and bulletproof compliance
Downside: your paper forms, printer and copy machine vendors will stop sending you fruitcakes at Christmas
Cheers, Johnny
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Compliance sucks! We all know it. Just like working out, doing your finances, it takes a creative mind (and in our opinion, application (RiskKey)) to help remove the drudgery, focus on results, and even have a little fun along the way.
Thanks for the kind words Ben and the respect is mutual, I love what you are doing at Filene. Keep it up!
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Quick note of clarification, 7 minutes was a short time to cover everything, but the Apps come with policies integrated and procedures are defined and assigned within them. The heavy lift has been rendered down to the review and tweaking of the included policy/procedures for a given institutions needs.
Thanks for the coverage.
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