Continue reading »]]> All of use here at Bank Innovation are excited for the kickoff of the 2013 event on Monday. We have a wonderful roster of speakers and attendees, which we expect will lead to two days of excellent discussions and networking. We wish all our attendees safe travels to San Francisco.

Should you need any assistance on site at Bank Innovation 2013, please call 646-837-5945 or email events@royalmedia.com.

Note that we will be tweeting at the hashtag #bi13 during the conference.

Continue reading »]]> Jeff Stephens was working in bank branding, and he was frustrated that customers didn’t seem to like their  banks much. He decided that the way to get customers passionate about their bank was to make the bank support customers’ passions. Well, sure, easier said than done, right?

Enter Tribed, Stephens’s startup. Tribed builds bank brands around self-identifying affinity groups. The first one to launch is Wag Bank, currently in beta testing with about 50 customers in the Pacific Northwest. More are on the way. Possibilities involve hobbies like cycling and life stages such as retirement age, or getting married. Each group has different needs and different passions, and Tribed will provide a financial experience that offers rewards and opportunities to engage with a customer’s passions more fully.

Wag Bank, for example, offers discounts and rewards around dog-related purchases, and makes donations to dog-related charities.

Jeff Stephens is the CEO of Creative Brand Communications. He will join our ‘What is Banking?’ panel at Bank Innovation 2013, which begins Monday in San Francisco. It’s not too late to get involved — you can register here.

Continue reading »]]> The Mercantile Bank of Michigan, known informally as MercBank, has been an innovation leader for years. The Grand Rapids, Mich.-based bank was the first to market with a mobile P2P solution from PayPal, and was also the first to partner with Bill.com for a bill pay solution.

How did a community bank with $1.4 billion in assets get the jump on the bigger banks?

“Community banks can have as good or better mobile offerings than large banks, because we can do nontraditional partnerships and be more flexible about test-piloting programs,” said CIO John Schulte, adding that technology companies often prefer to pilot software with smaller banks. “We have more freedom to act than big banks,” he said.

The bank also offers a full suite of mobile offerings, including P2P, mobile wallet, bill pay, RDC, tablet banking, video banking, and PFM. In addition, the bank is looking for new ways to bring in Gen Y customers, such as university branches and a vigorous and creative social media effort — but the key to bringing the younger generation on board is mobile.

Schulte will join our New Products panel at Bank Innovation 2013 on March 18. If you’re not already registered, get your invitation today to hear his thoughts in person.

Continue reading »]]> Bank Innovation recently saluted 10 financial brands for their cool factor. Representatives from three of these brands will be on stage at Bank Innovation 2013:

• USAA got its start in the 1920s by providing auto insurance to veterans, who were considered too risky for traditional insurers. Stephen Armstrong, who works with USAA’s emerging channels, will sit on the Channel Convergence panel at BI 13.
• PayPal started in a similar fashion — in the early days of e-commerce, online transactions, such as those on eBay, were ‘too risky’ for the banks to cover. Enter PayPal, which processed more than $140 billion in payments last year. Dan Schatt, GM of financial of innovation, will present on Wallet Share at BI 13.
• Wells Fargo has pulled off the neat trick of balancing being a big bank with keeping the innovation engine humming. They lead the pack in innovating the customer experience at the ATM, and Alicia Moore, Wells’s SVP of ATM banking will join our panel that asks, What is “Banking” Today?

We look forward to seeing you at BI 13! If you’re not already registered, you can request an invitation here.

Continue reading »]]> 2012 was a banner year for PayPal mobile payments, and that’s only one of the reasons why we are looking forward to the presentation by Dan Schatt, the company’s GM, Financial Innovations.

Schatt will be presenting on “Wallet Share, the New Strategic Imperative” on March 19 at 10 am PT.

PayPal’s payments platform began 2012 predicting $7 billion in mobile payments for year. By the third quarter, the eBay-owned company was predicting $10 billion for the year.

The actual number, released in January on the Q4 earnings call, was more than $14 billion, more than 10% of PayPal’s total payment volume.

2011 mobile payments totaled “only” $4 billion. In other words, PayPal more than tripled its mobile payment volume in just one year.

With numbers like these, an active user base of more than 120 million, and a growing presence at points of sale across the country, PayPal is well positioned to talk wallet share, and that’s just what Schatt will be doing at Bank Innovation 2013.

Continue reading »]]> Matt Krogstad, vice president of mobile banking and payments at Bank of the West, will present on mobile banking at Bank Innovation 2013.

Krogstad joined Bank of the West in January 2012, and heads the bank’s mobile banking and payment strategy, business development, partnerships and third-party relationships. He joined Bank of the West from M-Com, which is now a part of Fiserv.

Bank of the West recently relaunched its mobile banking app, adding new features and functionality.

Krogstad’s presentation on Tuesday, March 19 at 4 p.m. PT is titled “Separating Mobile Banking Fact from Fiction.” Among the topics he will address are why certain apps work, what’s next in mobile banking and how bankers should view smartphones versus tablets.

Continue reading »]]> Attendance is starting to heat up for Bank Innovation 2013.

In recent days, more of the world’s major banks have signed up to attend Bank Innovation 2013. Among those banks that will now be at Bank Innovation 2013 are BBVA, BNP Paribas, and Citibank.

And from the startup world, Coupons.com, Float Money LLC and others have recently signed up.

For more on who will be at Bank Innovation 2013, click here.

Continue reading »]]> There is still time to submit your entry for a 2013 Bank Innovation Award.

Bank Innovation Awardees are financial services companies that went beyond the obvious to produce great financial results or innovations of particular note, either in product, method, message or means. Our goal is to highlight those ventures that made a difference, not just those that got press coverage, during calendar year 2012.

Submit your entry here before end of day Wednesday, Feb. 26.