Fintech Labs Insights
Techniques, Trends & Examples
Checking Profits: Snagging the Paycheck Direct Deposit
There is little dispute that the primary financial relationship follows the paycheck. If you can snag the weekly/biweekly direct deposit, you have a very sticky customer. You have to really let them down to lose them at that point. Traditionally, banks have dangled...
read more
Wells Fargo’s Greenhouse has UX issues to overcome ahead of national rollout
Wells Fargo announced its Greenhouse mobile bank/app in late 2017 (press release). The bank began limited trials a year later and is expected to make it available nationwide by the end of this year. It's similar to Chase's ill-fated Finn, in that it's trying to be a...
read more
UX Tips: U.S. Bank Offers Option to Show Password at Login
For much of the Internet era, users had no way to check their password data entry before hitting login. A few companies, notably Apple, were the exception. Fast-forward to 2019. Many secure sites now offer an option to see your password before logging in. It's an...
read more
How Should Banks Respond to Facebook’s Libra Coin?
I've read as much as I can take for now about Facebook's Libra crypto coin and Calibra digital wallet announcement. Most observers are skeptical given the many hurdles. But analysts like the upside if Facebook successfully gains adoption among its 2.7 billion users....
read more
Investment CX: Kindur Simplifies Retirement Income by Converting 401(k) into “Paychecks”
Kindur has been in the fintech news lately, first when it raised $10M in December (led by Anthemis) and then more recently when it launched its investment management service. One of the best profiles was on a recent episode of The Bank On It podcast which interviewed...
read more
Banking CX: Keep Calm and Bank On
No one visits a banking site for entertainment. Users are either there to make sure nothing bad has happened or that bad thing already occured and they need help fast. It's a digital banking fact: Every login is accompanied with some level of anxiety. That's why it's...
read more
Student Loan Repayments as a Service
Yesterday, one of my favorite recent YC grads (Summer 2018) Goodly, announced its $1.6 million seed round with participation from Norwest Venture Partners (which has historically been affiliated with Wells Fargo, which acquired its parent bank back in the 1990s). And...
read more
American Express 2.0? First Look at Brex, Fintech’s Youngest Unicorn
Most banks wouldn't hire a 22-year college dropout to be a teller, let alone give them product responsibility. Yet, a pair of 22-year-olds have built a brand worth more than $1 billion. Even more amazing, it's not a consumer or social play, it's good old B2B and in...
read more
Credit UX: Starter Loans from Self Lender
Since the financial crisis in 2008, it's been much harder for U.S. youth to obtain a credit card. So most rely on debit cards for spending. However, debit cards don't help in establishing credit for the estimated 45 million American adults without a credit score (see...
read more
Pricing UX: Down with Fees, Up with Subscriptions
Most consumer banking research finds that "high fees" are one of three or four primary reasons to close an account. But what does that mean? Is it transaction fees at the ATM? Monthly checking account fees? Or penalty fees from overdrafting? I suspect it's often the...
read more
Penalty Fee UX: Bank of the West Formalizes the OD Mulligan*
Many customers know they can get at least one overdraft fee waived by appealing to customer service or the branch manager. But it's not a good experience. Driving to a branch or calling an 800 number and sucking up to some stranger that you hope isn't having a bad...
read more
Feature Friday: December Skip-a-Payment
I've always liked the (mostly) credit union tradition of allowing members to skip a loan payment, especially in December. It's a win-win. Members get financial relief during a time of increased spending and the financial institution creates goodwill and increased loan...
read more
Hey Erica, Should a Bank Name its Chatbot?
Bank of America's email last week introducing its chatbot Erica made me wince (see above). And I wondered why. I crave self-service in all transactions, so I am pleased that banks are using AI/ML/DL, or most likely, just common sense, to solve my problems without...
read more
Youth Banking: BECU Boosts Savings APY for Kids Under 18
When my kids were young (early 2000's), there was a lot more incentive to save. I remember setting up their first savings accounts at ING Direct when the direct bank touted its 5% APY in bold orange advertising all over the east coast (see below). Even with low...
read more
Banking Opportunity: Fraud Prevention Services
Most (all?) consumer banking services are commodities. That's why banks continue to spend billions on an otherwise superfluous branch network. But instead of spending tens of millions on branches, why not invest a fraction of that in services that actually...
read more