I recently had the opportunity to accompany my four year on a school field trip to the Apple Store. Frankly, I had no idea that Apple even offered school field trips. Not only do they offer field trips, they offer FREE field trips. It’s a pretty simple formula. Get the little ones into the store, [...]

There is a reason that user adoption of PFM is so low. Well several reasons in fact, and you can read about it in this report. Thankfully, steps are being taken to more tightly couple PFM and online banking – one of the MANY key elements required to improve adoption.  Intuit announced last week that [...]

Earlier this week, RBS launched a mobile chat feature, available to its business mobile banking users.  RBS isn’t the only one jumping onto the mobile chat bandwagon – San Diego County Credit Union announced a similar offering . The concept is pretty straightforward, and is similar to the online chat tools that some banks have incorporated [...]

I’m currently in Boston with the entire Celent team at Innovation and Insight Day. We’ve got a great lineup of speakers and will be addressing subjects like multichannel delivery and mobile payments. We will also be presenting the prestigious Model Bank Awards.  If you are here in person or sitting at your desk in the [...]

This morning, ACI announced that it is going to acquire Online Resources. It’s a bold move on the part of ACI, especially after their recent acquisition of S1. ACI is clearly working on growing market share, and adding to it’s vast treasure trove of fintech assets. My initial feelings regarding the acquisition are mixed. What [...]

The new year brings lots of questions, planning and decision making. IT spending is tied directly to these elements, and as in past years, we have been receiving a truckload of IT spending questions. After a rocky few years folks are curious as to if the figures are on the uptick in 2013. The short [...]

ING Direct Canada recently launched a new marketing campaign in order to promote RSPs (Retirement Savings Plan). The campaign includes a TV commercial that depicts someone suffering from anxiety and depression during RSP season. The commercial has resulted in a rash of negative comments and complaints (see ING’s Facebook page below) alleging that the commercial is [...]

I spend a fair bit of time analyzing and following the fintech startup scene. I’ve met and interacted with numerous startups over the years, as well as through industry events like  Finovate and Innotribe. I frequently get very excited by their potential, and what they can bring to the industry. I admire the founders of these firms [...]

The small business online banking space is fraught with confusion. Banks are still struggling to understand if their customers should be placed onto consumer online solutions, dedicated small business solutions, or even corporate cash management offerings. Today, the majority of small business online banking users are running on consumer solutions. By definition, this means that [...]

A rash of denial of service attacks hit major US banks this week. These are scary incidents that wreak havoc for banks and their customers. For now at least, these attacks appear to be limited to online sites, and are therefore interrupting the online banking activities of the US public. Online banking is a mainstream [...]