I am so impressed with what they are doing down there in Lubbock. First, it was the debit card on/off switch a few months ago. And now they just added three new control switches (see inset):

• Increase daily withdrawal limit at the ATM
• Increase daily debit card purchasing limit
• Allow foreign transactions

All three controls temporarily increase limits so customers can easily approve their own authorization exceptions (within limits). 

Bottom line: Putting more control into the customers’ hands is what mobile banking is all about. And City Bank has taken the lead.

But they are just getting started. From what Jim told me this week, they have plenty of other ideas in the hopper. Keep an eye on these guys. 

Feature Friday: Wow! More City Bank Texas Mobile Controls for Debit Cards is a post from: American Bank american-bank.com

Discover Card Balance Transfer Offers Might Be a Bad Idea is a post from: American Bank american-bank.com

The winners (in alphabetic order):

• BehavioSec for its new security layer based on user typing/swiping patterns
• BillGuard for its card charge dispute platform, BillGuard FI
• Dwolla for its FISync service to enable banks to originate real-time payments
• iQuantifi for its new financial planning & advice tools
• MoneyDesktop for its PFM platform and integrated "deals"
• Personal Capital for its iPhone app and interbank funds transfer
• SoMoLend for its P2P lending platform

We’ll have videos of all 63 demos posted at Finovate.com as fast as possible (probably 2 weeks out).

Thanks to everyone who presented, attended, tweeted, swapped biz cards, schmoozed and helped push fintech forward. You are the greatest! 

———-

Notes on methodology:
1. Only audience members NOT associated with demoing companies were eligible to vote. Finovate employees did not vote.   
2. Attendees were encouraged to note their favorites as the day went on and choose three favorites from just the demos of that day. Ballots were turned in at the end of the last demo session each day. 
3. The exact written instructions given to attendees: "Please rate (the companies) on the basis of demo quality and potential impact of the innovation demoed. Note: Ballots with more than three companies circled will not be counted." 
4. The seven companies appearing on the highest percentage of submitted ballots were named Best of Show.
5. Go here for a list of previous Best of Show winners.

FinovateSpring 2012 Best of Show Winners Named is a post from: American Bank american-bank.com

___________________

Nuclear power provided 14% of the world’s electricity in 2010. Wind power capacity increased 233% Worldwide from 2005 2010, to a total of 2.5% of global electricity needs. Nuclear power generation declined by .72% for the same period.

Burning coal was responsible for 41% of electricity generation in 2010. Burning natural gas accounted for 21% and hydroelectric generation accounted for 15%.

Japan just announced that they have closed their last operating nuclear power plant. They have no nuclear power plant generating electricity for the first time in more than 40 years. It will be interesting to see how low their actual generation totals fall this year. They plan to re-open some of the plants but it is a political issue that is far from settled.

Globally nuclear power production increased 84% from 1985 to 2010. This is a very low percentage. Global output over that period increased much more than that, as did global electricity use. The share of electricity production provided by nuclear power peaked at about 17% for much of the 1990s.

Related: Nuclear Power Production Globally from 1985 to 2009 – Oil Production by Country 1999-2009 – Top 10 Countries for Manufacturing Production from 1980 to 2010: China, USA, Japan, Germany… – Japan to Add Personal Solar Subsidies – Nuclear Energy Institute (statistics)

Another view of data on nuclear power shows which of the leading nuclear producing countries have the largest percentages of their electrical generating capacity provided by nuclear power plants (as of 2009). France has 75% of all electricity generated from nuclear power. Ukraine had the second largest percentage at 49%, then Sweden at 37% and South Korea at 35%. Japan is at 28% compared to 20% for the USA. Russia was at 18% and China was at just 2%.

Nuclear Power Generation by Country from 1985-2010 is a post from: American Bank american-bank.com

Sallie Mae Credit Card Review: 2-5% Cash Back?! is a post from: American Bank american-bank.com

The apps are well designed, as you’d expect from a direct bank with 1 million customers and $ 30 billion on deposit (note 1). But there were two novel features worth highlighting:

1. Real-time wait time in the call center: The mobile app contains a very prominent real-time indicator of just how long you’ll be on hold if you call Ally Bank. I’ve already raved about the Website version of this feature, so I won’t go into much detail. But it makes even more sense to place it front and center on an app on a mobile phone used to call the bank (see left screenshot below).   

2. Cash-back locations included with ATM finder: While I’m not sure if this is an industry first, but after a fairly extensive search in the Apple App Store came up empty, I know it’s not common. Ally combines ATM locations and places where you can get cash back at the POS into a single map and/or list view (see right screenshot below).   

Ally mobile banking app                  Ally ATM & Cash Finder app 
for customers                                              for anyone                           

Ally also makes sure its website visitors know they’ve gone mobile with a clever graphic in the middle-right of the homepage.

Ally homepage featuring new mobile offering (3 May 2012)

————

Notes:
1. Ally announced the 1-million-customer milestone along with mobile apps (press release). Compared to a year ago, accounts were up 30% and deposits grew 25%.
2. While this could increase call-center calls, Ally must believe the customer advocacy positioning makes up for the increased costs.

Feature Friday: Ally’s Mobile Cash-Bank Finder & Call-Center-Hold-Time Meter is a post from: American Bank american-bank.com

My First Credit Card Advice: 10 Tips I Learned Along The Way is a post from: American Bank american-bank.com

But that didn’t stop us from trying. We fed each presenter’s keywords into a nifty little software app and created our first ever "demo word cloud."

I don’t think anyone will be surprised there’s a bit of attention being devoted to "mobile payments." But who would have guessed (prior to last year), that "rewards" and "coupons" would get so much attention. Welcome to the new world of ad-supported banking.

Here’s the geographic distribution of the 64 demoing companies (click to enlarge). It’s no surprise that we have 24 from California. But there’s almost twice as many from elsewhere around the country and world.

Finally, here’s a graphical representation of the job titles from our registration records:

And if you will be in the record-breaking crowd next week (thanks everyone!), here’s the demo schedule which lists each company. See you in San Francisco.

Hot Topics at Next Week’s FinovateSpring is a post from: American Bank american-bank.com