Intuit Says It Is Changing the Face of Online Banking

"For the last 10 years, financial institutions have made great progress establishing a Web presence and enabling customers to conduct some of their financial business online, but it's time to deliver much more," said Jeff Stiefler, president of Intuit's financial institutions division. "Combining the unique strengths of Intuit and Digital Insight will enable us to provide consumers and small businesses with more control over their financial lives than they have ever had, while helping financial institutions become the financial hub for their customers."

Personal FinanceWorks represents a major advancement to the current online banking offerings used by 43 million households and will solve many of the most important day-to-day financial management needs identified through hundreds of in-home customer observations:

• Managing all bills in one place: Current online banking offerings generally only show users the bills paid through their bill payment product - a service only half of all online banking households use. Personal FinanceWorks will let users manage all of their monthly bills and obligations on their bank or credit union's online site, regardless of the method used to pay bills. This will help customers meet their monthly obligations, reduce late fees and ensure healthy credit ratings.
• Knowing their Real Balance(TM): The No. 1 reason people visit an online banking site is to see how much money they have available to spend. Most current online banking solutions only show customers their cleared balance, leaving them to wonder exactly how much money they have available. Personal FinanceWorks users will see the cleared balance as well as their Real Balance, which includes checks written and upcoming scheduled bills and deposits.
• Getting control over their spending: Very few online banking sites today show users where they are spending their money. With Personal FinanceWorks, users will be able to easily view and customize spending reports. Armed with this information, users will have the ability to make changes that will help them spend less and save more.

Small Business FinanceWorks will be the first integrated online solution that will help small businesses easily manage their most important administrative jobs. Instead of using a combination of tools to manage important tasks -- such as cash flow, payroll, invoicing and taxes -- a single secure log-in at a businesses' bank or credit union online banking site will let small business owners:

• Understand and control cash flow: Small Business FinanceWorks will include all the features of Personal FinanceWorks to help business owners manage their cash flow, pay bills and suppliers, and separate their business from personal finances, making tax time much easier.
• Create professional-looking invoices and easily receive payments from customers: Invoicing customers will no longer be a painful manual process as businesses will be able to easily create, print, e-mail and track invoices. Their customers can click a link in the e-mail to pay their bill online, making it easy to bring funds into the business and offering payment convenience.
• Easily accept credit card payments: By implementing a "virtual terminal," invoices and payments will be integrated so small business owners can accept credit card payments online, over the phone, or in person.
• Easily and efficiently manage payroll: Paying employees is a time-consuming and daunting task for small business owners who handle payroll themselves.

Customers currently spend 22 minutes per week on their online banking solution. With these new products, banks and credit unions will offer customers a much more advanced online solution that will likely increase the relevance of the financial institution in their customers' lives. In turn, financial institutions will have the opportunity to learn more about their customers and their financial needs, establish deeper relationships and cross-sell opportunities with them, and gain new customers through word of mouth.