Wesabe's New Personal Finance Platform for Credit Unions, Banks

"With the recent upheaval in the banking industry and the economy, we've been hearing from more and more financial institutions who want to better connect with their members and help them through these uncertain times," said Marc Hedlund, CEO of Wesabe.

"SpringBoard quickly arms financial institutions with our proven personal finance tools, the latest community features, and a vast database of collective consumer wisdom. In addition to enhancing existing customer relationships, SpringBoard also helps credit unions and banks attract and service new members, including disenfranchised customers who don't feel secure in their current institution, as well as a new generation of web-savvy users."

SpringBoard gives consumers a "smart statement" view of their account data - guiding them towards value, savings and goal completion, and away from poor financial decisions. In addition, SpringBoard includes popular community features that let consumers help each other by sharing advice, support and tips for getting the most value for their money. Drawing on Wesabe's database of consumer spending behavior, SpringBoard also allows users to benefit from the learning that comes from changes and patterns in how members shop.

"Wesabe is uniquely suited to become a financial institution partner because the company has taken the high road, positioning the Wesabe brand as an unbiased financial guide. In fact, they've never taken advertising or commissions from financial providers," said Jim Bruene, editor of Online Banking Report.

Banks and credit unions can select any or all of SpringBoard's suite of applications, including:

• Account and savings - help consumers see exactly where their money is going via custom tags or labels. Identify budget "hot spots" and set up spending targets.
• Goals - users create financial goals and track their progress.
• Groups - members join or create interest groups to ask questions, share advice or offer support.
• Account aggregation - allow consumers to see all of their checking, savings, credit card and investment accounts in one place. Wesabe built its own aggregation tools, increasing control over member data and eliminating any dependency on a third-party aggregation vendor.
• Tips - side-by-side comparison of merchants, showing aggregate spending and satisfaction data, as well as user-generated tips.
• Widgets - let consumers interact with their financial data when and where they want with SpringBoard's Mac Dashboard Widget, Vista Widget and Wesabe Mobile for cell phones.

Credit unions and banks can implement SpringBoard through either a web services architecture or as a fully hosted web personal finance management (PFM) solution. SpringBoard works with a wide variety of enterprise platforms, including .Net and Java. The web services option uses API-based integration to work with the institution's existing online banking system. In the year and a half since the release of Wesabe's REST-based SSL API, a number of successful implementations have launched, ranging from individual consumer applications to integration with external businesses. In November 2008, Wesabe launched a co-branded PFM site for Telegraph Media Group, publishers of the largest-selling quality daily newspaper in the UK.

For additional information, financial institutions can visit https://www.wesabe.com/springboard or send an email to springboard@wesabe.com.