1. USAA announced that their popular Deposit@Mobile application is now available on the Android platform. The application allows for customers to make deposits by submitting an image of the front and back of endorsed checks via their mobile device.USAA’s iPhone application was launched last May, with the Deposit@Mobile being released in August, has already seen over $300 million.
2. California-based Torrance Community Credit Union announced the release of their iPhone application.Torrance Community CU partnered with Innovative Technology Inc. of Omaha, Neb., and check processor Eastern Corporate FCU of Burlington, Mass. The iPhone application was developed by EasCorp subsidiary Vertifi Software LLC to interface with INTECH’s mobile banking solution. An Android version is in the works and should be released soon.

1. Secil Watson – Wells Fargo
It’d be easy to understand if Innovation were sidelined at Wells Fargo this year, given the recession and the massive IT project facing the bank – integrating Wachovia’s 3,300 branches and customers in 21 states. But under Secil Watson’s watch, online innovation continues unabated.

A few key features of Mobile Wallet:

• Check an account balance
• View account transaction history
• View rewards information
• Transfer funds between accounts
• Access current US Bank offers

To find a list of phones that Mobile Wallet is currently compatible with, click here. Additional phones are being added weekly.

This looks to be a great move for U.S. Bank as it propels them into a leading and innovator role in mobile banking. The only downfall right now is the lack of being able to locate branch locations via Mobile Wallet. It’s clear that mobile banking is the leading trend in banking. Financial institutions looking to capture and sustain additional market share will be forced to enter the mobile space. Banking on the go is the way of the future, those who are proven leaders will see increased growth, while those who are late to the space of fail to adopt will likely see continued stress.

For additional information, please visit U.S. Bank’s Mobile Wallet site at www.usbank.com/mobile.

*Disclosure – I’m a current U.S. Bank employee, however, I do not work in their mobile or innovation department. I had no contact or knowledge of Mobile Wallet prior to it’s public launch. These views are my own and are not of U.S. Bank or their mobile banking department.

Nicolet National Bank, based in Green Bay, Wisconsin and with around $694 million in assets, opened in 2000 and has quickly become a prime example of how transparency and bringing a personal touch to the banking industry can overcome not having large marketing budget. While sitting in a meeting in which the CEO explained a complex financial issue in a matter of minutes, Jeff Gahnz, Vice President of Marketing and Communications, came up with the idea of The Vault.

“The people in the community wanted to know what was going on,” Gahnz said. “All they were hearing was what the mainstream media was saying. But how did this affect them and how did it affect the community? That’s what they wanted to know. If Bob [Robert Altman, Chairman and CEO] was able to explain it to me in 5 minutes, then it made sense to find a tool to relay this information to the public.”

Two of the biggest hurdles when it comes to social media within the banking industry are 1) getting the approval of the C-suite and 2) legal issues. For Gahnz, neither of those posed a problem. In fact, it was quite the opposite.

“When you tie social media into the overall communications plan, it becomes an extremely easy conversation to have,” Gahnz said. “Additionally, I don’t have the legal or corporate ladder to run things up. Our CEO picks up his own phone and answers his own e-mails. He understands what it takes to be community-driven and customer-focused. And it’s helped tremendously.”

A few key features of The Vault

• Audio Podcasts
• Video Podcasts
• CEO & President Blog
• Financial Topics Blog

While transparency and an open-door policy remain strengths for Nicolet, the biggest hurdle according to Gahnz is maintaining the efforts and continuing the social impact it’s create thus far.

“The biggest problem we have is the fact that we have so much content,” Gahnz said. “I need to do a better job really focusing our efforts and ensuring the we have some consistency. Half the battle is simply getting content up in a timely matter and that’s where my focus is right now.”

Looking ahead, Nicolet is looking to turn The Vault into a central place that the community can come. Currently, they’re providing information around the financial industry, but they’d like to evolve into a communal space where you can get information about a variety of topics. One project in place is Voice – a portal that’s exactly what it’s name indicates, a place where people can come to have their Voice heard.

“We’re partnering with local businesses and professionals to turn The Vault into a well-rounded space. We’re partnering with experts in various fields such as healthcare and having CEO’s and local business owners blog about their respective industry,” Gahnz said. “We’re truly interested in the interaction. We want our community to help us create a better bank.”

What the future holds for Nicolet National Bank literally lies in the hands of their community as they’re putting their organization into the hands of their customers. A lot of businesses preach being transparent and customer-focused, but Nicolet is a great example of a financial institution that’s practicing what they preach. They realize that they’re relatively new to the social space, they’re learning as they go. And they’re bringing along anyone and everyone who wants a ride. When you wipe away all the glitz and get to the surface, the one key ingredient to Nicolet National Bank is they have a strategy for their social efforts and they tie it to their overall communications plan.

“We’re realistic, we know we can’t go toe-to-toe with the bigger banks. They can spend in two weeks what we spend all year,” Gahnz said. “Our overall investment in social media is around what the bigger institutions spend on traditional media in a 2-month period. While they continue to fight the battle of whether or not to get involved, social media allows a bank our size to play offense.”

Big news out of the financial industry today. First reported by Silicon Alley Insider, and more recently confirmed by Mint CEO, Intuit – best known for Quicken, QuickBooks and TurboTax – has agreed to acquire Mint for $170 million.

Mint, the fastest growing free online personal finance service, launched two years ago and has been picking up steam ever since. In 2007, it won the TechCrunch40 and walked away with $50,000. Prior to today’s agreement, it had raised $32 million in three venture rounds.

While Mint was certainly innovative, the key to it’s success can be attributed to doing business the only way it knew how:

“So that’s the Mint story. $0 to $170m in three years flat. While everyone else was doing social media, music, video or the startup de jour, we tried to ground ourselves in what any business should be doing: solve a real problem for people. Make something that is faster, more efficient, cheaper (in this case free), and innovate on technology or business model to make a healthy revenue stream doing it.” – Aaron Patzer, CEO and founder of Mint.com

It’ll be interesting to see how Intuit implements Mint, as it appears that Intuit plans on keeping it’s Quicken online.  Overall, this deal made complete sense for Intuit. It was sitting on a boatload of cash with the prospect of zero growth. If you can’t beat ‘em, buy ‘em.

Your thoughts?

UPDATE:

Some recent updates to Mint’s iPhone app, Editing & Passcode

Within this space, I hope to share information, ideas and examples of how financial organizations are utilizing the social space. For those that aren’t or for those that are hesitant, I hope to be a resource who can show you how your organization can benefit from social media and emerging technology.

Please feel free to jump in and join the discussion. If you know of any financial institutions or businesses that serve the financial industry that are currently utilizing the digital and social space, please pass their info along.

Thanks for visiting and I look forward to connecting with you.