An important part of Finovate Conferences, at least for the winners, is the voting process for best demo. All non-presenting attendees receive a ballot which allows them to rate each demo on a scale of one to seven. At the end of the final demo sessions, the ballots are tallied and the presenters ranked 1 through 40 based on the average score. A majority of attendees complete a ballot so it's a good indicator of the group consensus.

There were dozens of awesome demos to choose from, but the peoples' choice yesterday are shown below (in alphabetic order). Congratulations!

 First ROI (BancVue)             Jwaala

Zecco                                                                        Zopa

Videos of all the demos will be available soon at the FinovateStartup website.

If you are a subscriber to our Online Banking Report (see #150), you know how impressed we are with the work of BancVue and FirstROI. They are the team behind the 400+ rewards checking accounts we first discusssed here in early January (see note 1).

The reward-checking phenomena, largely created by these companies, landed as the sixth most important trend of 2007, according to our year-end report. The Wall Street Journal looked at several BancVue clients in an article last weekend (here).

If you are looking for ideas to spice up your Web-based marketing, take a close look at the FirstROI portfolio (note 2). They are doing some of the most creative work I've seen in 12 years of following the space, rivaling the UK banks, which have long set the bar for online bank marketing.

Case in point: Green Reward Checking from Bank of Hiawassee/Blairsville/Blue Ridge, all part of Georgia's $440 million Chatuge Bank Shares is well-explained in a clever Flash animation (see first screenshot below). Wisconsin's $770 million First Banking Center uses similar Flash techniques with a much more "serious" branding (see second screenshot below).

Green Reward Checking from Chatuge Bank Shares Inc. <www.frogreward.com>  
$440 million-asset bank headquartered in Hiawassee, Georgia

First Banking Center Rewards Checking
<firstbankingcenterrewards.com>
$760 million asset bank in southern Wisconsin

Notes:

1. (2) The credit union that first sparked our interest in the subject, Verity Credit Union, was advertising its reward product, Velocity Checking <velocitychecking.com>, on the radio this morning during Seattle's rush hour. The focus was on the 6% APY.
2. (1) First ROI will demo its latest innovations at our FINOVATE Startup conference April 29 in San Francisco.

For someone whose job it is to stay on top of innovations in financial services, I hate to admit I'm late to the party on the so-called "reward checking" phenomena. Last year, I'd noticed a number of smaller financial institutions launching high-yield checking accounts, but I hadn't realized it was a national trend primarily powered by a single bank tech supplier, Austin, Texas-based BancVue (see note 1).

According to a November BankRate article, more than 350 U.S. banks and credit unions now offer so-called "reward checking accounts" powered by BancVue with 30 new ones coming on board each month. These checking accounts usually pay high rates of interest, typically 6%, if users meet high levels of electronic banking activity each month.

Typical requirements to earn the high yield:

• 10 to 12 debit card transactions each month
• Electronic statements (no paper)
• Online banking usage

Typically, the following benefits are paid ONLY when the above requirements are met:

• 5% to 6% interest on the first $25,000 to $40,000 in balances
• ATM refunds up to $10 to $15/mo

And most seem to include:

• No monthly fees regardless of activity or balance levels, so the account can be marketed as "free"

Marketing
Another distinguishing characteristic of these accounts is the innovative marketing and website design. With the help of BancVue, smaller banks and credit unions are able to offer a level of design and pizzazz that meets or exceeds the typical megabank high-budget program.

Here are some of the more interesting BancVue-powered programs we've looked at (screenshots follow):

• Velocity Checking <velocitychecking.com> from Seattle's Verity Credit Union
  Earn 6.01% on balances up to $40,000 and receive ATM refunds up to $25 when meeting the following monthly requirements:
  - 12 debit transactions
  - 1 online banking login
  - electronic statement in lieu of paper
  
• Turbo Checking <turbochecking.com> from New Mexico's Charter Bank
  Earn 6.01% on balances up to $25,000 and ATM refunds when meeting the following monthly requirements:
  - 10 debit transactions
  - receipt of 1 direct payroll deposit or other automated ACH deposit
  - 1 login to online banking
  - electronic statement in lieu of paper

And our favorite, which substitutes iTunes downloads for the high-yield benefit:

• FreeTunes Checking <freetuneschecking.com> from Oregon Community Credit Union (see note 2)
  Earns 4 free iTunes downloads each month provided the following are met:
  - 12 debit transactions
  - 1 login to online banking
  - electronic statement in lieu of paper

Screenshots

Velocity Checking from Verity Credit Union

Turbo Checking from Charter Bank

FreeTunes Checking from Oregon Community Credit Union

Notes:

1. I began researching this area after reading Verity Credit Union CMO Shari Storm's recent blog post (here) about how she'd changed her payments behavior to make the 12 monthly debits required for its Velocity Checking.

2. Oregon Community Credit Union also offers a high-yield version, Remarkable Checking, that substitutes a 5.05% APY on all checking account balances instead of the free music. Monthly account requirements are the same.