NEW YORK — A group of 11 credit union and CUSO executives went to the Finovate Fall 2010 conference with a mission: to witness the latest innovations in financial technology and envision their applications for credit unions.

They were there on behalf of the Filene Research Institute, which offered them the chance to attend the Oct. 4-5 conference at a discount in return for their commitment to meet virtually over the next six months to bring their ideas to fruition.

The first step in that process was Ideafest, a post-conference meeting hosted by Denise Gabel, Filene's chief innovation officer. In a space provided by Melrose Credit Union in Queens, N.Y., the executives shared their impressions of the 56 products presented at the conference and settled upon the theme of small business.

“In the current environment, small business is such an opportunity for credit unions to grow,” said Larry Jones, assistant vice president of lending at Bethpage Federal Credit Union in Bethpage, N.Y.

From the list of 56 products, the group identified seven that relate to small business owners and the financial institutions that serve them: billFLO, Capital Access Network's Daily Remittance Platform, CashEdge's Popmoney for Small Business, Fiserv's ZashPay, Kashoo.com, Outright.com, and Strands Labs' Strands PFM.

The group members plan to conduct research on these products and services and provide their peers in the CU industry with product reviews from a credit union perspective, as well as some comparisons with competing products. This month, they will be reaching out to the vendors to get the process started.

–mmurphy@cutimes.com

Instant Insights /

For Filene Ideafest Group, Small Business Is the Take-Away From Finovate

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