Intuit BankNOW — The Fast and Simple Way to Bank Online; New Bank-Branded Online Software Technology Invents New Market

Business Wire, June 12, 1996

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 12, 1996--Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ:INTU) today announced BankNOW, new software technology created expressly for PC users who want to conduct online banking and bill payment transactions with great speed and no hassles.

The all-in-one screen, no-navigation-required BankNOW online banking software will link more than six million America Online subscribers with participating financial institutions beginning later this summer. Intuit will make BankNOW technology available for Internet users later this year.

Financial institutions offering online banking via Quicken can quickly and easily offer BankNOW too, and many will begin introducing BankNOW for AOL in late summer 1996; others will begin offering these services throughout 1996 and beyond.

BankNOW is free-to-the-customer online banking software that does exactly what a large market of convenience-oriented customers want: it schedules bills to be paid and does transfers between accounts electronically while calculating and giving control over the customer's real balance. Most importantly for these customers, BankNOW is superfast with zero hassles.

"BankNOW opens online banking to millions who want to save time and eliminate hassles," said Scott Cook, chairman and co-founder of Intuit. "This is precisely what an emerging segment of PC users have been seeking and until now, could not get anywhere."

Steve Case, chairman and CEO of America Online, Inc. said "Intuit has unique insights into the minds of consumers and an unparalleled ability to convert those insights into high value, high impact personal finance software. We're looking forward to making these advancements available to our six million members."

New type of "online software" for a new market segment

The personal financial management (PFM) software category and Quicken in particular continues to grow rapidly, growing by well more than one million new Quicken users in each of the past three years. Currently more than nine million US consumers and businesses use Quicken. With more than 80 percent share of retail sales, Quicken remains the consumers' choice for PFM software.

Yet not all PC households are buying Quicken. Intuit research has found that 40 percent of the non-buyers say they have no need for the financial organization and tracking of PFM software. They just want to pay bills fast and avoid overdrafting. Intuit calls this market segment "Transactors" because they are so different from the "Organizers" who buy PFM software.

The difference is deeply pyschographic: Transactors have an entirely opposite mindset from the Organizers who buy all PFM products. Organizers want to organize, categorize and track their finances; Transactors don't. Transactors just want to pay bills and avoid overdrafts as fast as possible with zero hassle.

"Nothing to date has met Transactors' needs. No one software can satisfy two so opposite mindsets. And Transactors' need for speed makes them shudder at the waits inherent in 28.8 dialup online technology," said Cook. "What's needed is a different architecture and design built for Transactors from the ground up, and that's BankNOW."

Transactors have a thirst for speed: BankNOW satisfies this need. It is built for speed, from the tightly written C code, to the application itself, which is closely integrated into the platform and resides on the client, eliminating sluggish downloads.

A key feature is functionality to prevent overdrafts, since relying on the bank balance alone can create overdrafts. This is because the bank balance alone often overstates the funds available due to outstanding checks the bank does not know about. Thus many consumers must calculate their real balance by hand before paying bills. BankNOW automates this and its syncromatic technology keeps the balance accurate as checks clear the bank. A feature called UniView shows the effect of payments enabling the user to edit or delay payments to fit the real balance available.

Transactors demand zero hassles. BankNOW's online architecture means users start up with zero data entry and zero need to know a starting balance. As a result, users begin with the screen already filled with information from their financial institution.

BankNOW achieves extraordinary simplicity with an all-in-one screen design, called UniView, which eliminates navigation and confusion. You can't get lost. Transactions are done in simple pop ups, equipped with unique "sticky note help."

BankNOW works with accounts at multiple financial institutions, just as consumers do.

As does Quicken, BankNOW provides a state-of-the-art level of security. Security includes 1024-bit RSA Data Security with triple DES and end-to-end encryption to secure transactions while in transit between the AOL member's PC and the member's financial institution. These will supplement existing AOL and financial institutions' own security measures.

Banks gain new solutions that leverage their technology investment

The introduction of BankNOW will benefit financial institutions by expanding the online banking marketplace. "With BankNOW, our financial institution partners gain a quick-to-market advantage in serving this new segment of Transactor online banking customers," said Cook.