ActivePath

Headquarters: New York

Technology: Email security

Why it's one to watch: ActivePath forges a direct path from an email to financial services products, limiting navigation and providing security.

ActivePath's new ActiveMail lets banks send secure email messages to customers containing alerts, electronic statements, bills, marketing messages and special offers. Customers click on the "take action" button of their choice to initiate, complete and confirm a financial transaction, all without leaving the body of the original email. "It brings your email to life," said Jason Schwartz, CFO for ActivePath, who says the product lets banks give customers fast options such as same-screen account transfers included with low balance alerts. "For years the way we all used email was as a one-way passive tool."

Email-embedded "take action" options include rolling over an existing CD or making a loan payment. All transactions are confirmed with a single click within the original email.

The technology serves a need - improving email technology to make the venue more attractive to users - that pundits say is necessary to move automated interaction between banks and their customers forward.

"One of the things we've been calling for at Javelin is innovation that creates a digital experience that is better than what a consumer can get with paper statements," says Mark Schwanhausser, a senior analyst with Javelin Strategy and Research. "Interactive emails can be part of that better alternative. For example, we've long said consumers need more than notification via a financial alert. They need a way to take action."

Also, via a new partnership with Cardlytics, ActivePath is enabling financial institutions to email enhanced estatements featuring personalized loyalty offers that can be securely viewed and transacted from directly within the email message without the need to log onto the bank's site, open an attachment or download a statement.

Schwartz did not disclose financial services clients, but said ActivePath has licensed the system to two of the largest banks in Israel, and in Brazil, the firm is driving a paperless eStatement adoption for a bank in that country. Schwartz said the firm is also in pilot with a number of U.S. banks. Security is provided in part via encryption embedded in the add-on device, and a visual logo cue in the users' inbox that identifies legitimate bank communications. Selling security will play a big part of the firm's ultimate success in attracting banks, as Schwanhausser said most banks have traditionally educated customers to not open email attachments - which can be infected with phishing attacks.

For reprint and licensing requests for this article, click here.
Bank technology
MORE FROM AMERICAN BANKER