724 Solutions Offering Banks Wireless Account Aggregation

The wireless banking software provider 724 Solutions Inc. and its new ezlogin.com subsidiary say they are about to make wireless financial account aggregation a reality.

The companies expect to make a series of announcements in the next 30 days naming the first financial institutions to aggregate accounts over wireless devices, said Jean-Noel Lebrun, president, chief executive officer, and co-founder of Mountain View, Calif.-based ezlogin.com.

Ezlogin.com, an account aggregator that Toronto-based 724 Solutions bought in mid-June, is doing tests with six financial institutions. It would not name them but did say that some are 724 Solutions customers. The Canadian company’s client roster includes Bank of Montreal, Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp., Wells Fargo & Co., and Claritybank.com.

The tests “are going well and to plan,” Mr. Lebrun said. “We expect to open some services to the public this summer.”

Ezlogin.com, which competes against aggregators such as Yodlee and VerticalOne, says it has registered 15,000 users with little marketing effort. It supports 3,000 Web sites, 300 of which are financial sites. Since the first quarter, it has offered aggregation of financial and nonfinancial accounts such as e-mail on Palm VII handheld devices and mobile phones, the latter by way of ClickServices.com.

Teaming up with 724 Solutions has given ezlogin.com strong sales and marketing backup along with expertise in wireless and security technology, Mr. Lebrun said. The combined companies have 70 employees working on aggregation in Paris, Toronto, and Mountain View.

Ezlogin.com’s features include personal summary statements and the ability to log in, register, and share information in one-click transactions. Companies can run ezlogin.com applications internally or outsourced to its service bureau.

“Essentially we provide the infrastructure, software, and personalization platform,” Mr. Lebrun said.

In addition to financial institutions, ezlogin is working with portals and wireless companies.

Mr. Lebrun said that, though America is catching up to Europe in its use of wireless, barriers remain — including high roaming charges and the popularity of calling cards, which are “not big in Europe.” Europeans are used to paying more than Americans do for telephone service, he said, and thus are more inclined to shell out for the expense of a mobile phone.

But he predicted that wireless account aggregation will grow rapidly in the United States. “It will be a lot of use to our customers and a good service for us and banks.”

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