Press Release

Barlow Research Press Release - March 19th, 2019

9th Gear Technologies, Bottomline Technologies, Bank of America and KeyBank are winners in Barlow Research’s 2019 Monarch Innovation Awards. The winners were chosen based on their innovative products and features.

The Monarch Innovation Awards (www.MonarchInnovationAwards.com) are unique and coveted. The 2019 Monarch Award nominations are scored based on uniqueness, stickiness, defendability, ease of use, value and their ‘wow’ factor. This year’s winners were judged by a panel of four jurists: Nick Miller, Clarity Advantage; Mary Beth Sullivan, Capital Performance Group; Russ Fearing, FIS Global; and John O’Connor, Praxis Advisors, LLC.

Overall Most Innovative Award: 9th Gear Technologies
9th Gear is the only institutional foreign exchange (FX) marketplace with on-demand payment liquidity, enabling same day trading and settlement. They offer greater transparency, reduced risk and lower cost to significantly more participants. Through a digital transformation of the backend, 9th Gear has re-imagined the FX transaction, moving from today’s simple messaging platform-based process where a handful of global banks dominate the industry and trades take two days to settle, to a process that is open to brand new participants and can be completed in minutes. 9th Gear leverages the smart contracts and distributed ledger of a private permissioned blockchain to transform this $5.1 trillion daily industry.

Most Innovative Industry Partner: Bottomline Technologies Business Account Opening and Onboarding
Bottomline’s Business Account Opening and Onboarding solution is a comprehensive end-to-end solution that allows financial institutions to open, fund, and onboard small business accounts quickly and easily through a fully digitized experience. A mobile first experience to complete all steps related to opening, funding, and onboarding a small business account at the financial institution, while meeting risk and compliance standards unique to small business customers.

Most Innovative Product/Feature Award: Bank of America Business Advantage Relationship Rewards
Relationship Rewards is a comprehensive, multi-product rewards program available in the small business banking space. The program attracts, rewards, and strengthens the loyalty of our small business clients with a compelling suite of benefits that grows as their qualifying business deposit and investment balances increase.

Honorable Mention: KeyBank Small Business Wellness Review
The KeyBank Small Business Wellness Review is a patent-pending tool that uses AI and analytics to revolutionize how branch bankers and small business customers interact. The tool was created inhouse with Human Centered Design and Agile methodologies for a simple and intuitive experience for both, employees and clients. Coupled with skill-based training, the Small Business Wellness Review allows KeyBank associates to deliver industry expertise and customized solutions to address specific small business owner needs.

For more information, contact Emily Cade, Barlow Research Associates, 763-253-1817 or ecade@barlowresearch.com

About Barlow Research Associates, Inc. (BRAI):
Barlow Research Associates, Inc. was founded in 1980 to provide research and consulting services to the banking industry in the U.S. and overseas. BRAI specializes in custom research, strategic consulting and syndicated research programs in small business, middle market and digital business banking. All three syndicated programs provide a continuous flow of market knowledge and competitive intelligence to member institutions. www.BarlowResearch.com


Copyright Business Wire 2019

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