BankMobile, a division of Customers Bank (CUBI) and the first and only bank offering a no fee, mobile, online and tablet banking platform, today announced the winner of its first "BYOB -- Build Your Own Bank" crowdsourcing contest.
Stephanie Hallgarth was selected after winning the highest number of public votes on Facebook with her video entry entitled "Beyond Banking," which discusses her idea to combine a person's calendar with the BankMobile application.
Hallgarth discusses how a person's schedule is often tied to their bank account and proposes linking the two in what she considers the "first banking live organizer." Her submission focuses on taking banking to a new level, being able to organize your life schedule in one place including linking to Facebook for birthday and event reminders so you can keep track of all spending as it relates to your upcoming personal commitments.
"We are delighted to announce that Stephanie has won the contest with her innovative idea that supports our mission of simplifying your life and providing you with the tools to be financially empowered," stated Luvleen Sidhu, Chief Strategy & Marketing Officer at BankMobile. "Crowdsourcing has always played an integral role in our bank and we look forward to implementing this idea and allowing the voices of our prospective and current customers to be heard."
A busy mother of three, Hallgarth will first set aside part of the $5,000 prize money for each of her children's college funds and part of the money for her upcoming wedding in September 2015.
"I truly believe that BankMobile is a bank that cares about all of its customers and was so shocked and thrilled to find out that I won the contest," Hallgarth stated. "I am looking forward to putting a portion of the money away towards my children's education and am excited to see the implementation of my idea into the app."
Although the final judging was done by public vote, the 10 finalists were picked by judges Esha Chhabra, Contributor to Forbes; David Gerbino, Database, Digital and Email Marketer and a Writer for Financial Brand, a prominent banking publication; Luvleen Sidhu, Chief Strategy & Marketing Officer of BankMobile; Jay Sidhu, CEO of BankMobile and Customers Bank; and Warren Taylor, President of BankMobile.
All entries were evaluated by the five judges on the following criteria:
1. Creativity: Has this been done before by another financial institution?
2. Cost: How much would this idea cost to implement?
3. Feasibility: Can this idea be implemented?
4. Alignment: Does this fit in within BankMobile's value set?
Hallgarth will be working with the BankMobile product team this summer to help implement her winning idea.