Innovating Products and Services
U.S. Bancorp possesses the innovative vision, disciplined investment procedures and operational capability which are critical in developing products, services and delivery systems that create customer value, competitive advantages and new sources of revenue.
Fast-paced change has long been a hallmark of the banking industry, and at no time has this been more evident than today. Changing customer demands and expectations have driven innovation, as have relentless competitive pressures. Technological advances in hardware, software, programming and platforms have facilitated innovation, making possible transactions, speed and accuracy that would have been unimaginable just a few short years ago.
Successful History of Innovation
U.S. Bancorp has a successful track record of innovation in developing and enhancing products and services, as well as a history of intellectual property development and patent success.
One of those successes is our PowerTrack® Payment Network, providing online commercial payment services for payables, receivables, freight, telecom, utilities and global trade payments. Another is our SinglePoint® suite of treasury management services from a single point of access. A third is Access® Online, a unique commercial card program management tool completely owned and operated by U.S. Bank. Its functionality is built on Service Oriented Architecture to leverage the latest technology and ensure scalability and flexibility, solve workflow problems and support everyday business processes.
New Ideas for Tomorrow
Until recently, many of our innovation efforts were focused on improving existing products and services and improving their delivery. Many were driven by near-term needs, with limited cross channel or product integration. Today, U.S. Bank’s innovation process is newly structured to broaden efforts at the enterprise level and identify future customer needs, utilizing advanced market research techniques and the latest technology. A focus is to leverage our strengths in payments while developing new businesses and products across all lines of business.
Supporting Innovation Through Investment in Emerging Industries
U.S. Bank also supports the innovations of pioneering companies outside of our industry. We finance the work of original and new businesses and provide other financial services they need to grow their businesses profitably.
U.S. Bank supports fast-growing wind energy industry
The U.S. currently leads the world in wind capacity growth and ranks third globally in total wind capacity. U.S. Bank has strong banking relationships with leading wind energy companies such as Airtricity North America which has a wind farm portfolio with 214 megawatts in operation and approximately 2.0 gigawatts of wind energy in development. Financing the wind energy sector helps the nation deal with environmental change and energy security. U.S. Bank provides the wind energy sector with treasury management and investment services, foreign exchange, credit cards, letters of credit and financing for wind farm construction.
Our Electronic Check Service lets retailers accept checks as easily and fast as card payments
U.S. Bank Electronic Check Service is designed to convert consumer checks to EFT (electronic funds transfer) transactions using MICR and check imaging so companies can process all checks electronically. It’s an integrated end-to-end solution that is faster, more economical, presents less risk to the merchant, accelerates funds availability and expedites end-of-day processing for our customers. Electronic Check Service also supports a variety of card-based payment options, providing companies a single solution for all of their electronic payment processing needs. The nation’s top retailers save time, money and resources using U.S. Bank Electronic Check Service.
Ground-breaking new fund helps global development
FAF Advisors, the investment advisor to First American Funds, recently launched the First American Global Infrastructure Fund, one of the first of its type in the industry. The fund allows FAF Advisors to exhibit thought leadership and capitalize on early-mover advantage. Global infrastructure funds help finance the repair, replacement, and modernization of infrastructure worldwide. They also support new and innovative technology, including renewable energy. Infrastructure funds can also provide valuable diversification for investors. The new fund offers a highly differentiated strategy from its competitors and leverages the experience of FAF Advisors’ real estate investment team in fields related to global infrastructure.
