While most banks still do not offer a forecasting type feature Wells Fargo has added it to enhance their app experience; the bank says a customer can receive 50 different messages based on their account activity; “Having information in the palm of their hands can help lead customers to take action and make more informed financial choices,” Steve Ellis, who heads the bank’s innovation group, said in a press release reported by American Banker; the bank has had their share of issues recently but innovation has been one area where the company has excelled. Source.
Tink just closed a €90 million funding round; now Tink is working with BNP Paribas on account aggregation, payment initiation...
Most financial services firms look to educate users by having a blog or providing some links to resources; Acorns CEO Noah Kerner says the company wants to go further, they have their own online magazine, interviews with celebrities and provide financial how tos; they will also push content to you based upon how you use the app, trying to customize your experience; the big difference they see is when they combine education with the app experience, helping to move education beyond just reading articles. Source.
Personal credit and financial management firm Credit Sesame raised $42mn in equity and venture debt; investors include Menlo Ventures, Inventus Capital, Globespan Capital, IA Capital and SF Capital; the capital will be used for growth, hiring, customer acquisition and to build out their machine learning technologies. Source.
U.K. based personal financial management app Emma recently launched in December and has struck data sharing deals with Starling Bank and Monzo; the app also works across 17 banks to screen scrape data as the banks work towards compliance with open banking; Emma is a budgeting app that helps customers avoid overdrafts and sees a big opportunity with the open banking regulations; “We’re building a tech company, and we understand that the data [play] goes beyond just overdrafts — it’s about understanding when certain events happen, money can be saved or invested,” said Emma founder and CEO Edoardo Moreni to TearSheet. Source.
Ally Bank is launching an augmented reality game during the Super Bowl to help customers visualize and think about savings; Ally Big Save can be used during Super Bowl commercials to drag bills in a digital piggy bank and they are granted points during the game; the goal is to make people have fun but think about saving money; “While the game is a lot of fun, it’s also a way for Ally to help consumers focus on saving for something bigger to make a more meaningful impact on what matters most to them and those they care about,” said Andrea Brimmer, Ally’s chief marketing and public relations officer, to TearSheet; Ally is not the first bank to experiment with augmented or virtual reality, other banks have started to use the technology as means of innovative marketing to engage customers. Source.
Mastercard announced the new service, Assemble, will allow Mastercard partners to provide checking, budgeting and other money management tools; partners can choose from a white label version or integrate certain functions through an API; the product is geared towards millennials and is part of a wider trend in the market; Tom Cronin, Mastercard's senior vice president of global prepaid product development, said “This technology enables our partners to deliver best-in-class digital experiences today, as we work to address additional segments such as gig economy workers and underserved consumers and micro businesses.” Source.
A new survey by Israel-based Bank Leumi’s challenger brand Pepper found 90 percent of UK consumers feel they are undereducated...
Renowned behavioral economist Dan Ariely is the new Chairman of savings app Qapital; Tearsheet interviewed Ariely to discuss what is...
Goldman Sachs is currently in discussions to buy personal financial management app Clarity Money according to reporting by American Banker; they plan to roll the company in their Marcus brand; this is the latest move by the wall street titan to build out their consumer focus; Clarity Money uses AI to help consumers make better financial decisions by lowering bills, finding better credit cards and creating a savings account. Source.