Turning Digital Banking into a Financial Journey Starts with the First Paycheck

It has been eight years since the iPhone launched the “there’s an app for that” mobile movement, yet online and mobile retail banking still applies a one-size-fits-all approach that fails to target the specific needs of segments such as Gen Y, affluent investors, and microbusiness owners. There is no better place to start a segmentation discussion than with Gen Y consumers because they need cost-effective coaching as they face life-altering financial decisions. Perhaps most important, they need help to minimize the counterproductive emotions of money — anxiety, feelings of incompetence, instant gratification, and denial — and counter them with a sense of control, confidence, and empowerment. Javelin’s model for details how to build digital banking on a foundation of time-tested personal finance principles and integrate tools, insight, and advice that will enable customers to develop healthy, lifelong financial habits with every login, in the course of everyday banking. Javelin’s approach structures digital banking as the centerpiece of a consumer’s financial journey that starts with the first paycheck —and positions banks and credit unions as the trusted guide.

Primary Questions:

• Why is traditional personal finance management (PFM) such a disappointment, and why does it fall short in a mobile-first era?
• How many Americans use PFM tools from banks, software such as Quicken, and third-party sites and apps such as Mint, Mint Bills, and Credit Karma?
• Which third-party apps are winning with consumers?
• Are bank customers using third-party apps and desktop PFM, and which leading FIs have the biggest problem?
• How could FIs use fundamental personal finance principles to create healthy lifelong habits?
• How can FIs use this model to build trust and become a customer’s primary FI?

Companies Mentioned: 

Press release: 10 Time-Tested Personal Finance Principles Can Transform Digital Banking

• The consumer data in this report is based primarily on a random-sample panel of 8,552 consumers in a November 2014 online survey.
• The report also draws on an online survey of 6,000 consumers in April–May 2015.