Overview

 

In the modern vernacular of personal finance, personal financial management (PFM) has taken on an entirely new and increasingly dynamic intent. Direct-to-consumer PFM products are competing head to head against retail financial institutions and investment companies, all of which want to be the financial hub of their account holder's lives, including influencing their final spending decisions.

In new research, Personal Financial Management Tools: Bills, Budgets, and Beyond, Mercator Advisory Group explores the increasingly important role PFM is playing in the financial services market as a spectrum of services designed to help consumers better manage their money through visibility into information and applied analytics.

"Personal Financial Management (PFM) technologies are poised to move the market much closer to realizing the potential of creating financial lifestyle segments and as a result, building stronger, more valuable account relationships and income opportunities for banks and credit unions," comments Patricia Hewitt, director of Mercator Advisory Group's Debit Advisory Service and author of the report.

 

Major highlights of this report include:

  • The ways consumer banking is being redefined through the strategic use of next-generation PFM products
  • Alliances PFM developers are forming with market segmentation and campaign management application experts to better monetize PFM services
  • The impact of Mint's integration into financial institution-delivered products
  • The leading PFM development companies and the ways they are changing their products to address institutional demands for better return on investment
This report is 21 pages long and has 10 exhibits:
Figure 1: PFM Products Are Being Redesigned to be Actionable, Dynamic Services
Figure 2: Checking Account Balances Daily Is Becoming a Habit for All Account Holders, Regardless of Access Device
Figure 3: Consumers Checking Their Account Balances Want Up-to-the-Minute Information, Especially If They're Mobile Banking Users
Figure 4: Tablet Usage Indicates Material Increase in Use of PFM Tools
Figure 5: PayOff Aims to Put Some "Fun" into PFM, but There Is Serious Science Behind the Scenes
Figure 6: Wells Fargo's My Money Map Takes a Traditionalist Approach to PFM
Figure 7: PFM Products Are the Brainchild of Information Technology Companies
Figure 8: Industry-Leading Solutions Extend the Reach of PFM Products to Managing Spending and Savings
Figure 9: Financial Institutions Will Increasingly Use Expert PFM Services to Drive Cross-Sell Strategies
Table 1: Direct-to-Consumer PFM Products Offer More Features than Financial Institutions' PFM Products
Entities mentioned in this report include: BridgeTrack, FinanceWorks, Intuit, Geezeo, Mint, MoneyDesktop, SapientNitro, Strands Finance, Wells Fargo, and Yodlee.
Members of Mercator Advisory Group's Debit Advisory Service have access to this report as well as the upcoming research for the year ahead, presentations, analyst access and other membership benefits.

 

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