Online banks, awash with data from their customers’ smartphones, are leading the way in personalising financial services.
Monzo Bank, the mobile-only banking service launched in 2015, is taking personalisation to a new level, according to chief executive and co-founder Tom Blomfield.
The bank is using data on customers’ spending habits to advise them how to save money. For instance, the bank’s data shows that 30,000 customers use their Monzo cards for pay-as-you-go Transport for London trips on tubes and buses every day.
“We have data on those people, we know where they live, we know where they travel to, we know how much they spend. We can suggest to these people that actually they would be better off getting a year-long travel card and save a couple of hundred pounds,” says Mr Blomfield.
Analysing data to help customers improve their finances will, he believes, be the future for financial services brands over coming years. Monzo offers customers financial advice based on their spending patterns and helps them to save money, budget responsibly and to find the best deals, he claims.