Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

PERSONAL FINANCE MANAGEMENT DISRUPTORS: Here's what banks can learn from innovative providers reaping ROI from personal finance management tools

This report explores what defines the cutting edge of PFM today, and what banks can learn from innovative providers to boost their own offerings.

Personal finance management (PFM) tools can allow banks to create highly personalized customer experiences and, in turn, drive revenue and retention.

The diversity of today's PFM market illustrates the value that a wide range of providers see in developing such offerings, but its promise — PFM was lauded as the future of banking for over a decade — has long failed to materialize for most incumbent banks as well as consumers. PFM user share plateaued at between 10% and 12% as of 2017, the most recently available data, per Celent.

This plateau is the result of several design flaws that made earlier iterations of PFM tools unengaging. These include only showing users their financial data without providing actionable insights, personalized financial advice, or tools to manage their finances more easily; poor user experience (UX) due to many banks' PFM functionalities being confined to separate tabs to better track engagement metrics; and limited data sharing before open banking regulations (in some jurisdictions), making personalization difficult to achieve due to incomplete financial data for each user.

Today's most sophisticated PFM features, however, can give users maximal control of their finances while requiring little effort on users' end through advances in AI, smart analytics, automation, and regulations like open banking. A new breed of PFM providers is drawing on these developments to roll out features that are more insightful, accurate, and predictive than before, making them a powerful tool for getting consumers to engage with their finances in a meaningful way. Customers are responding to this upgraded version of PFM, and banks need to pay attention or they'll risk eroding customer engagement and loyalty. As customers engage with their finances more meaningfully, banks can translate this increased engagement into more revenue.

In the Personal Finance Management Disruptors report, Insider Intelligence gives an overview of the major categories of players shaping the PFM market today. We continue by outlining some best practices for banks looking to upgrade their PFM offerings, based on exclusive interviews conducted with seven leading PFM providers. We then present the PFM Digital Maturity Model to show banks and other providers the standards they should be aiming for as they build new PFM features to satisfy customers. We continue by making the case for why banks should reinvest in PFM, and why they can't afford not to. Then, we examine eight sophisticated PFM features we believe are bringing significant value to customers and banks today, enriched through our interviews with the companies providing them.

The companies mentioned in this report include: Cleo AI, Greenlight, Meniga, Minna Technologies, N26, Personal Capital, Personetics, and Strands.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:

*  PFM tools allow financial services providers to create highly personalized customer experiences and drive revenue and retention in turn — but banks are falling short of customers' expectations. Consumers are more dissatisfied with their banks' PFM services than with any other type of services they provide, and more than 40% of those surveyed stated that they find PFM services from nonbank providers more useful and helpful, per Oracle.

*  There's ample demand for bank-provided PFM tools, however, suggesting that banks should revisit in PFM tools as an essential value proposition. Over 75% of respondents to an RFi survey cited by The Financial Brand said they would prefer to use PFM tools from their primary financial services provider (typically a bank). This compares with just 6% who said they'd prefer PFM tools from fintechs or neobanks.

*  The more that banks can employ highly mature PFM tools, the better they will be able to capture the significant opportunity presented. They can specifically gain ROI on their PFM investments in two key areas:
     *  Customer retention: 71% of Gen Zers believe brands should "help them achieve personal goals and aspirations," per PSFK data, so incorporating personalized insights and advice into banks' PFM products would create substantial customer value.
     *  Increased customer lifetime value: On average, bank customers who make use of PFM tools are 18% wealthier than those who don't, per Javelin Research data cited by MX, and they tend to own every major financial product, such as mortgages and car loans, all of which are key bank revenue sources.

In full, the report:

*  Provides best practices for banks looking to upgrade their PFM offerings to bring more value to their customers.

*  Gives an overview of the main types of companies shaping the cutting edge of PFM in today's crowded market.

*  Presents the PFM Digital Maturity Model to help banks understand what separates mature from basic PFM features.

*  Explains why reinvesting in PFM is imperative for banks, and what they stand to gain from doing so.

*  Examines winning strategies for implementing sophisticated PFM features, based on exclusive interviews.


Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Miles Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Cristiano Ronaldo Makes Surprise Stop at New Hong Kong Museum
Zelenskyy to Visit Washington after Trump–Putin Summit Yields No Agreement
High-Stakes Trump-Putin Summit on Ukraine Underway in Alaska
Iranian Protection Offers Chinese Vehicle Shipments a Cost Advantage over Japanese and Korean Makers
Saudi Arabia accelerates renewables to curb domestic oil use
Cristiano Ronaldo and Georgina Rodríguez announce engagement
Asia-Pacific dominates world’s busiest flight routes, with South Korea’s Jeju–Seoul corridor leading global rankings
Private Welsh island with 19th-century fort listed for sale at over £3 million
Sam Altman challenges Elon Musk with plans for Neuralink rival
Australia to Recognize the State of Palestine at UN Assembly
The Collapse of the Programmer Dream: AI Experts Now the Real High-Earners
Armenia and Azerbaijan to Sign US-Brokered Framework Agreement for Nakhchivan Corridor
British Labour Government Utilizes Counter-Terrorism Tools for Social Media Monitoring Against Legitimate Critics
WhatsApp Deletes 6.8 Million Scam Accounts Amid Rising Global Fraud
Nine people have been hospitalized and dozens of salmonella cases have been reported after an outbreak of infections linked to certain brands of pistachios and pistachio-containing products, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada
Texas Residents Face Water Restrictions While AI Data Centers Consume Millions of Gallons
Tariffs, AI, and the Shifting U.S. Macro Landscape: Navigating a New Economic Regime
India Rejects U.S. Tariff Threat, Defends Russian Oil Purchases
United States Establishes Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and Digital Asset Stockpile
Thousands of Private ChatGPT Conversations Accidentally Indexed by Google
China Tightens Mineral Controls, Curtailing Critical Inputs for Western Defence Contractors
OpenAI’s Bold Bet: Teaching AI to Think, Not Just Chat
BP’s Largest Oil and Gas Find in 25 Years Uncovered Offshore Brazil
JPMorgan and Coinbase Unveil Partnership to Let Chase Cardholders Buy Crypto Directly
British Tourist Dies Following Hair Transplant in Turkey, Police Investigate
WhatsApp Users Targeted in New Scam Involving Account Takeovers
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Germany’s Economic Breakdown and the Return of Militarization: From Industrial Collapse to a New Offensive Strategy
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
President Trump Diagnosed with Chronic Venous Insufficiency After Leg Swelling
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
Kurdistan Workers Party Takes Symbolic Step Towards Peace in Northern Iraq
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
Russia Formally Recognizes Taliban Government in Afghanistan
×