My favourite FinTech features
FinTech is a bit of a hot topic right now — the melding of technology and finance into one super app.
While financial services covers more than just current accounts — credit, savings, insurance and investments, I’ve been an early adopter of one FinTech success story called Monzo.
In 96 seconds in 2016, the team raised £1m to launch their mobile only bank using CrowdCube.
While they are now offering current accounts, I’m still on the beta product which is a pre-paid credit card.
It has a few neat features right now and is likely to continue to get better as they invest in the app — you get a notification every time you buy something, built in budgets and a budget summary that’s a lot better than what I get from my high street bank.
My favourite feature though, is the ability to “freeze” your card at the touch of a button.
This means that every time we lose the Monzo (which can be fairly often in our busy household) we can freeze it till we rediscover it again.
What I like most about this is that it’s all automatic — I don’t have the embarrassment of dealing with a bank teller to explain that we’ve mislaid our card, again.
Monzo have used FinTech to transfer a little bit of power from the bank to the customer.
I no longer have to ask the bank to put a hold on my card, I can do it myself. Technology has given me more control. I now have a slightly better experience with Monzo than with a high street bank.
More small improvements like these and Monzo will start looking like a big difference.
I think that’s one of the key opportunities of FinTech — providing more granular, automated, real time control to the consumer.
FinTech is a major disruptor
On the other hand we have my high street bank doing its best to provide a rubbish service. I’ve not missed a credit card payment for decades except for last month when I completely forgot about it.
Then, on my birthday (of all days!) my bank sent me an automated notice for a late payment fee on my credit card.
It could at least have started with a “Sorry to have to tell you this on your birthday” — how easy that would have been? (I’ve banked with them for over 30 years). Or better couldn’t they have notified me somehow? They have so many details about me.
I can sign up to solve the problem with direct debit but then guess what I’ve got to phone someone and who has time for that these days?
So on the one hand we have the new banks giving me features that give me better control and on the other hand the old banks staying well behind the curve with antiquated profit maximisation through bureaucracy and friction.
We know how this type of disruption ends…. anyone want to buy my stock of Kodak film?
