TD Bank wants to help its customers reducing their spending. To do that, the bank has partnered up with New York–based app maker Moven to launch an app that monitors spending habits. The partnership will be announced sometime this week, says the Globe and Mail.
What the Moven app does is to put the concept of personal training into personal finance: It allows users to use their smartphone to make a purchase, but besides that, it also keeps track of every purchase, and categorizes the spending (the app download link is US-only for now).
In practical terms, the app appears to be a cross between a banking app and a spending tracker (just like Mint), allowing users to visualize their spending habits. However, both TD Bank and Moven are betting on the idea that this could also change user behaviour and incentivize saving.
With the help of this app, TD Bank hopes to reintroduce the concept of “soft advice” by informing users about their spending habits with every purchase. The other side of the coin is that TD Bank will gain another source of data to help them build a complete picture of their customers’ spending behaviour.
“We’ve been interested in [personal finance management], but adoption is very low,” said Rizwan Khalfan, Chief Digital Officer and senior vice-president of digital channels at TD Bank Group. “It’s one of those things where you’re constantly being reminded of how you’re missing your goals.”
TD Bank is Moven’s second client: The app maker had previously partnered up with New Zealand’s Westpac bank earlier in August.
