Mercator Report: Personal Financial Management Tools: Bills, Budgets, and Beyond

MAYNARD, Mass. - May 31, 2013 - PRLog -- 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 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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About Mercator Advisory Group
Mercator Advisory Group is the leading, independent research and advisory services firm exclusively focused on the payments and banking industries. We deliver pragmatic and timely research and advice designed to help our clients uncover the most lucrative opportunities to maximize revenue growth and contain costs. Our clients range from the world's largest payment issuers, acquirers, processors, merchants and associations to leading technology providers and investors. Mercator Advisory Group is also the publisher of the online payments and banking news and information portal PaymentsJournal.com.