The Future of Financial Empower(mint)

Last week, Intuit announced that Mint, one of the original and most popular personal financial management (PFM) apps, is shutting down on January 1, 2024. This news has caused an outcry from many Mint users, but it presents a huge opportunity for financial institutions and fintechs.

Give consumers the financial wellness tools they need and want — while driving increased engagement, deposits, and satisfaction. Schedule a demo today to see more.

How Mint Works

Mint allows consumers to connect all of their financial accounts in one place, so they could better track and manage all of their spending and income in one place. Mint also offers a variety of budgeting tools, such as the ability to set monthly budgets, track spending by category, and create financial goals.

The Reality of a Standalone PFM Tool

Javelin research shows only about 6% of consumers use a third party for financial planning, but according to Dylan Lerner, a digital banking analyst at Javelin Strategy & Research, that doesn't mean 94% are using their banks. 

The reality is that only a relatively small portion of consumers actually like taking a hands-on approach to managing their finances. According to Fintech Takes Author Alex Johnson, “roughly 15% of the population (including most people working in tech) love to do detailed budget categorization and analysis.”

Today’s dedicated Mint users likely fall into this category of super users — while a majority of consumers want to improve their finances and make better decisions with their money, but don't want to do the work. Or, at the very least, most consumers don’t want yet another app to manage their finances. 

In fact, MX financial wellness research found that 45% of consumers only check their finances through their financial accounts when asked how they currently track and manage their finances. And, nearly 1 in 10 say they don’t track their finances at all. 

So how can financial institutions and fintechs create engaging PFM tools to fill the void left by Mint — and reach even more consumers? 

Building Consumer Engage(mint)

Financial institutions and fintechs can benefit from Mint's shutdown in a few ways:

1. Identify and attract new consumers who may be looking for alternative budgeting and financial planning tools. PFM tools and insights have the potential to become a significant differentiator for the average consumer. More than half of consumers agree they want their financial provider to help them better manage their finances (57%) and 54% believe financial providers have a responsibility to teach them to be financially strong. 
2. Increase engagement with current consumers by embedding PFM tools into their everyday finance experience. By placing insights and opportunities in the flow-of-life tasks or habits that consumers have already adopted, financial providers can drive higher engagement.
3. Build lasting relationships with consumers by making insights predictable and repeatable. Repetition builds habits. By delivering insights this way — and if the content is obviously and reliably valuable and actionable — PFM solutions can create lasting engagement and healthier financial habits. If the insights don’t do this, consumers will get in the habit of ignoring instead of engaging.

How MX Can Help 

See What Tools Your Customers are Using

Do you know how many users are using Mint or other PFM tools today? MX’s Data Access Open Finance API allows you to see where users have connected their bank accounts. With our Data Access dashboard, you can easily view and segment customers who have connected to apps like Mint. These audiences can be used in targeted marketing campaigns to raise awareness for your tools and services. 

Deliver Personalized and Proactive Financial Management Tools

With MX Personal Financial Management and Financial Insights, you can provide your customers with financial management and planning tools that are embedded into your digital experience. MX enables you to: 

• Deliver personalized insights and recommendations to help consumers better manage spending, create budgets, increase savings, and pay down debt.
• Protect, guide, and inform consumers with AI-driven, predictive insights that make it easy for them to take action to reach their financial goals
• Enable consumers to connect external accounts in a few simple steps and gain a more complete picture of their finances
• Help consumers easily organize, track, and interact with their finances with automated spending categories and enhanced transaction data.

Drive Better Outcomes for Consumers and Your Business

Financial institutions and fintechs who leverage MX PFM and Insights demonstrate proven results, including: 

• Higher consumer engagement: M&T Bank saw consumers log in 50% more often and spend three times longer managing their finances when using MX to better understand where their money flows.
• Increased account aggregation: On average, 20% of consumers aggregate external accounts. 
• Higher account deposits: Mercantile Bank customers who consistently viewed insights maintained approximately 15% higher deposit balances and opened new deposit accounts at twice the rate of those who did not consistently view insights within their digital banking experience.
• Stronger financial outcomes: WaFd Bank saw a 45% increase in deposit balances for consumers who leverage MX tools. And, as a result of WaFd Bank’s focus on innovation and leveraging data to drive value for consumers, customer satisfaction has soared. Since this journey began, the company’s Net Promoter Score has increased exponentially, achieving a current score of 57 — significantly higher than the industry average.

Give consumers the financial wellness tools they need and want — while driving increased engagement, deposits, and satisfaction. Schedule a demo today to see more.