Creating Outstanding Personal Finance Management Services Research and analysis on people s financial habits in Germany

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1 Abstract

2 Overview Synopsis: Pen and paper and Microsoft Excel are no longer enough to satisfy customers hunger for the effective money management tool. Several good web-based personal finance management (PFM) softwares have risen in the last decade which meet or exceed the expectation of the users who want to categorize their spending, control their budgets and set their saving goals. They showed to the market how easy, simple and handy a tool can be to overlook and parse the finances. The future can be dedicated to the integrated systems in banks and other financial services because they are able to pair these tools with financial transactions in a trustworthy environment. Our market research and analysis demonstrates how German people plan and control their finances; this is an essential input for those who design PFM services for this market. Study objectives: PFM vendors and banks are still at the very beginning of their learning curve. The key success factor of online financial management services is that they should keep the customers engaged on the long term, and this can be successful only, if the solution is aligned with the real user processes and requirements. With this study, we help PFM service providers have a clear and objective picture on people s financial and electronic banking habits from PFM perspective. The study is based on a market research and sums up the users financial habits and requirements needed for creating successful PFM services. It contains the primary data from the survey results, their evaluation and the analyst s opinion and recommendations. 2. Copyright 2012 Bankfutura - All right reserved

3 The survey questions are grouped by around the following topics: Financial planning and control Savings and savings goals Control of the spending Our analysis helps providers design cutting-edge PFM services providing answers to such questions as: 1. What is the potential user base for a PFM service? 2. How to build a large user base? Usage of electronic banking products Attitude towards advertisements on online banking PFM tools used by the survey participants Attitude towards PFM tools The study provides answers to the key questions as follows: Who do really need PFM? What functions do these people look for? 4. What functions are missed from the current PFM services? 5. What is the PFM usage lifecycle? 6. Who are the typical PFM user segments? How do people plan and control their finances? For how long do people plan their finances ahead? What are the people s saving preferences? Would people change their bank to have PFM services? How important are the mobile devices on online banking? How do people control their spending? Do people prefer financial product offerings coming from software? What are the most popular PFM softwares on the current market? Would German people share their savings goals on social networks? Can PFM be a competitive edge for the financial services providers? (and many more questions) Fact sheet: The market research targeted the population above 18. The sample is representative for the German population in terms of gender and age. The research period started in the last week of April 2012 and ended in the middle of May Contributors: AC Nielsen (in executing the market research) UniCredit Bank (in establishing the research methodology) Price: 2.299,00- +VAT The study includes: The answers from the respondents and their evaluation The analyst s opinion and recommendations The Q&A database 3. Copyright 2012 Bankfutura - All right reserved

4 Sample question and analysis: Table 16. Devices used for online banking The question and the possible answers: Q08. What kind of devices do you use to access to your online banking platform? More answers are possible! Id Possible answers: Percentages: 8/a PC 78,3% 8/b Notebook/netbook 48,6% 8/c Smartphone 10,7% 8/d Tablet 4,3% 8/e Other, please specify: 0,6% Notice: This question is supplementary to the question Q07 and was asked only if a respondent answered that s/he uses online banking Desktop online banking is still the most popular online banking channel, however, smartphones and tablets are coming up rapidly. Mobile devices are especially popular among younger generations (see figure 8 below). The younger generations use smartphones more heavily while tablets are the most popular for the customers in their 30s. About 25% of customers who are below 40 years old access to their online bank through their mobile devices! The sum of the percentages (answers) is about 143%, which shows that almost half of the survey participants do not use only one but more devices to access to their bank account online. We expect that people will use more and more different devices parallel for online banking along with the growth of the number of mobile devices. We also believe that the mobile devices will not cannibalize but supplement the traditional desktop banking. It is also important to mention, that in the highest income segment the ratio of the usage of smartphones and tablets are the same: 17%-17% of the respondents use these devices to access to their bank account online. Since there are much less tablets in use than smartphones, this figure indicates that those, who own both smartphones and tablets, prefer tablet for their online banking activity. A mobile browser optimized mobile bank can be also a good solution but those who are used to the better user experience of mobile apps would most probably miss this solution s service and might only prefer mobile apps to mobile browser optimized solutions. Since mobile devices usage is increasing rapidly, PFM providers should be aware of different usage of emerging brandnew devices. It is recommended that these high-tech devices should not be ignored since people are switching to these mobile devices from their PCs and notebooks. A PFM provider should offer device specific features such as different functionalities and user experience for the users on the smartphone and tablet PFM in addition to desktop PFM (see more discussion in The Analyst s Opinion). 4. Copyright 2012 Bankfutura - All right reserved

5 Figure 8. Devices used to access online banking (by age groups) Tablet Smartphone Notebook / netbook PC 5. Copyright 2012 Bankfutura - All right reserved

6 Order the study This study is important for everyone who is interested in personal finance management business. If you are a banker or a vendor and you want to create PFM services which really meet the needs of the people, you will have a clear view on the users demands from this study. If you would like to order the study, please contact us through the given contact channels. Contact Mark Gerzso Bankfutura E-Finance Research mark.gerzso@bankfutura.com Phone: Copyright 2012 Bankfutura - All right reserved