Fintech predicts consumer behaviour change from Royal Commission
Sydney fintech company CashDeck is predicting that the Royal Commission will create a permanent shift in consumer behaviour and have redirected their strategy and development resources to assist firms deal with the change.
The company has developed Credit Ready, the financial equivalent of a Fitbit Fitness Tracker to help users stay on top of their finances. Owen Joyce, Chief Commercial Officer at CashDeck, suggests that the Royal Commission will result in a more financially literate consumer. “The sector isn’t waiting for the end of the commission, change is happening already. Look at how quickly the banks responded to the Living Expenses spotlight” he said, referring to the updating of policies to require more granular living expense scrutiny for home loans. “What this means is that borrowers can no longer operate in ‘best guess’ mode, they will need to understand, prove and be able to explain their financial behaviours if they want to get credit”.
The purpose of Credit Ready is to make it easy for the user to take control over the basics not take the place of a finance professional. The user will receive regular reports that can show them anything they are interested in keeping track of across the entirety of their financial data. In real-time they will have transparency over items like super, expenses by category, goals, bank fees, property valuations, card balances, mortgage repayments and much more.
As well as reporting, the app can proactively recommend ways to do better. “The app can notify the user when it thinks they should take an action that will help them” said Wayne Robinson, Chief Technology Officer at CashDeck. “The innovations we’ve introduced mean that users can be as passive or active as they want to be. If a user just wants a regular report to stay on top of things they can get that. If a user wants to be alerted to potential actions they can take, they can get that too”, he added. “The app can instruct the user to connect with their adviser based on a goal they create or it can suggest they review their energy provider based on a bill they’ve just paid. The possibilities are endless”, he said. The company was quick to point out that users do not need to share data or sacrifice their privacy to use the app and suggestions can be dismissed or turned off at will.
All of the company’s products can be white-labelled and customised so financial advisers or mortgage brokers who are interested in helping their clients become more financially literate can distribute the technology en masse.
