Digital banking has revolutionized how people plan and interact with their finances by making various products and services accessible online. Using innovative technology from fintechs, financial institutions cross-sell services and enhance customer relationships while gaining deposits in the process.

Finotta, a provider of embedded fintech for digital banking, recently announced that Personified, its personalized financial guidance platform, has substantially increased user engagement compared to other mobile banking apps — averaging 13 minutes per month. 

"We saw this really big opening in what is called personalization," said Finotta CEO Parker Graham. "And the only place [where] that doesn't exist right now — that personalized user experience where things are set up easily for you in the financial journey you are on — is the mobile banking or digital banking to be exact."

Personified, which launched in November 2022, aims to "bring personalized user experiences depending upon what the user is actually going through in a fully digital way,” Graham, a former banker and football player turned entrepreneur, said. 

With the increased time spent on the app, one of Finotta’s partner banks has seen a 25-fold increase in deposits since using the Personified platform.  

The platform details a customer's cash flow, expenses and debt-to-income ratio and converts the user data into actionable solutions. Personified saw a 57% adoption rate with mobile users — leading to an increase in new account openings and deposit growth, the company said.

Personified's gamified user experience has an automated financial coach on the mobile banking app, which takes all the different inferences off the customer’s financial lifestyle and guides them to make choices, like saving for retirement rather than only noting the amount spent. Once a customer clicks on the button on the home screen of the mobile application, the financial coach might direct them to do different things, including opening a savings account, paying off a credit card, or paying down a student loan in a way that is different from what they have been doing in the past.

As the users follow those guided steps, they gain points and are awarded at different levels in the financial health leveling system, which gets them more badges while helping them improve their financial condition within the bank's digital banking channel.

"We feel like we have that secret sauce ... where users want to be there, and because users want to be there, it actually increases the ability for the bank or credit union to make money in that channel," Graham said.

Mobile banking trend

Today, consumers use their mobile phones for banking much more than they did three years ago, owing to the pandemic and tech innovations, a recent survey from Chase showed.

While consumers prefer mobile phones over computers, around 90% prefer to manage their money in one place, like monitoring account balances, depositing checks through their phone, or applying for a mortgage. According to the study, 87% of those surveyed also said they used their banking app at least once a month.

Finotta, which has been operating since 2018, is located in Overland Park, Kansas, and serves community banks and regional financial institutions with up to $50 billion in assets.

Graham wants to change the way consumers look at banks and credit unions. While a majority of the banks compete with the big four that have billions in technology budgets, the smaller banks and credit unions need partners to survive in the market, he said.

“You can't compete with that unless you bring in partners,” he said. “That is where banks see us as a necessity. ... We are way past the days of customers coming into the branch all the time. So, the next best place to create an environment that people want to engage in is on the phone. And that's been especially the [case] since COVID, honestly.”