moneysmart sees growth

moneysmart, a free online financial services platform, has seen 40% growth month-on-month, passing the 3 000 mark in two months.

This is according to moneysmart venture capitalist Zulfiq Isaacs, who says that after the platform's initial rollout in September 2011, it relied on organic growth, and only began actively engaging social channels in February.

Isaacs says after the initial plan of proving the concept and getting user feedback, the company went back to the product development team to build on the needs identified during this phase.

The moneysmart engine works by reading and categorising users' bank transactions, giving users a comprehensive overview of their financial portfolios.

The company says giving users an overview of their current spending allows them to budget, save and ultimately take control of their finances.

Steven Ambrose, MD of Strategy Worx, argues that there is a gap for online financial services as people leave doing their personal accounts until the last minute. However, he says that, in many instances, online financial services are limited to tech-savvy people, and for this reason, the service may not have broad appeal.

However, Isaacs stresses that by reducing the number of steps needed by users to take advantage of the platform, and by focusing on ease of use, moneysmart has ensured that the platform can be used by more than just the tech-savvy - anyone who uses online banking should be able to use the platform.

Isaacs says moneysmart's security is audited by Verisign and is swept daily by McAfee. “They test for potential ways that personal information can be accessed and identify potential security threats, links to dangerous sites, phishing, and other online dangers,” says Isaacs.

Isaacs also points out that moneysmart does not have access to users' bank login information. He explains that while the data is on moneysmart's platform, the company cannot tie the information to individual users. Isaacs says moneysmart uses bank-level data security to protect users' financial data. “[Users'] data is secured with a minimum 1024-bit encryption level,” he says.

According to Isaacs, within the next six months, moneysmart will contextually profile products to users' needs using intelligence technology, an ad technology that profiles products based on numerical facts.

He says by comparing figures from bank charges to insurance products, the engine will recommend a financial services product to a user if it offers potential savings and value.

Finally, moneysmart will draw on users' data for research, but Isaacs stresses the company is not able to link personal user data to individuals. The data can be aggregated and used to spot trends, for example a comparison could be drawn between what Gauteng residents spend on eating out, compared to residents of the Western Cape.

Isaacs adds that the company hopes to drive financial awareness campaigns and also gain insights into spending trends and spending psychology.

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