Westpac enters exclusive partnership with Moven

Westpac enters exclusive New Zealand partnership with financial services start-up Moven

Westpac is entering into an exclusive New Zealand partnership with New York based start-up Moven to launch a series of new mobile initiatives over the next two years.

Moven’s highly regarded mobile money management tool will be integrated into Westpac’s new internet banking platform in October. It will help Westpac customers manage their money day-to-day on their smartphone, tablet, or desktop; and allows Moven to continue their roll out of their downloadable bank account strategy across the globe.

Founded in 2011, with its commercial launch taking place in late 2013, Moven recently secured US$8 million (NZ$9.1m) of funding to expand into new markets, with Westpac New Zealand among its first international partnerships. Westpac customers will be able to better understand how they are spending money comparative to their historical averages and, in updates planned for 2015, will be given real-time spending alerts and feedback, combined with tools that help you decide if you can afford to make a purchase.

Westpac Chief Digital Officer, Simon Pomeroy, said Moven’s approach to banking in the digital age was aligned with Westpac’s own strategy and objectives.

“Like so many other sectors, banking is changing rapidly because of consumer uptake of new technology. Partnering with Moven to provide our customers access to new tools and features for managing their money is another step toward our goal of being the No.1 digital bank in New Zealand,” Mr Pomeroy said.

“While these tools were developed originally as a mobile app, we are integrating them into our fully responsive internet banking platform meaning customers will be able to use the features from any smartphone and tablet as well as desktop. They also complement other features we will be releasing on our new internet banking platform later this year.”

Moven founder and Chief Executive, Brett King, said: “Our partnership with Westpac makes great sense for us as New Zealand has excellent smartphone penetration, and one of the highest global commitments to mobile payment acceptance at the point of sale through contactless technology.

“Our objective is to get as many people as possible around the world using our tools everyday. When you are talking about providing banking services, however, that also requires great bank partners in those markets where we launch. Our partnership with Westpac is yet another example of their commitment to world-class innovation,” Mr King said.

Westpac and Moven are working towards enabling customers to automatically categorise transactions and drill into any group for more details such as where, on what and when purchases were made. They will receive a mobile receipt within seconds of a purchase being made, with the purchase automatically categorised to provide real time insights into the implications of their spending. In addition they will be able to see their average spend versus their actual spend for a month via a graph. The graph will utilise a traffic light colour system - red, yellow, green - to reinforce the state of their current spending against their average spend.

“The key to this set of features is the ease of use,” Mr Pomeroy said. “It is developed with the digital age and the mobile consumer in mind. There is very little manual set up, it comes preloaded with 12 categories and other features and the way graphs are displayed delivers quick and effective budget and money management information in real time.

“Partnering with a company like Moven reinforces to our customers that we intend to deliver them the best digital banking experience in New Zealand.”

Factbox:

· Automatically categorise transactions
· Drill into any category group for more details
· Receive a mobile receipt within seconds of a purchase which is then automatically categorised
· See average spend versus actual spend for a month via a graph
· The graph will utilise a traffic light colour system - red, yellow, green - to reinforce current spending against average spend.
· Monthly money report that shows you how you are spending your money

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