ING re-enters UK market with free personal finance management app

Four years after leaving the UK’s high streets, ING is coming back in a digital way with a new app that integrates users’ bank accounts (even ones from its competitors) and provides tips and information about their accounts including when the next pay day is and what the customer’s balance is likely to be.

The app was developed in-house by ING’s Innovation Office in Amsterdam.

“We built the aggregator in the way that people think about money; how long is it before their pay date; how much are they spending and what is the risk of them going overdrawn?” Ignacio Vilar, ING’s chief innovation officer told the Financial Times.

ef1ddb64-0b97-4f88-85e2-5e75a12f622e_yolt_700

The app is ready to use for 2,500 beta-testing customers and will become available on iOS and Android in the coming months. The official launch is planned for sometime next year and will be under the separate brand of Yolt, supported by ING.

“We believe we have to reinvent the way we are providing customer service; this is where becoming a platform and ‘the place to go’ is core to our strategy,” added Vilar.

This is the most recent example of fintech companies and banks making movements, preparing for EU’s PSD2’s rules to come into effect, mandating that banks open up customer account information to external parties.

Related reading