Aussie fintech start-up, MoneyBrilliant recently announced that it is ramping up its financial services, with recent investment from AMP of $1.5 million.
The online hub and mobile app provides an innovative approach to money management, as a virtual financial assistant, which transforms old models of budgeting.
It particularly has a strong focus on helping its users to maintain a positive balance in their bank accounts – what the company likes to call ‘staying in the green’.
So how does this MoneyBrilliant work?
It connects live banking data to give users instant insight into their spending and finances.
Users can view all their accounts in one place, with hundreds of Australian and international banks accessible via the fin-tech service, and can automatically have their bills, spending and savings organised to see if they are tracking ‘in the green’ with each pay cycle.
Some of the core, current features of MoneyBrilliant include:
- aggregated balances and transactions for all bank, credit, loan, super and investment accounts,
- instant categorisation of spending and trend reports,
- automatic bill finder and calendar,
- weekly money updates,
- notifications and alerts.
Beyond these, the platform’s more outstanding features include:
- organisation of spending with the intelligence to remember user preferences,
- Safe Spending tracker for your pay cycle, weekly and monthly spending,
- over 250 financial services can be connected into the platform,
- and the highest levels of security using global banking technology leader, Yodlee.
Inspired by a mother’s struggle
Founded by Peter Lord, the business was inspired by the tough financial times experienced by his mother as she neared retirement. It led him to create something that builds the financial confidence, particularly for women, earlier in life.
“A lot of the challenges I saw my mum, and so many other women, face, came from a lack of confidence in managing money,” he said. “My mum didn’t have the confidence to invest, because she wasn’t on top of her everyday money and finances.”
“Women are the heart of this business. We design with women in mind, even though men love us too. I believe the solution to the world’s problems with money has to start with helping women first.”
True to his word, Peter enlisted co-founder and CEO, Jemma Enright , who left her career in marketing to join her long-term friend in bringing a more customer-focused approach to financial services.
What is MoneyBriliant out to achieve?
Jemma commented, “There is a huge opportunity to breakdown old, stuffy models of pedalling financial products and get real about how you truly improve the lives of people, by empowering them with the insight needed to make smarter money choices.”
The partnership with AMP was brokered on a shared goal to make a significant positive impact on the future wellbeing of Australians. MoneyBrilliant approaches that challenge by focusing on the everyday – the basics of helping Australians pay bills, save and spend.
“We coined the phrase, the Money Maslow, to reflect our philosophy on financial wellbeing. If you don’t have the basic needs under control, like paying your bills and spending within your limits, you can’t have a conversation about goals and building wealth. You can’t get ahead,” Ms Enright added.
MoneyBrilliant plans an aggressive roll out of product developments beyond the current cash management service to move customers towards longer term financial wellbeing and to help users maximise their savings.