Bill Ready had a great post at PandoDaily on the growing importance of smart mobile driven commerce. In my view this is one side of the equation of the future of commerce, the other side being the creation of smart banking services.
Using Bill’s example: I book a flight to San Francisco, my financial service app warns me that my travel budget will most likely be exceeded this month and has pushed back the budget allocation for new electronics by 1 month. My extra rental revenue from Airbnb should help cover cash flow needs for the month so that new MacBook is still a go. I take an Uber upon landing and check a restaurant for the group. Bills is split between us automatically, referring back to our positions in a global distributed ledger including interests owed (built on the Bitcoin protocol foundation). After the lunch, I check recent communications from my Angellist portfolio. My portfolio allocation to startups is split across various syndicates. Through tasks performed to help these startups, I have also earned additional exposure to a few. A good way to not only increase my upside potential but build my skills and experience.
Is this future far away? With the increase in sensors in mobile, shops, objects and the digitisation of money, the capabilities of financial services are changing quickly. A lot of this effort in calculation is currently focused on market activities (high frequency trading being probably the most discussed) but I am convinced we will see the same push start in consumer finance. The current push to integrate more data sources, including social data sources, in online lending is a good example.
Mobile is becoming an integral part of people’s financial life. Starbucks success with its mobile app proves that people, when given a good use case for mobile (increase in convenience and additional services) are more than ready to use their mobile. Payments on mobile are increasing at an amazing pace: Paypal’s total payment volume increased to $27 billions in 2013. But the increase in payments on mobile also highlights the gap between how easy it has become to spend online and how little has been done in helping people manage their spending.
Cash was the base budget management tool for a lot of people. A wallet is probably one of the best UX for money. Visually checking how much is left in a wallet is one of the most used and simple budget management tool. The rise of prepaid card with underbanked and neobanked is in some ways following the same trend, as closed cards, especially with easy to access mobile balance reminders, are the modern equivalent of counting the number of $10 left.
However, as highlighted above, as more and more of our purchase experience will not only shift to mobile online or offline but also to 1-click / no click payment, having a single credit card or debit card as a default payment mean can potentially increase the tensions in budget management and understanding of personal finance. In a world where payment is bound to disappear, the pressure for financial understanding will increase further.This is a vast opportunity for financial services startups.
The same technology that let applications recommend you what to purchase, how good a restaurant is or how to manage a fleet of cars / pricing to match demand can be used to optimize your personal financial management. As the age of mobile concierge is coming, the age of mobile financial advisors is coming as well. I am biased, professionally and personally on Simple but they are, in my view, a good example. Smart balance and goals are the beginning of a payment experience based around managing and optimising personal finance. And while this effort begins with spending, it will soon integrate as well with saving and borrowing. Paying overdraft fees with a saving account or other type of liquid assets is an incoherence in a time where a simple excel spreadsheet can compare borrowing and savings rates.
If we push this idea a little further, there is a potential for algorithmic finance becoming even more intelligent. We are on the verge of being able to record how people feel at any point in time. What about a financial algorithm that would help people maximize their happiness over time? What about a mobile agent that prevents you from buying stuff at checkout by automatically reminding of the other activities you would like to do that will be more rewarding?