Consumers using digital financial wellbeing insights to manage their finances

  • 2.7 million insights accessed since September to help Bank of Ireland customers understand and control spending
  • Bank of Ireland customers have financial wellbeing score +2 points ahead of national average

Over 2.7 million insights from the Bank’s digital financial wellbeing service – Money Insights 365 (Mi 365) – have been accessed by customers since it was launched last September to help customers track and control their spending.

Mi 365 provides customers with over 40 personalised financial wellbeing alerts, based on their spending behaviour, including an increase in bills or subscription costs, low account balance and cash flow insights. While the service is relatively new, customers are already starting to take action based on the insights, in particular when alerted about an increase in bills or subscription costs. More than one in ten customers who were notified on the app about an upcoming payment or low balance, have subsequently transferred money to address it.

The most popular financial insights that customers are using to help them manage finances include:

  1. Change in monthly payment amounts (eg: utility bills, mobile, TV)
  2. Subscription renewal or duplicate
  3. Being informed of a negative balance
  4. Duplicate transactions alert
  5. Cash flow tracker

Susan Russell, Director of Retail Ireland, Bank of Ireland said: “The more information customers have about their money, the better they can manage their finances and spending. This is particularly important when the cost of living is rising, with extra pressures on household budgets. We introduced Mi 365 last year to help our customers monitor and manage their money, and it’s really encouraging that we’re now seeing them regularly using it.

“We know that almost 70% of adults need help with tracking spending and there is a real need for more support, with Ireland’s Financial Wellbeing score at its lowest since we began tracking it three years ago. Mi 365 provides practical financial wellbeing alerts for over two million customers in Ireland and we will continue to expand these supports into the future.”

According to Bank of Ireland’s Financial Wellbeing Index 2022*, the national financial wellbeing score is currently at 60, down four points on the previous year’s score and at its lowest since tracking began three years ago. However, Bank of Ireland customers surveyed have a +2 higher financial wellbeing score than the national average. Rising cost of living was identified in the study as the leading concern with greatest impact among Irish consumers, and a primary driver of the dip in national financial wellbeing.

Mi 365 Insights appears automatically under the customer account information on the home page of the Bank of Ireland app. A carousel shows the three latest insights and the service retains all previously shown insights for 35 days. Personal customers can view insights drawn from their current account, joint current account and credit card.

Bank of Ireland is launching a national advertising campaign to highlight the service for customers.

For information on Bank of Ireland’s financial wellbeing resources: Bank of Ireland Financial Wellbeing

 

Notes to Editors:

*Bank of Ireland Financial Wellbeing Index 2022 is an online survey conducted by Red C

Comparisons made with previous waves, the last of which was in August 2021

The Financial Wellbeing Index Score is based on a 100 point scale. Based on this scoring logic, customers are classified into one of four segments: 1. Struggling: index score range 0-39 2. Stretched: index score range 40-59 3. Managing: index score 60-79 4. Thriving: index score 80-100