HSBC Launches ‘Connected Money’ App

As FinTech firms grow in popularity with their personalized services and sleek mobile apps, HSBC looks to compete by launching a multi-account app for customers in the U.K. The new app, which was dubbed “Connected Money,” garnered 13,000 downloads within one day of its rollout, Reuters reported.

Through the app, users can take a look at their accounts at up to 21 different banks. In the future, the app will give users savings suggestions created with insight from their spending habits. In addition, the app will round transactions to the nearest pound: The extra funds will be put in a savings account.

Raman Bhatia, head of Digital, U.K. and Europe, at HSBC Retail Banking and Wealth Management, told Reuters that the app puts the bank in consumers’ minds. “You can draw a line from there to the commercial upside,” Bhatia said.

The news comes a little more than a year after Monzo, an app-only startup in the U.K., announced that its banking restrictions had been lifted. As a result, Monzo became a fully authorized and unrestricted bank.

Founded in 2015, Monzo received a U.K. banking license with restrictions in 2016. As of 2017, users could sign up for Monzo Beta, which gives its more than 100,000 customers access to a prepaid Mastercard and accompanying iOS and Android app. The app allows them to receive instant spending notifications, add receipts to purchases, manage their budget and more. There are no setup or usage fees, as well as zero charges for spending abroad.

In a blog post announcing the lifting of its banking restrictions, Monzo Chief Executive Tom Blomfield said the company would start the process of bringing current accounts to its existing users, which Monzo said it would do slowly to ensure it could provide the best experience to its users. Blomfield said at the time: “This process will take several months, and we’re still working out some of the details.”