Jenius Bank, the digital banking division of SMBC Manubank, announced a new version of its mobile app and online banking platform that features bank account data aggregation, with consumers able to link relevant external financial accounts to the Jenius Bank platform.
"We're allowing customers to link accounts and view them all in one place,"
The new feature, referred to within the platform as Jenius View, is part of a set of upgrades to the digital bank's online and mobile dashboards. Other upgrades include subscription price change alerts, net worth tracking and spending summaries from across a user's aggregated accounts.
The original mobile app, launched in July 2024, started out with industry standard features such as viewing current balances and transaction history.
"Everything that was there before is what we call core banking," Rosenfeld said. "The stuff you have to be able to do: move money, look at your statements, look at your balances. All the new features are what we've been calling the concept of evolved banking. It goes beyond core banking, and not every bank will do that for you. That's what we just introduced."
Jenius Bank uses a third-party data broker to collect and secure consumer financial data, according to Rosenfeld, but he did not disclose the specific firm Jenius Bank partners with.
Having a partner do the account linkage helps Jenius avoid the challenges of having to store and manage passwords from every other bank, he said. "It protects the consumer and protects us from information security challenges."
Some third-party budget apps and fintech firms, such as
"This is about trying to find a Mint-like experience in a post-Mint world," said Mark Schwanhausser, director of digital banking at Javelin Strategy. "Only the minority of even the top banks are really doing anything with aggregation."
Schwanhausser cited data from Javelin Strategy's
Having to toggle between tabs or types of accounts, even within a bank platform that supports aggregation, creates a scenario where banks are "viewing your financial health, but they're not looking at your heart and your lungs together," according to Schwanhausser.
"The draw of a Jenius Bank-type solution is that people are looking for an easier experience, and Jenius is doing that for them," Schwanhausser said. "The innovation at Jenius is not the kind of stuff where I say, 'Holy cow, no one's ever thought of that before.' They just put it all together, and it looks like it's going to be an attractive user experience. And shame on you, banks, because you created the need for this."
Rosenfeld said Jenius has made the decision to not use customers' external financial data for sales pitches, in the hope of maintaining and building trust with them.
"There are a lot of other banks that use that data to figure out how to sell something else to the customer," he said. "This is one of the key places where we intend to be very different. We want to use that data to give customers better transparency and better tips to managing their life. The next time the customer wants to put their savings somewhere or get a new loan, they're going to go to their most trusted partner, and that's who we want to be."
The emphasis that Jenius Bank places on consumer relationship building is a strategy element that Schwanhausser believes traditional banks should also consider.
"What the banking industry needs to be thinking more about is how to win 'share of mind' that will ultimately pay off in share of wallet," he said. "Currently, it's usually the other way around. It's very product oriented. But there are banks out there that are saying, we want to have a relationship so that when you need your next product, we're front of line. It's turning from a self-serve experience into a coaching experience, all done through digital."
Jenius Bank's efforts to incorporate tools for helping consumers see their full financial picture in one place indicates a change in the way banks are thinking about serving their customers, according to Schwanhausser.
"This is a strategic shift that some banks are starting to make, and it's not an easy one," Schwanhausser said. "It's a long-term commitment to try to understand your customer in digital with all the limitations that that has. With the approach of artificial intelligence and aggregation, however, there's a lot of reasons to be hopeful about where this is going to go. I think we're at a turning point with aggregation where banks are shifting from seeing it as a feature they have to pay for, for a handful of people who may or may not really appreciate it, to something that is going to enable the bank to create proactive and ongoing coaching and advice-driven conversations."
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Schwanhausser sees the new digital features Jenius bank announced as more for retention than initial attraction, since a high savings rate is what usually draws in new customers.
"Right now there's competition among a whole bunch of firms with high three, four percent APY offerings to attract customers," he said. "When we look at people who switch banks, people will often be moving money around because they're chasing a high rate. It does raise the question in my mind about whether consumers are going to Jenius because of the rate and staying because of the digital features. I doubt that they're coming because of the digital features and then saying, 'Oh, hey, look at that. That's a nice rate too.' I'm pretty sure it's around 80/20 rate versus features for the consumer."
