Old Mutual-owned money management app 22seven has introduced two business units as part of its refocused strategy, after reaching 400 000 users on its platform.
The free mobile app helps users to better manage their finances by providing a complete view of all their finance-related accounts on one platform. Customers are able to link their bank accounts, credit and store cards, investments, loans and rewards to their 22seven profile, allowing an accurate reflection of their financial standing.
Created by former 20twenty CEO and serial entrepreneur Christo Davel in 2011, 22seven was acquired by long-term savings, protection and investment group Old Mutual in January 2013.
The Cape Town-based money management company has introduced two new business units − 22seven API and 22seven Insights − as it looks to re-energise the business, by pivoting its business model for scale and sustainability.
It says the 22seven API extends the intelligence the company has built into third-party businesses to allow them to fast-track their own development of a personal finance management tool, as well as understand their customers better.
The API allows other businesses to offer similar services to that of the 22seven app to their customers by using 22seven's APIs as the backend enabler.
“Our hope is that scaling our service will enable millions more South Africans to achieve financial confidence,” says Stephanie Cronje, head of 22seven API.
“22seven API houses our white-labelled data aggregation and data enrichment services that any third-party financial services provider can integrate with. This will allow companies to offer their end-customers the same valuable money management service that 22seven offers its customers today.”
Customer data collected from its data partner is enriched to include account classification and key details such as interest rates and available credit, and it can provide actionable insights, which can include taking up further investments or paying debt on time, notes 22seven.
The company says its services allow customers to link their accounts from over 119 service providers and it has, since inception, securely linked over 1.3 million customer accounts.
In addition to its main functions, 22seven automatically provides a personalised budget, which is generated for the customer based on their spending patterns. Customers can see exactly how much they spend on what each month.
Furthermore, 22seven regularly presents customers with relevant insights in the form of nudges – hints and observations about their money. This allows clients to see things they didn’t know or hadn’t considered, and they are able to use their money better.
The new 22seven Insights unit is a research service that will provide reports and consulting services to clients, based on the anonymised, combined data of its users.
“Our analysis of rich, transaction-level data offers investors and executive leaders a unique lens into the behaviours and purchasing decisions of a broad range of real consumers’ interactions with companies across all industries,” says Simon Anderssen, head of 22seven Insights.
“This model of providing aggregated and de-identified market insights is a win-win for users. Their anonymity is ensured, 22seven’s service remains free and Insights’ clients are able to identify real trends in real-time.”
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