Nedbank Personal Money Manager
(The following article appeared in Microsoft’s Finance on Windows publication, first quarter 2011.)
Nedbank is one of South Africa’s four major banks. Known as the region’s green bank, it was the first African bank to adopt the Equator Principles and also the first financial services organization within Africa to achieve carbon neutrality.
Seeking to assist its clients online during the global economic downturn, Nedbank rolled out Personal Money Manager (PMM) from Microsoft partner StrategyOnline to its entire Internet banking client base.
PMM aims to revolutionize the way in which Nedbank provides statement data to its clients, by integrating seamlessly with Internet banking, and by bringing statement analysis, budgeting and financial planning within reach for the average client, from the comfort of their homes.
By evaluating historical statement data, PMM can automatically generate a useful, meaningful, accurate budget for each client. It can provide this data instantaneously, without forcing users to spend large amounts of time setting up the software or classifying transactions. Along with this, PMM also provides a number of useful, interactive graphs and reports, which empower clients to take charge of their spending habits and to ultimately improve their financial wellbeing.
In fact, according to a press release issued by the bank: “PMM is like having a personal financial manager at your service, 24/7.”
Other than the obvious assistance PMM offers to Nedbank’s clients, it also aligns with the bank’s sustainability objectives. Clients are now more likely to opt out of traditional paper-based statements, as PMM adds an unprecedented layer of usefulness to the electronic statement medium.
Since Nedbank released the solution to its customers in early 2009, the software uptake has been phenomenal. Not only this, but there have been zero reported bugs or issues to date. This is testimony not only to the quality of the code, but also to the development tools and the Microsoft technologies and platforms on which the system runs.
Because of this success, the software is being expanded to support the full range of banking products. Credit Card statements will be supported by the end of 2010, and a Small Business Edition of PMM will be released early 2011, which will include additional, business-specific functionality.
