A new, app-based smartbank is now available to consumers across Australia, with the primary aim of taking smartphone banking mainstream.
86 400, which received its full banking licence on 18 July, is now available via Apple’s App Store and Google Play, with two account products - Pay and Save - now live, and a mortgage offering in the pipeline.
Enticing new customers, 86 400 says it is possible to create an account in as little as 120 seconds, but the app’s real USP is built around financial management: alerting customers to upcoming bills, subscriptions and direct debits, so they “never get stung by nasty late fees again”.
Even those who aren’t yet ready to switch banks can utilise the app’s features.
CEO, Robert Bell, said, “Managing your money shouldn’t be so hard, but the simple fact is that staying on top of your finances has become too complex, leaving many Australians feeling anxious, stressed and frustrated.”
The zero-fee current account Pay, is based on a dashboard model that helps account holders manage money and payments across all their accounts – there are more than 150 different compatible institutions – in the one app. Account holders also receive “personalised nudges” to help them avoid late fees or charges on their bills and subscriptions.
Meanwhile Save offers an interest rate of 2.5% p.a, made up of a base rate of 0.4% p.a. and a bonus rate of 2.1% p.a. paid on balances up to $100,000.
The new app debuts almost nine months after its beta launch, which saw upwards of 26 updates and amendments as the product was refined for general release.
“We’ve launched a bank which uses smart technology to show customers what’s actually going on with their money, so they feel in control every second of every day. All eighty-six four hundred of them,” Bell continued.
The smartbank processed its first mortgage back in July for a staff member and is due to launch an official mortgage product “in the coming months”. As a lender, 86 400 is already on the panels of Vow and Specialist Finance Group.
