Frollo integrates ‘Financial Passport’ with own app

Users of Frollo’s money management app will now be provided a yearly summary of their financial coming and goings, with the fintech confirming the integration of its “Financial Passport” software with the product.  

The tool, which launched earlier this week (26 April), is said to provide a monthly overview of a users’ income, expenses, spendings, assets and liabilities, encompassing a period of 12 months. 

Further, the initiative is said to be made possible by open banking. 

At the time of writing, Frollo is currently one of 12 accredited data recipients (ADRs) under the consumer data right (CDR), receiving the status in May 2020. 

Speaking of the launch, Frollo head of product Kris Davant said the inclusion of the software with the fintech’s management app was a natural progression.

“The Frollo money management app helps people improve their finances by providing a full overview of their accounts, smart insights and tools to take action,” he said.  

“A logical extension of this is to help them be more prepared for one of the biggest financial decisions they’ll make in their life – applying for a mortgage.”

Frollo head of marketing Piet Van Den Boer added that the benefits of this integration include enabling users of the management app to easily “facilitate a conversation with their broker, their partner or just to sit down and review their finances in more detail”. 

The fintech’s incorporation of these two products comes in the wake of its Financial Passport’s recent circulation.

In October, digital property platform REA Group confirmed it would be trialling a proof-of-concept iteration of the software as a means to enable its customer base to understand “what’s achievable much earlier in their home buying journey”. 

In November, neobank lender Volt revealed it would be building and launching a banking-as-a-service (BaaS) app, utilising the overview product into the white label offering.

The launch marks the latest open banking development for Frollo, with Beyond Bank and Australian Finance Group confirming last year that it had partnered with the fintech to access its CDR Gateway.

But despite Frollo’s growth under CDR, others have claimed that open banking could be detrimental to the industry.

In February, SISS Data Services founder and chief executive Grant Augustin, following the bank data feeds provider’s ADR status, criticised the slow roll-out and high costs of connecting the open banking, describing the accreditation experience as “exhausting”.

In a response to Mr Augustin’s position provided to Mortgage Business at the time, FinTech Australia CEO Andrew Porter stated that the ACCC has already responded to the slow start to ADRs by introducing intermediaries, “helping fintechs easily and cost-effectively attain and leverage consumer data”.

“The phased approach also enabled a strong focus on security, privacy and transparency to build consumer confidence in using the new regime,” Mr Porter said. 

“The different access models has increased the number of businesses that can access the CDR and created new use cases. 

“We’ve noticed an overall growth in the industry with the lower barriers for new entrants.”

[Related: What open banking looks like in 2022]