Wells Enhances PFM Solution With My Money Map

SAN FRANCISCO — Wells Fargo & Co. is enhancing its options for customers when it comes to navigating their finances with its My Money Map personal financial management system.

My Money Map ties together several PFM features that Wells launched separately and gives PFM a higher profile within its online banking system. Launched Dec. 10, My Money Map combines Wells' My Savings Plan, My Spending Report and Budget Watch products.

The new service provides a dashboard view of a consumer's financial picture using data from Wells accounts. It presents this data in the form of interactive, clickable bar charts and provides a resource library on topics from debt management to savings strategies, according to American Banker, an affiliate of Credit Union Journal.

Observers call the change subtle but important. "The goal is to be able to see the trees and the forest simultaneously," said Mark Schwanhausser, a senior analyst at Javelin Strategy and Research in Pleasanton, Calif. "Bringing PFM to the home page can reconstruct that mental framework by placing accounts, must-do transactions like bill pay and PFM insights to the same page, enabling consumers to see things as a whole."

By contrast, putting PFM on one of 12 tabs within the bank's online offering would indicate to consumers that they should think about their money in compartments, not as a whole, Schwanhausser explained. .

Brian Riley, senior research director for bank cards at TowerGroup, said the enhancements complement Wells' strategy of having a deep knowledge of its customers. He told American Banker Wells is one of the best in the industry at cross-selling products and services; on average its customers have four products, compared with two at most other banks.

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