Klutch allows you to customise your mobile banking offer

The very young American FinTech Klutch (founded in 2019) announces the launch of its financial mobile application in a test phase. Its beta version carries a vast promise of customisation, incorporating programming capabilities for a credit card but also for its attached mobile management application. It relies on the IT skills of its future customers to take the next step towards ultra-personalised finance.

FACTS

• The first customers of its financial solution are invited to download its mobile application in order to initially assemble the service that seems most relevant to them thanks to various programs, codes, APIs and other mini-applications.

• The offer is therefore presented as an "empty" base allowing the user to compose his own application by combining different computer bricks. It is therefore aimed at customers with a solid IT base, capable of using APIs and mini-applications to develop their own service within the Klutch structure.

• Nevertheless, Klutch offers, via its bricks, various relatively classic functionalities:

  • a free service with no annual fee,

  • a cashback of 1% on purchases made with its card,

  • a donation service to charities,

  • an automated bill payment solution,

  • a robo-advisor,

  • a carbon footprint compensation system,

  • ...

• It combines this with differentiating offers, including an ultra-parametric credit card. This card can be multiplied in physical or digital versions to equip all the members of a family. They can then be controlled remotely (authorised duration and period of use, maximum amount spent, etc.).

CHALLENGES

• Democratising the bank: More than personalisation, Klutch has a libertarian model, in which the customer himself defines his needs and sets his financial management service and means of payment.

• A model based on co-creation: In addition to the customers themselves, Klutch relies on a community of developers invited to work on its project via a dedicated portal and APIs. These developers will be able to consolidate the base of functionalities proposed by Klutch to enrich its offer as much as possible over time.

• A model to follow, thanks to mobile: The idea of a flexible family credit card model, thanks to the association of a mobile management solution, was already defended by Apple in April 2021. At that time, the web giant presented its Apple Card Family and already supported the smartphone as an indispensable tool for steering financial services. However, Klutch is going much further by inviting prospects who already have programming skills to help them personalise their service even more.

MARKET PERSPECTIVE

• The renewal of the credit card necessarily involves adding value-added functionalities. This is what the players in the sector seem to have been advocating for several months now, everywhere in the world. In the United States, FinTech Aspiration is adding eco-responsible values to its payment offering, while CaixaBank has opted for a hybrid debit and credit card model in Spain.

• More recently, Sofinco partnered with Renault in France to promote electric mobility, while Pomelo completely revamped the credit card model to facilitate money transfers to the Philippines.

• Klutch defends this approach but sets no limits for itself, except for the imagination of its developers and customers.