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The Mobile App banking on data-driven customer insight
08 May
HeyAlfred is a free-to-use AI-driven mobile app that lets users gain control of their finances by tracking their spending and syncing to their multiple bank accounts.
Currently, the app can sync with 3 local banks: and can also sync investment portfolios such as unit trusts, trading accounts and cryptocurrency wallets.
Reading transaction data directly from your internet banking, the AI program analyses spending habits and engages its users with data-driven insights and tips through a chatbot assistant. It currently has more than 5,000 users, with 88% aged under 35.
“Millenials don’t respond well to the traditional way of managing finances,” says Tengku Muhammad Shah (Moe), CEO & co-founder. “This is a generation that strongly believes in the power of new technologies to manage their lives, and to make informed decisions. We make it a point to speak to them like a friend, doing away with complex banking jargon or pretension.”
The chatbot ‘Alfie’ can answer questions like current bank balance and total spending in the past month, even sending reminders to keep within budget if an increase in spending is detected. With the ability to detect and even predict changing spending patterns and consumer behaviour, HeyAlfred’s AI technology provides the opportunity to tap into meaningful insights in large datasets.
“Ultimately, we want HeyAlfred to be an individual’s main financial
‘command centre’, giving out personalised recommendations on products
and services with the best value,” says Moe. “It’s a win-win situation –
users won’t have to do the research manually, and, by funnelling the right
products to the most interested parties, businesses can work towards
lowering marketing and customer acquisition costs by a huge margin.”
Given Kuala Lumpur’s population of 7.4 million and its digital banking penetration rate of 85%, the corresponding market size of US$11.4b is a preview of Malaysia’s ripe potential in the growing banking sphere. HeyAlfred is calling for open banking in Malaysia – a secure means for third-party providers to access user information, opening up the way for innovative products and services whilst providing greater financial transparency to account holders.
Such laws, like the PSD2, in Europe have forced banks to release their data in a secure, standardised form so that it can be shared more easily between authorised organisations online.
“This is something the regulators in Malaysia have been discussing for years,” says Moe. “While historically Malaysia lagged behind in innovating financial solutions, we currently have one of the highest technology adoption rates compared to other metropolitan cities in Asia – 96%.
At this very instant, we could be at the forefront of a new digital age. Everything we need for open banking is in place – it just takes a visionary to go from discussing to implementing for this to happen. ”
Using bank-level system security and operating in a read-only service, HeyAlfred does not have access to make transactions or changes to any account. HeyAlfred was founded in 2019 as part of Top 3 startups from the AlphaStartups accelerator programme, hosted by Bank Negara Malaysia and 1337 Ventures.
HeyAlfred was also part of the 20 startups that graduated from 500 Startups x Petronas Futuretech accelerator programme. The HeyAlfred app officially launched on 20th December 2019 with its recent update on 24th April 2020. It’s available for download on the App Store and Google Play Store at the following:
