This story was delivered to BI Intelligence " Fintech Briefing " subscribers. To learn more and subscribe, please click here . Dutch bank ING launched a free mobile app in the UK on Tuesday, called Yolt, which will allow users to view all of their bank accounts and credit card information from different providers on a single platform, according to the Financial Times . The app will be available to only 2,500 customers while it remains in beta-testing, but a full rollout is scheduled for early 2017. The launch marks ING’s return to the UK market — it sold its ING Direct business to Barclays in 2012 to repay the Dutch government after its post-2008 bailout. ING is one of the first major banks to provide a platform in the UK enabling customers to manage money held by rival institutions. The app asks for permission to access a user’s banking and credit card details across different institutions, data from which is then aggregated by a third party and fed into Yolt. It uses the information to remind users of the days remaining until their next payday, payments that have to be made in that time (for example, rent and utility bills), and the amount of money they can safely spend without going into overdraft. Additionally, the app displays a user’s spending across different categories such as clothing, eating out, and groceries, and helps them determine an optimal savings plan to meet specific targets. For now, the app is in a read-only format, meaning that users cannot conduct transactions through it. The Dutch bank is getting ahead of the game and preparing for open banking regulation to be introduced by 2018. Banks in the UK and EU will be required by law to allow third parties to access their clients’ […]
