“[HMBradley] was developed to help consumers be more responsible with their money,” Levchin stated in a release announcing the new venture.

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HMBradley Inc. may be ushering in a new year by disrupting the banking landscape, but the fintech explosion is not new. What is new is the focus on consumer services and enabling consumers to save and invest their hard-earned dollars.

“Canadians are becoming less focused on simply managing a portfolio and generating returns, and more interested in making sure they have enough through more advice-driven and goal-based approaches and coaching,” says Stéphanie Rousseau, a spokesperson with National Bank of Canada in Montreal.

New apps, services and mobile options are not only changing the way consumers and investors manage money, but also changing the expectations they have about saving and spending. Many of the new offerings originate in the U.S. and, at least initially, operate there exclusively.

Earny Inc., based in California, is one. The firm’s app helps shoppers get the best price for a purchase – even after they have paid for a product.

“We empower consumers with the ability to save,” says Oded Vakrat, Earny’s CEO. “Our intention is to ensure you never leave money on the table.”

Agreements with retailers, including the top 20 retailers in the U.S., enables Earny to monitor prices and offer refunds when a price drops shortly after purchase. Earny users have collectively saved $4 billion to date, says Vakrat. “Every month, we find a few million in savings for consumers.”

The Earny app, which also includes hotel services, has more than three million users.

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The ability to save appears to draw many users who would fall outside the reach of investment firms and financial advisors to contemporary fintech. The Acorns app, for example, helps users invest, save and spend responsibly for just $1, $2 or $3 per month. Acorns Securities LLC, based in California, promises “no surprise fees, just surprise upgrades.” The app rounds up debit and credit card purchases and invests the difference for users. The appeal is far-reaching: with 6.2 million users, the Acorns app is the fastest- growing financial-wellness system and leading micro-investment app in the U.S.

Insuretech is another fast-growing subset of fintech. For example, New York-based Lemonade Insurance Co. is taking an innovative approach to providing property and casualty insurance to clients. The firm, which is powered by artificial intelligence and behavioural economics, takes a fixed fee out of clients’ monthly premiums (to cover reinsurance and the expenses of running the business) and uses the rest for paying out claims. The company returns unclaimed money to clients in an annual “giveback.” The insurer insists it “gains nothing by delaying or denying claims.”

The new wave of fintech services go beyond traditional service offerings.

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