Launching our latest research in London

Poverty Roundtable discussion
NewsOctober 4th, 2024

The Bevan Foundation launched its new research on money management apps with a roundtable at Which? in London

October 3rd saw the Bevan Foundation launch its latest report, Money management apps: help or hindrance for low-income households?. The report was launched at a roundtable hosted by the Which? Fund at Which?’s offices in Regents Park, London.  

The report is the culmination of an 18-month project that has been looking at the potential harms and benefits of money management apps. Money management apps offer a range of features designed to simplify financial management. These include automated savings features which automatically moves money from someone’s account into their savings, and money categorisation features that enable people to place their money into different “pots” or “jars”, each earmarked for a different cost such as food shopping, heating and petrol. Crucially, these apps are not banking apps. They are provided by “third party providers” that use open banking to offer their services. 

One of the key findings from our research was that there is a lack of interaction between the fintech sector and organisations providing front line regulated debt advice and money guidance. This means that many staff in front line roles are unsure how to help people who might be having difficulties in using an app, nor do they feel able to promote some of the useful features that the apps have developed.  

To address this weakness, we decided to launch our report by holding a roundtable discussion in London, inviting experts from the fintech industry, organisations that work on poverty and debt related issues, and representatives from the regulator and government. The roundtable was well attended and provoked a lively discussion.  

If you’d like to hear more about money management apps and about our research we will be holding a free webinar on Tuesday 15 October. You can sign up here or if you’d like to read the report in full, click here 

The Bevan Foundation would like to thank the Which? Fund, funded by the Consumers’ Association, for both their support in funding the research and their generosity in hosting the roundtable on our behalf.  

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