Customers get one-click access to all their financial information, while service providers get a deep look at customers' money situation, which they can use to create individually tailored offers. Our survey showed that 36 percent of personal finance portal customers spend less time at the Web sites of banks where they have checking, brokerage, and other accounts than they did previously, and 9 percent stop visiting these sites entirely. Thus, once customers aggregate elsewhere, their connection to their financial institution slips, and they become targets for competitive offers. Still, the survey also showed banks have an advantage. Sixty-eight percent of respondents said they would be inclined to try an aggregation service offered by a financial institution if they already had a relationship with it.
Portals can turn themselves into independent advisors.
By definition, portals don't offer their own financial services. They do, however, have strong brands and strong skills at assembling information. Financial institutions can win aggregation business based on their existing checking, savings, investment, and mortgage relationships. The big question is whether they should market third-party services or stick with house brands. The first is security and privacy, since users are putting multiple accounts on one site and providing their user names and passwords to those accounts.