Cuvva, Plaid, TransferWise, Tully and Up top the 11:FS Pulse Awards

11:FS, the challenger firm defining and building truly digital financial services, today announced the winners of its annual Pulse awards, an in-depth review of the most impressive and impactful work by banking and fintech brands in the last twelve months. 

11:FS Pulse is the 11:FS benchmarking and research platform containing thousands of user journeys and analysis from fintech and financial services companies, as well as best in class examples from other industries across the globe. The 11:FS research team is immersed in the fintech and banking ecosystem, rating and ranking the world’s leading digital financial services, and providing users with the richest digital content in a single platform. 

For this edition, the team defined five categories that reflect the changes and trends in the fintech and banking landscape, with the winners selected using a rating framework in combination with the insights from the research team. 

• Best “Fintech For Good”: Tully 

○ Runner up: Ellevest 

This award goes to the fintech that demonstrated a significant commitment to providing socially responsible financial services over the past 12 months. In an increasingly diverse market, a growing number of fintechs are on a mission to create positive social, cultural and environmental change through banking. Our winner is 

Tully, a digital debt advice service empowering people to regain control of their money and progress towards a more stable financial future. 

“This sophisticated, free platform has been built to understand a user’s current financial situation in minutes, using open APIs to gain real-time access to account balances and transaction data. Based on this information, Tully creates tailored recommendations for every user about how they should address their current money situation and suggests debt solutions for customers in financial difficulty,” explained Amy Gavin, market researcher at 11:FS. 

• Best enabler: Plaid 

○ Runner up: TrueLayer 

When looking at the candidates for this award, we naturally ended up focusing on firms working with APIs. Plaid, was selected based on its ability to “get stuff done” in an environment that’s not particularly conducive to this sort of innovation. Its API tools act as the piping that underpins much of the US fintech market, allowing access to US banking APIs, and offering stable connections to 80 percent of the largest US fintech apps. 

“Plaid’s been able to achieve this in such a fragmented market by building trust around username and password entry points; completing a smart acquisition of Quovo to handle investment, insurance, and loan account coverage; and ultimately offering a more complete financial picture for the user,” commented James Safford, Product Lead at 11:FS Pulse. 

• Best User Experience: Cuvva 

○ Runner up: Klarna 

For this category, the team focused on two parameters to assess the services. Firstly, utility: the product’s ability to solve a problem in the market, and secondly usability: the ease in which tasks can be completed using the product. Though the concept behind Cuvva isn’t new, it’s the firm’s ability to provide peace of mind when needed most, in a simple and transparent way, that seems to resonate with customers. 

“Cuvva takes the approach of progressively onboarding customers, collecting only an email address before arriving them at a product dashboard. From there, they can select their desired product and complete their profile, giving users an earlier sense of achievement while reducing the amount of personal information required,” explained Clouston Mahon, UX Lead at 11:FS Pulse. 

• Strongest Brand: TransferWise 

○ Runner up: Monese 

TransferWise was recognised for Strongest Brand, on the basis of three key criteria; Pulse design ratings, how well the team thought they meet their mission and geographic recognition. Transferwise is used by six million people, with more than £5bn being sent every month with customers saving over £1.5 billion in fees every year according to the company. 

“We found TransferWise’s payments and transfers journey particularly compelling. When making an international transfer, users are presented with a currency chat that uses a distinctive gradient to show the change in exchange rate over time while also clearly marking the rate as it is today,” commented Harry Richards, Product Designer at 11:FS Pulse. 

• New and Noteworthy: Up 

○ Runner up: Honcho 

Up has been a welcome addition to the Australian market, where increasingly tech-savvy users have grown disenfranchised with the traditional bank offerings. 

Moreover, in the spirit of progression and openness, its roadmap is publically available. It’s a classy touch from a confident and forward-thinking team, that understands the needs and demands of their target market. 

“True to its word, Up has delivered an engaging, user-centric digital experience – akin to some of the European market leaders and ahead of the native competition. The strong set of functionalities, which include helpful budgeting and bill paying features, are housed within an engaging and intuitive UI,” said Joe Colchester, UX Researcher at 11:FS Pulse.