UniCredit invests €3.1m in Meniga

UniCredit says it has signed “a strategic partnership” with digital banking tech vendor Meniga and has also taken a minority stake in the company.

The banking group invested €3.1 million in Meniga through its UniCredit Equity Venture Opportunities (EVO) arm (set up in 2016). Just over a month ago, Meniga received a €3 million equity investment from another customer, Swedbank.

UniCredit will integrate Meniga’s white-label software globally, starting with Italy and Serbia, “to make UniCredit customers’ digital banking experience more personalised with focus on data-driven tailored content”, the fintech firm explains.

“UniCredit will now be able to offer their customers a consolidated view of all their cards and account transactions and functionality such as advanced search, financial planning, alerts as well as targeted advice based on spending profiles,” it says.

The €3.1 million investment will be used “to strengthen product development and prepare for accelerated market demand as the new EU Payment Services Directive (PSD2) comes into force across Europe”.

Georg Ludviksson, CEO of Meniga, says the agreement is “the biggest personal finance management (PFM) deal in Europe to date”.

UniCredit will implement the Meniga “financial fitness” offering, which makes it simple and fun for people to reach their financial goals. Meniga’s Challenges module combines people’s financial profile, engagement analytics and personality traits to recommend short-term actionable challenges. Meniga offers a selection of recurring and one-off challenges of varying difficulty. Users can join community challenges, challenge friends and share progress on social media.