Australia’s top finance apps reveal a changing market
Trending apps show Australians are quick to embrace new ways to manage their money.
Neobanks, instant payment apps and digital payment offerings are rising in the app store and in some cases, taking the rankings of big bank incumbents. Looking at top finance apps in the iTunes app store and Google Play stores, Australia's choices for apps to manage their money show they do not shy away from new fintech offerings.
The app store rankings have been followed closely by new market entrants on social media, with ranking changes celebrated. Co-founder of neobank Up Dom Pym posted the following tweet on 6 January 2019 as the bank's app climbed the "top" finance rankings in iTunes.
UPDATE: @up_banking has just overtaken NAB in the App Store's top finance apps, and is now gaining on ANZ. 2 down, 2 to go 😎 #upyeah pic.twitter.com/zwCc6cghAb
— Dom Pym (@dompym) January 6, 2019
As of Friday 11 January 2019, CommBank still reigned supreme in the iTunes app store for free finance apps but was closely followed by PayPal and ANZ. Payment splitting app Beem It, a joint initiative from CommBank, NAB and Westpac, came in fourth, closely followed by NAB, Westpac and ING.
We see fintech players enter the rankings at 8th place with investment app Raiz, expense and budget tracker Pocketbook in 11th position and neobank Up in 12th.
Top finance apps in the iTunes Store on Friday 11 January 2019
Results differ greatly in the Google Play store when we look at the top apps, top grossing and trending in the finance apps section. In top apps, CommBank takes out the top position followed by Afterpay and Suncorp. Fellow buy now, pay later provider Zip comes in fourth place followed by NAB and PayPal.
The top grossing lists in the Google Play store are dominated by budget apps. Quickbooks takes out the top spot followed by Delta, a bitcoin and cryptocurrency tracker app. Fintech app MoneyBrilliant comes in the fifth position.
Google Play's trending lists include two neobanks, with Up taking out the top spot and Xinja coming in fourth. Australian Super and Rest Super take second and third position respectively.
Rankings in both the iTunes Store and Google Play store depend on not only downloads but also whether users keep the app installed and continue to engage with it. Ratings also affect the app's position.
While a finance app's position is not a definitive listing of the popularity of finance products in the Australian market, it does show that Australians are downloading digital bank, payment and other fintech apps to at least give them a go. With open banking scheduled to start in the second half of this year and many more neobanks getting ready to open their doors, we may soon be seeing more apps compete for top spots in the charts as well as market share.
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