According to a study by market researchers from "Heute und Morgen", around 70% of all Germans are interested in mobile applications from their bank or insurance company. So it's no wonder that the number of apps in this area is constantly growing.
The best of them are characterized by their particular suitability for everyday use and creativity. What customers of financial service providers do not appreciate at all, however, are gimmicks. For them, the focus is clearly on benefits. In addition, the financial apps must be absolutely secure, for example through encrypted data transmission. And last but not least, providers should disclose in detail what happens to user data. We present ten particularly interesting financial apps below.
1 KFZ-comparison
(iPhone, free of charge) is a new comparison tool for car insurance. It not only roughly estimates the price, as comparable applications do, but also offers concrete premiums from eight different insurance companies. The tariff and premium data is updated daily. And: the customer can even conclude the contract via the app. There is a separate application for insurance brokers with specific functions, including the integration of their own special tariffs, the forwarding of applications to the insurer and the link to policy management.
2 iOutBank Pro
(iPhone, for a fee) iOutBank Pro juggles effortlessly with accounts at different banks and offers numerous functions - from account balance and direct debit to bank transfer, backup and standing order. The range of functions may vary depending on the bank or savings bank. iOutBank Pro transmits the data to the respective bank in encrypted form, and the application also stores the account data so that it cannot be read by third parties.
(iPhone / Android, free of charge) enables the purchase and sale of securities via the online broker flatex. The app can be used to place orders, monitor open positions and create a watchlist. In addition, the application offers German-language news on what is happening on the financial markets.
4 XE Currency
(iPhone / Android / Blackberry, free of charge) provides up-to-the-minute exchange rates for currencies from 180 countries. The last conversion is saved automatically. EuroConverter (iPhone), eCurrency (iPhone / Android), My Currency (iPhone / Android) or Currency Converter (iPhone) work in a similar way to XE Currency, but these are subject to a charge.
5 Handelsblatt
(iPhone / Blackberry, free of charge) offers the latest news and financial data, as well as an integrated price search for financial securities and a watchlist. The free apps from Financial Times Deutschland (iPhone), Finanzen100 Börse (iPhone / Android), Bloomberg (iPhone / Android / Blackberry) and CNNMoney (iPhone / Android / Blackberry) are also helpful in this area. The latter two are in English.
6 Expensify
(iPhone / Android / Blackberry, free of charge) automatically creates travel and expense reports. The tool enters cash and bank transfer transactions directly. The cell phone user can also photograph receipts. The complete list can be sent by e-mail at any time, for example to the tax consultant.
7 ATMs nearby
iPhone / Android, for a fee reliably finds the right ATM, even in the countryside, where there are no or as few fees as possible for withdrawing cash. The user can be guided there via Google Maps. Beforehand, they can search for bank groups or by distance from their location.
(iPhone / Android, free of charge) makes it possible to pay on the move, for example with "Bump". The sender enters the PayPal e-mail address of the recipient, both move their cell phones towards each other and automatically transfer the desired amount. PayPal has recently been integrated into Facebook, which should help the payment app to gain many downloads in the future.
9 iLohn+Kredit 2011
(iPhone, for a fee) offers a total of 12 financial and tax calculators, including for gross/net, credit and loans, investments and withdrawals as well as VAT. For example, the user can determine the most favorable tax class for a married couple. The calculations can be saved. Another intelligent calculator is the powerOne financial calculator (iPhone / Blackberry, for a fee). It performs around 60 calculations in the areas of finance, real estate, investment calculations and conversions, including leasing rates when buying a car. Another helpful loan and asset calculator is MarkMoney (iPhone, for a fee).
10 Tax App 2010
(iPhone, for a fee) offers numerous features for calculating the tax sum. The application fills out the form together with the user in nine steps, with dials to facilitate input. Once all the required information has been entered, the tax app sends it to the Federal Tax Administration's form management system using 128-bit encryption. The user then receives the completed forms for printing.
