Fintech Focus: MaxMyInterest

Fintechs are leading the way in launching innovations in financial services. We're shining a light on companies that are breaking new ground in the industry, and how they're using embedded finance tools to make an impact. This month we profile MaxMyInterest, an intelligent cash management system for individual investors.

Innovative edge: 

As interest rates go up, investors are looking to optimize their cash holdings. MaxMyInterest helps individual investors, businesses, and non-profits earn the highest interest rates on their savings. Every month, Max helps customers move their funds among a group of high-yield savings accounts to earn the best rates while ensuring that funds are also fully FDIC-insured.  

Customers can either link an existing checking or brokerage account or open up a new checking account on the Max platform. They can then add their choice of high-yield online savings accounts in minutes using Max’s patented common application. Each month, Max proposes ways to optimize the cash across the various savings accounts to maximize the interest earned. 

"With Max, you keep all of your money in your own bank accounts at all times. Max is not a bank, nor a custodian, and Max never touches any money,” says Gary Zimmerman, CEO of MaxMyInterest. “Max is simply a communications platform. Max helps individual investors find new banks, open new accounts, and actively manage their cash to keep it fully insured while earning as much as possible." 

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How they’re using embedded finance:

Treasury Prime’s banking APIs make it easy for banks to join the Max network, enabling them to attract direct customer relationships and core deposits from affluent customers nationwide without advertising or per-click costs. Max has also demonstrated that customers are willing to open a new checking account in order to access Max’s proprietary network of high-yield savings accounts. Leveraging Treasury Prime’s APIs and Max’s white label capabilities, banks can attract new checking account relationships by delivering a highly-differentiated customer value proposition: the ability for clients to always earn the best yield.

Consumer pain points they’re addressing:

To keep up with inflation, investors need to ensure their money is not losing value and remains fully FDIC-insured. Owing to their lower cost structure, online banks can offer higher interest rates on savings accounts. By harnessing these efficiencies, Max helps clients earn higher yield while ensuring their funds are spread across enough banks to be fully FDIC-insured.  

Bank pain points they’re addressing:

Banks spend a lot of money on customer acquisition by advertising on various media outlets and websites. By integrating with Max, banks can reach high-net-worth customers more efficiently, without spending money on advertising or click-through ads, enabling any bank to become a nationwide online bank without spending a dime on advertising. With Max, bank treasurers can also manage their balance sheets with greater precision and optimize their cost of funding.

Embedded finance products built with Treasury Prime:

Treasury Prime’s software connected Max to Lending Club Bank’s core, which allowed them to provide a white-labeled Max Checking account to customers. Treasury Prime is integrated with the widest bank network in the banking as a service industry, with API software that serves as the crucial link between bank cores to fintechs. 

Max’s banking partners use Treasury Prime services to:

• Book accounts to the core
• Read balances/transaction history
• Initiate funds movement
• Issue cards against Max Checking accounts 

"We work with a lot of different vendors and we've been uniformly impressed by Treasury Prime, its capabilities, responsiveness, and its nice people. That really makes a big difference, for us and for banks" Zimmerman says.

Results with Treasury Prime:

• MaxMyInterest was able to expand its product suite, launching Max Checking accounts, which can be opened in 60 seconds.
• Nearly 80% of customers are now picking Max Checking during enrollment, rather than Chase, Citi, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Schwab, etc., enabling a more integrated customer experience.
• With Treasury Prime, banks have been able to approve approximately 90% of new customer account applications. 

Key strategies for the future:

A new feature that Max launched during the pandemic is the ability for fintechs or even banks to create white-label versions of Max and embed Max capabilities into their own websites with their own branding. This enables them to offer the highest interest rates in the market without paying any yield themselves. Because of Treasury Prime’s existing integration with Max and its experience powering Max Checking, Treasury Prime has the APIs necessary to support banks that wish to offer this innovative customer solution.

“In this new version of Max, we can help fintechs and banks attract new checking account relationships by delivering the market-leading yields that are available exclusively through Max’s proprietary bank network,” Zimmerman says. ‍

To discuss customized embedded finance solutions for your business, contact us.