5 Reasons to Try Automated Savings Tools for Banks in 2025

Your customers don’t just want to save, they want to be saved from the effort. Yet too many banks still rely on static savings products that expect people to take the first step.

What’s the risk for banks? Fintechs and neobanks with ‘set-it-and-forget-it’ automation and AI nudges that quietly grow balances while customers go about their day.

If your bank isn’t offering that kind of effortless engagement, someone else already is.

Automated savings tools for banks are a retention and revenue multiplier.

Read on to learn how you can turn saving into a product customers love using by combining behavioural design with data-driven personalisation.

What are automated savings tools (and how do they work)?

Automated savings tools are banking features or apps that use technology to help customers save money more efficiently by automating the transfer of funds from their checking or transactional accounts to savings accounts.

Automated savings tools help customers build a savings habit by:

Removing the need for manual transfers,
Reducing the temptation to spend, and
Ensuring consistent progress towards financial goals.

In addition, they also improve financial discipline and facilitate compound interest growth by encouraging regular saving.

How do they work?

These tools schedule regular, automatic transfers at set intervals, for example, weekly or monthly, or by rounding up everyday purchases to the nearest currency unit and saving the difference.

1. Automatic transfers: Customers set a fixed amount or percentage of their income to be regularly transferred from their primary account into a separate savings account. These transfers occur without any manual intervention, helping customers save consistently over time.

2. Round-up savings: The tool tracks debit or card transactions and rounds each purchase up to the nearest whole currency unit.

The spare change is then automatically moved into savings, allowing small, frequent contributions without noticeable impact onthe customer’s spending budget.

3. Goal-based savings buckets: Some solutions, like Meniga, allow customers to create multiple savings 'pots' or categories for different goals, such as an emergency fund, vacation, and education.

Automated transfers or round-ups can be allocated specifically to these buckets to help customers organise and visualise their savings progress toward various objectives.

4. Adaptive savings suggestions: Advanced tools may analyse spending patterns and cash flow to suggest personalised saving amounts that are affordable.

They automate the adjustment of transfer amounts dynamically to optimise savings without causing financial strain.

5 key reasons why banks should adopt automated savings tools

For banks, offering automated savings tools improves customer engagement, loyalty, and overall financial wellness, while also driving operational efficiency and long-term deposit growth.

1. Create more predictable cash flow

Automated savings take the burden of manual saving away from customers, incorporating saving behaviour into daily financial routines.

By removing reliance on willpower, these tools help customers save consistently.

Also, with rising financial volatility, customers are more prone to procrastination, forgetfulness, or anxiety about starting and keeping up with savings goals.

Automation smooths over those friction points.

For example, if a customer forgets to transfer funds at month-end or if mid-month expenses derail their plan, an automated tool can trigger a smaller transfer or adjust the plan without requiring customer intervention.

Therefore, this ‘set it and forget it’ approach builds a savings habit gradually.

Banks offering these tools help customers grow their savings steadily, while also reducing stress, lowering the psychological cost of planning, and fostering trust.

Over time, these habits result in stronger customer loyalty, higher deposit balances, and more predictable cash flows for the bank.

2. Enhance liquidity management

Regular, automatic saving removes unpredictability from the savings journey, enabling customers to hit milestones with greater speed and certainty.

For example, round-up savings on card transactions funnel small spare change regularly, accumulating surprisingly quickly.

Which customer segments respond best to round-up savings features?
Customer segment	Characteristics	Why they respond well to round-up features
Younger, tech-savvy customers	Millennials and Gen Z are comfortable with digital banking	Prefer frictionless, automated saving tools integrated in apps
Moderate-income earners with variable cash flow	Gig workers, freelancers with irregular income	Save small amounts consistently without affecting essential spending
Beginners or reluctant savers	Struggle to save regularly, prefer effortless saving	Automates small actions, removes reliance on willpower
Short- to medium-term goal focused	Saving for emergency funds, travel, gifts, etc.	Incremental saving toward tangible near-term goals
Digital-first and mobile-only customers	Primarily use mobile banking	Ease of access and real-time updates encourage engagement

And while small, these nudges have psychological power: customers rarely notice them, so lifestyle disruption is minimal, yet the momentum is real.

This systematic approach converts scattered, unpredictable saving habits into dependable progress, thereby shortening the time it takes to reach financial goals, such as building emergency reserves or saving for a down payment.

As customers steadily save through round-up savings and scheduled transfers, the bank’s deposit base grows consistently.

This ensures a more reliable and increasing source of low-cost funds that your bank can use for lending or investments, enhancing liquidity management.

With Meniga’s Smart Savings feature, you can turn transactional data into actionable insights and automate savings with flexible, gamified rules:

Every purchase a customer makes is rounded up to the nearest euro (or other currency), and the spare change is automatically transferred to their savings.

3. Increase and stabilise deposits

Automated systems remove the temptation to spend money that would otherwise remain in a checking account, redirecting funds automatically into savings before customers can use them.

As a result, this helps protect savings from being quickly depleted.

Over time, customers establish a stable and growing savings buffer that enhances financial resilience and reduces stress during economic uncertainty.

Reducing impulsive spending through automated savings systems is highly relevant for banks because it helps increase and stabilise deposits, which are a core funding source.

Customers with automated savings are more likely to maintain positive balances and engage with the bank's financial products over time, increasing lifetime value and cross-selling opportunities.

By offering effective automated savings tools that genuinely help customers achieve their goals faster, you position the bank as a partner in financial wellness, attracting new customers and retaining existing ones.

With Meniga, customers can automatically ‘tax’ specific spending categories.

For instance, a small percentage can be set aside from ‘guilty pleasure’ spending categories, such as dining out or entertainment, converting impulse spending into savings.

4. Offer tailored savings experiences

Every time a customer sets a goal, makes automatic transfers, or reaches savings milestones, those actions reveal rich signals about their financial health, priorities, capacity, and readiness for new products.

For example, if a customer regularly hits their emergency fund target, that may indicate lower financial risk.

Similarly, customers accumulating down‐payment savings suggest they may soon be in the market for a mortgage.

By spotting these moments, banks can tailor offers that feel timely and relevant rather than pushy or generic.

As a result, this targeted approach increases engagement and makes saving feel natural.

Get more insights:

Our recent 2025 Meniga Customer Conference reconfirmed that ‘although personalisation has been around for years, the strategy behind it has evolved with advancing technology.

Customers want their bank to predict, identify, and respond to their needs in real-time, and have the same personalised experience they associate with eCommerce giants. Personalisation has a real impact on the bottom line too, as, according to McKinsey, banks that don’t personalise effectively are operating 20% below their revenue potential.’

Thus, customer centricity remains a must when designing banking apps.

With Meniga’s award-winning Insights platform, banks gain a deeper understanding of their customers by combining transactional data with broader behavioural signals to create complete, real-time user profiles.

The platform enables flexible segmentation based on live eligibility checks and behavioural indicators, ensuring the right message reaches the right audience at the right moment.

By dynamically adjusting content to match each customer’s habits and interactions within the banking app, banks can instantly act on emerging opportunities and trends, driving stronger engagement and more relevant customer experiences.

5. Boost operational efficiency

Besides driving a higher volume of deposits and more consistent balances, automated savings tools reduce manual interventions for savings transfers, interest rate updates, and account maintenance.

By automating routine savings transfers and notifications, banks experience fewer customer queries related to missed payments, transfer issues, or balance questions. This frees up customer support resources and reduces operational costs while improving customer satisfaction and engagement.

Increased use of automated savings correlates with greater digital banking engagement, including internet banking, ATMs, and instant payment platforms. Frequent customer interactions through digital channels strengthen the customer-bank relationship, promote upselling opportunities, and generate fee income from transactions, further improving overall bank performance.

Bank revenue streams from increased customer savings
Revenue Stream	Description
Net Interest Margin (NIM)	Profit from lending deposited funds at higher rates
Fee income and cross-selling	Revenue from additional banking and investment products
Lower funding costs	Reduced reliance on expensive wholesale funding
Payment and interchange fees	Fees from increased transaction volume and card usage
Subscription services	Premium fees for advanced savings/financial tools
Float on deposits	Earnings from invested deposits minus customer interest

10 KPIs that measure the success of bank automated savings programs

KPIs that measure the success of bank automated savings programs include a blend of customer-centric, financial, and operational metrics:

Customer retention rate: Measures the percentage of customers retained over time, indicating loyalty and satisfaction with savings tools. A higher rate reflects strong engagement with automated savings features.
Customer satisfaction score: Measures user satisfaction with the automated savings experience, influencing long-term adoption and advocacy.
Net Interest Margin (NIM): Tracks the difference between interest earned on deposits versus interest paid on liabilities, reflecting profitability driven by increased deposits from automated savings.
Deposit growth rate: Measures the increase in deposits attributable to automated savings programs, indicating the tool's effectiveness in growing stable funding.
Cost-to-income ratio: Assesses operational efficiency by comparing the costs of running the savings program to the income generated, helping evaluate ROI.
Savings conversion rate: Percentage of customers who activate and use the automated savings tool out of the total customers offered, showing adoption success.
Average savings balance per customer: Tracks the average amount saved by users through automated transfers, giving insight into financial impact.
Number of active automated savings users: A straightforward metric of engagement, indicating how many customers regularly use the program.
Frequency and volume of savings contributions: Measures how often and how much customers save automatically, helping identify usage patterns.
Loan-to-deposit ratio: Ensures that increased deposits from savings programs balance well with lending activity to maintain liquidity and risk management.

Tracking these KPIs enables banks to optimise automated savings products for customer retention, profitability, and operational efficiency.

Which customer segments drive the most revenue from savings

The customer segments that drive the most revenue from savings for banks are those with higher financial capacity, strong engagement, and diversified product usage.

Segment	Characteristics	Revenue Impact
High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs)	Large balances, wealth management clients	High net interest margin, fees
Affluent mass market	Steady income, growing savings	Deposit growth, cross-selling
Regular, loyal savers	Consistent savers, automated savings users	Stable deposits, long-term loyalty
Digital-first Millennials and Gen Z	High digital engagement, early savers	Subscription, product adoption
Small businesses and SMEs	Multiple accounts, business transactions	Transaction fees, deposit stability

Key segments include:

High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs): These clients hold large savings balances and often use premium wealth management services, generating substantial net interest margin and fee income for banks.
Affluent mass market: Middle-to upper-income customers with steady incomes and growing savings contribute significantly to deposit growth and often engage with additional banking products, increasing cross-selling revenue.
Consistent savers: Customers who regularly save, especially those using automated savings tools, supply banks with stable, predictable deposits that lower funding costs and support lending activities.
Digital-first millennials and Gen Z: Although they have smaller savings initially, these tech-savvy, engaged customers provide long-term value through the adoption of digital financial products, subscription services, and cross-selling opportunities.
Small business owners and SMEs: Business clients with multiple accounts and savings balances contribute through transaction fees and deposit stability, providing diversified revenue streams.

Bonus: Implementation checklist for building an automated savings feature

Before launching an automated savings feature, banks should ensure they have the right strategic, technical, and regulatory foundations in place.

This checklist outlines the key steps to guide a smooth and effective implementation.

Define savings goals and use cases: Determine key customer segments, saving behaviours to target (fixed transfers, round-ups, goal-based savings).
Design user experience: Build seamless onboarding, allow setting transfer amounts/frequencies, and provide goal tracking dashboards.
Choose savings account structure: Decide account types for holding savings (high-yield, sub-accounts), ensuring separation from spending funds.
Develop automation logic: Implement rules for scheduled transfers, round-up calculations, and adaptive saving triggers based on spending/income.
Integrate with core banking systems: Connect to payment rails, transaction data, authentication systems, and APIs for real-time processing.
Incorporate AI personalisation: Use AI to analyse user data for personalised savings recommendations and nudges.
Ensure compliance: Align with AML, KYC, data privacy (GDPR/CCPA), and financial regulations. Implement user consent and transparency measures.
Implement security and fraud controls: Secure data and monitor transfers for suspicious activity.
Testing: Conduct thorough functional, integration, and user acceptance testing to handle all edge cases.
User education and support: Offer clear guidance and support channels to help customers effectively utilise automated savings.
Monitor KPIs and optimise: Track adoption, retention, savings volume; refine features and algorithms post-launch.
Plan for scalability and growth: Design architecture to scale and add advanced features, such as multi-goal savings or investment integration.

How can Meniga deliver automated savings tools for banks?

Meniga is a digital banking solution provider that empowers banks to modernise their digital banking experience without disrupting day-to-day operations.

Our core capability lies in transforming transaction data into meaningful, personalised insights that strengthen engagement and fuel growth.

We consolidate data from multiple sources, including Open Banking data and any kind of cards and accounts, providing you and your customers with a 360-degree overview of their finances.

As a result, you can identify customers who earn lower interest rates or hold competing products elsewhere, and proactively offer them better rates or incentives to switch.

With Meniga, banks can:

Deliver timely, personalised nudges that encourage smarter saving and responsible money management.
Trigger automated savings actions in response to spending patterns or external events.
Craft highly targeted product offers and campaigns aligned with each customer’s financial behaviour, driving higher conversion and revenue.
Notify users proactively about upcoming payments, low balances, or key financial moments.
Offer transparent transaction breakdowns, including category, merchant, and spending history, helping customers understand their finances while reducing support queries.