Making your money work harder for you and the planet

According to PwC, the vast majority of consumers are more likely to buy and work for companies who align with their ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) goals. However, consumers struggle to align their financial goals with their sustainability goals because they can’t easily access ESG information in the context of their everyday financial decisions. Acacia Money is an app that allows consumers to obtain a centralised financial view and understand their options for building wealth, without compromising their values on sustainability.

Unlocking data and research to empower consumer choice

For founder Anil Sagaram, the premise for Acacia Money began with a question:

“We believe fundamentally that the financial services industry has a critical role to play in building a sustainable future. So how do you increase transparency and connect different parts of the financial service experience to deliver better client outcomes, agnostic of product or provider, and in a way that will allow consumers to live closer to their values?”

Anil Sagaram, Founder @Acacia Money

Anil’s experience building ESG scoring into super and investment platforms brought to light the value of institutional grade research in empowering consumer choice and answering that question. As a result, Acacia brings together data on a broad range of financial products with the sustainability ratings of the institutions providing them.

Using Basiq, Acacia can easily and securely onboard users by allowing them to connect their bank in seconds. Acacia is then able to use this ongoing connection to provide ratings that help users better understand the environmental impact of their money as well as more sustainable alternatives. By doing so, the app helps consumers ensure their money is working for them and the world we live in.

“Now more than ever, there’s so much choice whether it’s energy, super or banking, where you can do better financially and have a positive environmental impact. But choice can be overwhelming too. And that’s the purpose of the Acacia app really, to take the complexity out of it and help people achieve that win-win outcome.

Anil Sagaram, Founder @Acacia Money

Open Banking: From better choices to switching

“Ultimately, doing better financially is about having financial clarity. And that means you’ve got to have a clear view based on up-to-date data. Our platform incorporates a broad range of financial information and research. As an example, our partnership with Basiq gives our users the ability to securely share their banking data on an ongoing basis.. This allows Acacia to focus on bringing financial data and research together in a way that is meaningful to  our clients.”

Anil Sagaram, Founder @Acacia Money

Open Banking under the Consumer Data Right will make this comparison even easier by increasing the portability of data across providers. But it’s the future directions of the CDR across other areas of the economy that really highlight how Acacia Money is built for the future.

With recent proposals from Treasury on enabling action initiation through the CDR, Acacia Money users would be able to actively compare and switch, not just banking but also utilities providers, within one app. As an Accredited Data Recipient, Basiq provides Acacia with a path to transition to Open Banking and more broadly, the CDR in its future applications.

“We’re really taking the wrapper off the concept of finance and thinking a lot more broadly. We’re laser focused on any opportunity that helps people to save and build wealth, in a sustainable way. Acacia is a platform, not a product and energy, banking, super and other data sources are all in consideration.”

Anil Sagaram, Founder @ Acacia Money

For more on Acacia Money and to download the app, head to the Acacia Money website. For more on how Basiq enables faster onboarding and an ongoing connection to data, head to the Basiq website.