App helps customers decide whether they can afford possible purchases.

• Position: NEW PRODUCTS - Banno, Cedar Falls - Grip software

A MOBILE APPLICATION THAT BANKS CAN BRAND and offer to their customers as a tool to support, buying decisions has been enhanced, according to the provider, Banno (formerly T8 Webware), Cedar Falls, Iowa.

Using the tool, which is called Grip, customers can determine what is the best place to buy a desired item--and at what price, time and payment method. The app also reviews the customer's spending patterns and upcoming bills and assesses whether the customer can afford to make the purchase at that time.

"Balances and statements remain the top two reasons consumers access mobile banking, but Grip fulfills what we know they are lacking (and actually looking for): purchasing ability," explains Wade Arnold, CEO of Banno. "Traditional money management tools can be great for a retrospective view of finances, yet they do nothing for mobile users needing real-time decision support."

Grip was introduced last year as a mobile application that enables consumers to aggregate all of their balance and transactional data from multiple financial institutions into a single, up-to-the-minute view. It has evolved to automate the natural regression analysis people estimate when looking at account dashboards. The tool's predictive modeling analyzes the...