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In a deal announced late on Wednesday, KeyBank will acquire personal finance software provider, HelloWallet, from Morningstar, which purchased the company for more than $52 million in 2014. Terms of the deal were not immediately available; the 36 employees of the company that will join KeyBank will continue to work from offices in Washington, D.C. and Chicago.
KeyBank’s interest in HelloWallet extends back to at least 2015 when the company announced an exclusive partnership that made KeyBank the only bank with access to HelloWallet’s personal finance platform. Positive reviews from customers, including KeyBank research indicating customers using HelloWallet’s solutions were expressing greater financial confidence, encouraged the two firms to deepen their relationship, culminating in this week’s acquisition announcement. “We are thrilled to bring the HelloWallet team to KeyBank so they can join us on our clients’ journey toward financial wellness one step at a time,” KeyBank Community Bank co-president Dennis Devine said.
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Pictured: HelloWallet founder and Chief Innovation Officer Matt Fellowes demonstrating Retirement Explorer at FinovateFall 2015.
The Best of Show winner from FinovateFall was a busy innovator while under the Morningstar umbrella. The company began the year with the release of version 5.0 of its personal finance app, providing improved navigation and a streamlined dashboard. In December, HelloWallet launched its free student-loan and retirement savings calculator and, last August, the company unveiled its Flexible Budgets feature that helps users make longer-term planning decisions, and better prepare for larger, infrequent expenses. We featured HelloWallet in our look at advice-only savings technologies in March.
Founded in 2009 by Matt Fellowes, HelloWallet demoed its Retirement Explorer solution at FinovateFall 2015. A specialist in providing employer-based financial wellness solutions, the company raised more than $15 million in funding from four investors before being acquired by Morningstar. For its part, Morningstar insisted that its decision to sell HelloWallet was consistent with its long-term strategy and was not a reflection on its commitment to providing personal finance solutions for its customers. “Morningstar has significantly enhanced its overall capability set since the acquisition of HelloWallet more than three years ago,” Morningstar President of Retirement Solutions Brock Johnson said, “and we will continue to incorporate many of the financial wellness best practices into our broad-based solutions.”