Definition
PFM (Personal Finance Management) and BFM (Business Finance Management) refer to the apps that help manage finances by building on banking aggregation, categorisation and enrichment.
- PFM — consumer side: budgeting, expense tracking, alerts, automatic savings, projection (Bankin', Linxo, Lydia).
- BFM — business side: cash management, automated accounting, invoicing, VAT, cash-flow forecasting (Pennylane, Qonto, Indy, Shine, Agicap).
The two families share the technical building blocks (AIS + categorisation + enrichment) but diverge in UX, features and business model.
PFM: the financial "quantified self"
Consumer PFMs typically offer an aggregated view of all accounts, a budget by category with alerts, automatic categorisation, subscription detection, end-of-month forecasting, automatic savings (round-up), coaching (often in premium) and sometimes a carbon footprint.
BFM: accounting without (almost) doing accounting
BFMs go further: an integrated (Qonto, Shine) or connected (Pennylane, Indy) business account, accounting categorisation (chart of accounts) with VAT, invoice OCR and automatic reconciliation, quote/invoice issuance, VAT-return preparation, simplified payroll, cash-flow forecasting and a connection to the chartered accountant (accounting export).
PFM vs BFM vs neobank
| Pure PFM | Pure BFM | Neobank | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Target | Consumer | Business / small business / freelancer | Consumer or business |
| Sources | Multi-bank aggregated | Multi-bank + invoices | Own accounts |
| Holds an account? | No | Sometimes (Qonto, Shine) | Yes |
| Examples | Bankin', Linxo | Pennylane, Indy | Revolut, N26 |
Lydia is hybrid (neobank + PFM), Qonto is a business neobank + integrated BFM.
The business model
- PFM: freemium (premium €4 to €10/month) plus affiliate commissions on third-party products (insurance, savings, credit) — affiliation often dominates.
- BFM: monthly subscription (€10 to €50), integrated transactions (the Qonto case), sometimes commissions on ancillary products.
BFM is a better business than PFM (revenue per user 5 to 20× higher, lower churn), which pushed many B2C players to broaden into the business segment.
What PFM / BFM are not
- Not banks in the strict sense: they aggregate but do not always hold the account (except mixed cases: Lydia, Qonto).
- Not a substitute for the accountant (BFM): the chartered accountant remains mandatory above a certain threshold for annual accounts.
- Not locked into one role: almost all are expanding into advice, savings, credit and insurance — the "super-app" model.
- Not outside GDPR: they handle sensitive data (income, health via spending, opinions via donations), hence the requirement for explicit consent and purpose.
In the PSD2 ecosystem
PFMs/BFMs are the main downstream users of AIS. Most (Pennylane, Indy) are not AISPs in their own right and rely on Bridge, Tink or Powens. In 2022, Perspecteev SAS split its activities: Bridge (B2B) was recapitalised with BPCE and Truffle Capital, and Bankin' (B2C) was taken over 100% by the Casino group.
Concrete examples
- French PFM: Bankin' (the historic leader), Linxo (Crédit Agricole since 2017), Lydia (hybrid PFM + P2P), Helios (a green bank with integrated PFM).
- French BFM: Pennylane (accounting + tracking), Qonto (neobank + BFM, more than 500,000 business customers), Indy (the self-employed), Shine (Société Générale), Agicap (high-end treasury).
- Bankin': freemium with a premium tier (advanced alerts, forecasts) and affiliate revenue.
- Pennylane: a model driven by accounting firms, which prescribe the tool to their clients.
- Indy: focused on freelancers and self-employed professionals (doctors, lawyers), with a subscription for automated accounting.
- Embedded: Qonto now integrates collection (SoftPOS) and financing (invoice advance via Defacto, Karmen) — BFM is becoming a financial OS for SMEs.
- FIDA outlook: with FIDA (2027+), PFMs/BFMs will be able to aggregate savings, credit, life insurance, equity savings plans and real estate — a true 360° view, for a potentially 3-to-5× larger market.