TD Bank announced yesterday that Moven’s real-time money-management tool was live in its mobile app for Canadian customers.

This is the first tool of its kind for a Canadian bank.

TD MySpend is a companion app to the TD mobile app for both Android and iOS platforms. It leverages Moven’s personal financial management tools to help users track their spending habits from eligible TD Bank accounts and TD credit card accounts, as well as receive instant notifications.

Brett King, CEO and founder of Moven, discussed the importance of real-time notifications for consumers:

This is really happening because TD customers weren’t able to get access to credit card transaction data in real time. It would take twenty-four hours. Now, any transaction that takes place, credit, debit, etc. will be displayed in real time.

The MySpend app (or its companion update to the TD app) has yet to be released for Canadian iOS users. So far, the Google Play store page, where the app is available, contains largely positive comments. Interestingly, King reported a spike in user activity in the early hours, meaning that users are planning their spending habits before they begin the day.

We used to see people checking their balance at the beginning of the day. Now we’re seeing people checking their spending meter, and that’s pretty interesting.

The spending meter, of course, is a slightly different animal than a simple balance. it is more fluid, and organic, and real-time. Most bank balances, whether customers are aware of it or not, are not displayed in real time. The spending meter as delivered by Moven also contains predictions and feedback once the account is in use.

This level of sophistication is rarely available in the traditional banking experience, which is why Moven’s deal with TD, announced in Dec. 2014, is significant. Moven has other licensing deal in place as well, all with non-U.S. banks. In the U.S., there is the pure play Moven app, which is a perennial leader in innovative offerings.

Once downloaded, a user needn’t return to the MySpend app, because it will appear within the TD Banking app as a meter, red for bad, green for good. “It’s a behavioral gamification around spending,” King said, “with things like the spending meter and category breakdowns, where users can digitize their money spending habits.”

King noted that the app had been submitted to Apple, so there was no delay on the Moven/TD side. This frustration bedevils every iOS developer. It is hard to know when one’s app will clear Apple’s mysterious hurdles and processes and emerge as an App Store offering.

King added that the differences between the U.S. and Canadian build are minor, beyond the obvious integration with TD’s money movement and bank architecture. Here in the U.S. there’s no shortage of real-time money management apps, so some differences in presentation, appearance, interface and functionality are to be expected for this first Canadian port. “I think if a bunch of U.S. Moven users moved to Canada, they would immediately recognize [TD MySpend] as Moven,” King said.

Depending on how November’s election play out, his theory may get put to the test.