Customers want personalized financial services. So why do they get one-size-fits-all accounts? This question seems to come up frequently. It took center stage for a moment at Bank Innovation 2013 in San Francisco this March.

Bank innovation checked in with Alex Sion, President of Moven (formerly Movenbank) to see how Moven is handling personalization.

Moven is in beta testing right now, with about 500 customers using the service. Moven is checking the integrity of the transactions and evaluating the quality of the data before opening the service up more broadly.

Moven’s personalization strategy is built around its Financial Personality feature. New users are asked to complete a survey of 15 questions — fine-tuned from an original set of 40 — and then presented with the grid in the graphic below, from  Jim Marous’s Bank Marketing Strategy blog.

As can be seen, there are nine possible personality types, and this survey respondent (Jim?) was put in the Professor category, which is described to the left of the grid. The personality types are meant to span the most common characteristics of bank account holders. Do you know a lot about your money? Do you like to check in on your finances?

This is very interesting — you are presented with a financial profile independent of any data or real numbers or monitoring of behavior.

“Financial Personality is more about your psychology and attitude [than behavioral patterns]” Sion said. To be sure, Moven will monitor your behavior and modify the way you and your account interact as you build up a history with your account. In other words, your account and the tools in it can change over time to accommodate your patterns.

As Sion put it, “Eventually the data will influence the way we message and the advice we deliver.” He also explained that user preferences will certainly play a role. “There can be stuff that is relevant but annoying.” So Moven accounts will become more personalized as time goes on and the data accumulates and behavioral modelling improves.

A customer’s interaction with Moven in terms of help and advice is also key. “There’s no one-size-fit-all advice,” Sion said. “Everyone has a pattern of spending and living that makes them happy, and that’s the goal, to help you live a life consistent with your happiness and financial health.”

Whatever one’s financial leanings, the Financial Personality profile seems like a great place to start looking at one’s money habits and living a more responsible life. (It is Financial Literacy Month, by the way. Check #finlitmonth on Twitter for great advice about credit and debt in particular.)

It’s entirely possible the Financial Personality model will be refined as time goes on. “The Financial Personality was part of the grand experiment, and we felt is was important to launch with it,” he said.

An attendee at Bank Innovation 2013 was told about the Financial Personality grid of nine personality types and said, perhaps in jest, “Only nine?” You could certainly look at it as just a first step to a more personalized banking experience, but who’s doing more than Moven to personalize your account right now?