The Aditya Birla Group has launched a personal finance website, MyUniverse, which intends to give users a single window view into their finances. Users can link their online bank accounts and browse through credit card bills, debit card expenses, loans, mutual funds, FDs, and other financial instruments. They can also add physical assets such as gold and jewellery, real estate and offline investments and savings to the list, manually. The website also allows users to add bill reminders for utility and other payments, and offers a payment gateway with Billdesk to facilitate online bill payments. It has also integrated a trading and investment service from Aditya Birla Money, the broking and distribution company of Aditya Birla Group, and a tax planning service. The site does not offer money transactions across bank accounts but claims to help users understand their financial health. Users of the site also receive instant e-mail and text alerts notifying them of any large transactions. Pricing: The site is currently offering a 30 day free trial, post which an annual fee of Rs 500 + taxes, is applicable. The site claims that it protects the confidentiality, integrity and security of users' personal information during storage and transmission of data. It clarifies that no one at MyUniverse has access to the users' individual accounts, funds, investments and the site uses VeriSign's SSL encryption to secure data, which is stored and transmitted in an encrypted format. The landing page (after the user logins) displays the user's Money Snapshot including assets and liabilities,…
