<p>CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Why do financial services organizations offer account aggregation? The primary reason, according to a Forrester Research study, is customer retention. Some 51% of 45 financial providers, when surveyed, say customer retention is the main driving force. Interestingly, the next most popular reason was fee potential, coming in at 22%. That was followed by cross-selling potential, 20%; and competitive necessity, also at 20%. Of the 45 financial players surveyed, 36% offered aggregation, 38% plan to, and 27% had no such plans. According to a recent Celent Communications report on aggregation, the types of accounts aggregation users are aggregating are overwhelmingly financial-related (75%). Following that was travel (11%), other (8%), and e-mail 6%. Celent's most compelling finding was that the number of aggregation users jumped from 800,000 in November 2000 to 2.9 million as of November 2001. [email protected]</p>