Challenger banks for Teens: The 4 Part Guide
If you feel under pressure to offer or develop banking for teenagers, you're not alone. I analyzed the challenges & opportunities for banks & vendors who want to address the teenage market.
Photo by Antonino Visalli on Unsplash
If you’re a banker, you’re feeling the pressure to develop & deliver “teenager products.” In just the US alone, Step, Verizon Family Money & Till opened in 2021 for business.
More financial institutions also likely feel the pressure with the growing teen use of Buy-Now-Pay-Later and Square’s announcements that they have acquired both an industrial bank and Afterpay, a Buy-Now-Pay-Later provider.
If you’re a fintech or banking software vendor, you’re also feeling the pressure to offer “teen banking” capabilities to your customers.
What to do? What is a teenage banking product? Are they just like banking services for adults? What do teenagers need? Should we create a challenger bank for teenagers? Do teenagers need banking services at all?
I wrote 4 newsletters analyzing the challenges - and yes, opportunities - of meeting the needs of teenagers.
Rages like Sea Shanties & Banks for Teens Won’t Last - What does the current interest in sea shanties have in comment with challenger banks for teens? I define the challenges that banks for teens face & analyze the teen demographic in terms of the hidden tribes framework.
The Complex Teenage Financial Supply Chain - Teenager market is different from the adult consumer market in a lot of ways. For one, teens typically can’t open a bank account by themselves. For another, they are already using payments apps.
Fun, Fun, Fun, til Her Daddy Takes Her T-Bird Away - Teens may look like adults, talk like adults, and have a bunch of disposable income, but they aren’t adults. Their brains work differently. And that should be a red flag — and an opportunity.
Teenagers Always Grow Up - Banks focused on the teen market must always be focused on 2 activities at the same time: 1) Preparing for customers to age out of their bank and 2) acquiring new customers to replace those aging out. Also, bankers evaluating financial services for teens should consider the similarities of the situation to port & sherry.
Me, Elsewhere
Think like a Challenger: How banks and credit unions can compete and win - I recently moderated this conversation on challenger banks with Bryan Clagett of Moven and Ted Brown of Digital Onboarding. And, yes, I talked about challenger banks for teenagers.
Does it Fit Me? The Next Step in Digital Banking Transformation
Digital banking transformation’s surprising secret for success in Entersekt’s ebook New Directions in Authentication
Yes, these things I wrote for or did with clients and they may ask you for information before you can download or watch them. If you’re interested in collaborating with me, contact me at stessa@pivotassets.co.
Who writes PivotAssets?
I’m an independent analyst & consultant & former Gartner analyst. I’ve worked in and covered the banking industry for over 2 decades. I write about digital banking in this newsletter - not to confirm what you know (and you are plenty smart!) but to give you a fresh perspective & analysis on the transformation that is —and isn’t happening - in the industry.
I write this newsletter for people and companies who are trying to differentiate their banking software in an increasingly competitive market. That could be people who work at software companies currently developing banking software or people at vendors that want to move vertically into the banking market. It’s also for bankers and investors who want to know more about digital banking transformation strategies & the technologies that power them.