DIGITAL BANKING
Bank of America launches a new digital solution – Life Plan
Bank of America recently launched Life Plan – a new digital experience integrated with its mobile and online banking platform. Life Plan allows the bank’s customers to set and track goals such as finances, family, health, home, work, leisure and giving, adjust these goals in real-time and also avail advisory services by scheduling in-person or virtual appointments with the bank’s financial professionals. Life Plan is powered by Erica – BofA’s AI-driven virtual financial assistant, Preferred Rewards – the bank’s loyalty program and is available in two languages – English and Spanish. David Tyrie, Bank of America head of Digital, Financial Center Strategy, and Advanced Client Solutions said, “Life Plan delivers a personalized experience for every client, providing information that is timely and relevant, aligned to their unique financial goals, and offering a choice of the next best step.”
Step – a bank for teens, launched its banking app
Step, a financial services start-up providing banking services for teens and families, officially launched their banking app last week. Step offers its customers a free FDIC insured bank account which can be opened by providing basic information, a customisable Visa debit card and eliminates all banking fees. At the end of the sign-up process, teen customers will be able to invite their parents to download the app, where parents can unlock the debit card for regular use by their children. According to CJ MacDonald, founder and CEO at Step, “They (teens) expect to manage their money in the same way as their social media but banks have failed to keep up––largely overlooking this generation and their unique needs. Step was built to fill this gap, providing modern financial tools that enable teens to easily manage their money while helping to improve their financial literacy at an earlier age.”
FINTECH FUNDING
PayMongo rasies $12m in Series A funding round
PayMongo, a Filipino payments startup, recently announced that it raised a $12 million Series A round led by Stripe. Existing investors Y Combinator and Global Founders Capital and new investor – Bedrock Capital joined Stripe bringing the total investment of the Series A to almost $15 million. Francis Plaza,CEO, PayMongo said, “This new funding will be invested in expanding our products and services, as we build out a much bigger financial infrastructure. There’s still a lot of work to do: from adding more payment options to supporting new business models such as recurring payments, subscriptions and invoicing.”
CROWDFUNDING
Clim8 launches crowdfunding campaign
Clim8, a fintech which provides investmentsinsustainable portfolios, recently launched its crowdfunding campaign. The campaign, powered by crowdcube, raised over £560,000 in just 24 hours. Clim8 will soon launch its mobile app which will allow investors to create sustainable investment portfolios. Clim8 aims to introduce conscious investors to its carefully selected companies already making a positive impact on climate change. Companies working in sectors such as clean tech, smart mobility, recycling, clean energy among others will be available on the Clim8 app.
DRIVING SUSTAINABILITY
Starling Bank, a United Kingdom-based digital bank recently partnered Trillion Trees, a joint venture between BirdLife International, Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) to plant trees. With this initiative existing Starling Bank customers can refer as many people as they like. For every successful new customer referral, Starling Bank will donate to Trillion Trees who will plant one tree.
