MasterCard Deal Brings Banking Products To Youth And Children

MasterCard has launched a published guide to help children and youth understand and manage their finances. The guide “Banking a New Generation: Developing Responsible Retail Banking Products for Children and Youth” is designed to help financial institutions, nongovernment organizations, and governments to provide banking and payment products to the adolescents, MasterCard announced March 14.

The publication will coincide with Global Money Week, which is celebrated internationally and which sparks financial conversation among young people.

Understanding that only 37.9 percent of young people ages 15 to 25 have a checking, savings, or card account, MasterCard and Child & Youth Finance International (CYFI), a nonprofit based in Amsterdam, are aiming to educate and enable children and youth to “invest in their future.”

On March 17, MasterCard and CYFI will hold a webinar to explain to stakeholders how to use the guide, covering the principles for financial products for youth and children, why a financial institution should invest in children, the product development process, and more.

“Our goal in working with CYFI is to expand access to safe, secure and responsible financial products and services for young people,” Anna Zanghi, global lead of Youth Segment Product at MasterCard, said in the agreement announcement. “These will enable them to start to save for the future and pursue goals such as higher education and entrepreneurial ventures.”