Chase Launches Consumer Financial Solutions Lab

A new five-year initiative that brings together social entrepreneurs and leading experts in technology, behavioral economics and design to improve consumer financial capability now has a $30 million backer.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. will provide the funding for the Financial Solutions Lab cross-industry initiative and will work in collaboration with the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI), the organizations announced May 29.

The purpose of the initiative is to help toward the development of innovative, technology-enabled strategies, products and services that align with consumers’ financial needs, the organizations said in the funding announcement.

Over the next five years, the lab will host a series of competitions for social entrepreneurs to identify products and services designed to help consumers improve their financial health. Capital, technical assistance and third-party evaluation will support the leading ideas.

“CFSI has spent the last decade understanding the financial needs and behaviors of consumers and has a strong track record of seeding promising innovations that help to address them,” Jennifer Tescher, the center’s CEO, said in a statement. “Now that financial capability has become the norm, this Lab is the opportunity to scale powerful ideas that will impact millions of Americans.”

In March, CFSI issued its first Prepaid Industry Scorecard that assesses the level of quality in the current prepaid marketplace, providing a set of benchmarks for providers and identifying opportunities for growth.

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