Yasmeen Izdiha Kamarudin - Digital Banking for Kids

When it comes to kids, they may not easily grasp concepts that are not part of their everyday lives. As such, they may not understand Banking. Banking may sounds difficult for kids age 6-12 because for them banking is only for Mommy and Daddy. However, they somehow knew they need money to buy foods, snacks, toys or books.

Conversations about money and banking mostly happen when kids become teenagers. Parents think that finances and banking are a complicated topic to explain to younger kids. The research shows that a large number of parents initiate conversations about money when kids become teenagers. Fifty percent of young adults didn’t have money conversations until age 13 or older with their parents, and 30% didn’t have money conversations until age 15 or older, according to T. Rowe Price’s annual Parents, Kids & Money Survey. So the challenge is..

How do we get the kids to start and do banking themselves as early as the age of 6?

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User Persona

Noel (Primary School - 6 years old)
"I love to play and eat!"

Goals and Needs :

- Buy new toys
- Buy food and drinks
- Watching cartoons

Frustrations :

- Has to wait to get new things
- Cannot understand banking
- Calculating small changes

Behaviors :

- Do house chores everyday to get more pocket money
- Save money in piggybank
- Love to explore

Aisyah (Primary School - 11 years old)
" I can't wait to be an adult so I can have my own money"

Goals and Needs :

- Have new clothes and shoes
- Play mobile games
- Have lots of money

Frustrations :

- Has to wait get new things
- Don't have income

Behaviors :

- Likes to keep up with trend
- Knows the importance of money
- Do house chores to get rewarded

Azli (Parent - 34 years old)

"As a parent, I want my kids to have awareness in financial literacy. I have a 6 years old daughter who likes to shop. She don't know what is money. But she know she needs to pay for the stuff that she wanted. Somehow, explaining to them only is not enough. They need to practice and experience."

Goals and Needs :

- Manage and control financial for family
- Pay bills
- Give the kids early financial literacy awareness

Frustrations :

- Busy with work
- Limited time

Behaviors :

- Tech savvy
- Has savings, credit cards and insurance
- Teaches his children to appreciate their stuff and valuable item

According to UXDA research and study, kids perceive money as something abstract and delightful. Kids aged 6-11 can't express their thoughts verbally as well as adults can, so they asked them to draw a picture :

Normally, we don’t forced kids to use the same stuff as adults, but finance and banking still a topic that we don't really share with our kids. This creates frustration and even desperation because parents know that the future of their kids largely depends on the habits taught in childhood, but what do we do and how do we start?

Digital banking could provide the perfect opportunity to serve our kids, teach them how to handle money, and take care of building the right attitude. We just need to rethink banking... make them "speak" the kids' language.

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Why Digital Banking?

Kids like to explore new features and have fun using devices.

The time kids spend daily on devices has increased during the last few years since Covid hits. According to The Asian Parent, 98% of parents in Southeast Asia allow children to use devices. Across SEA, 67% of children use a parent-owned device. At 71%, Singapore has the highest number of children aged 3- to 8-years-old using a parent owned device; whereas in the Philippines, only 58% of children use their parents’ devices. The most popular devices used by children are Apple (40%) and Samsung (38%). Samsung is the more popular choice in Malaysia, Indonesia and the
Philippines.

Kids have different device usage habits

The current generation of kids typically have their first experience with devices before they are a year old. They can't speak or walk yet, but they know how to watch their favorite cartoon on YouTube or play a game. They have a good understanding of how things should work and interact online and have high expectations for the services they use.

How should the digital banking for kids looks like?

Kids learn numbers and basic calculation when they start school and are in their middle childhood (6-12 years of age). At this age, kids normally know how to use money. Therefore, an appropriate digital solution would be great to create awareness in financial literacy and taking their first steps into the world of finance and banking when they are 6 to 12 years of age . This also can be a great tools for the parents to talk about financial and banking to the kids.

According to the research, kids have different goals using devices than adults─they want entertainment. They enjoy games, interactions and rewards.

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Solutions

Kid's banking as a game !

In a digital world, you can have apps almost for everything. So why don't we offer a kid's mobile application that will not only allow them to experience and practice banking first hand, but will help teach kid to pay in the store, collect money for big goals, motivate to do home tasks and show the value of money through paid tasks? And all this through an intuitive, accessible to parents with kids friendly interface.