We have hired you as a consultant to create a proposition that will make us the best bank for kids. We want you to develop a strategy, design a product that can be built in 6 months, and walk us through how you would go to market.

Clarifying questions

-          I am assuming that American express still have options of creating a child bank account be it operated by a guardian till the age of maturity of child à yes

-          I am assuming this to be in USA market à Yes

-          Any motivation on why to explore or I would say deep dive into this market à Let’s say now days there are many non-banking avenues are there. So we want to catch those child early in the game so they grew up to be a loyal Amex customer

Amex vision – Deliver exceptional products and service to our customers

Goal – Make Amex the kid friendly bank

User segments

-          Children ( 6 to 12 years)

-          Teenagers ( 13 – 17)

o   Children getting paid – actors, doing some stuff

o   Children getting pocket money, doing some little chores

Secondary user segments

-          Guardians

-          School or institution such as child homes

Criteria – TAM | Freq of use | goal

User journey

Masaba a 14 year old school girl

Got some money saved from chores/ work à invest for something big à Parents opened a bank account for her à They go and submit the amount on her behalf à manage the bank formalities

Pain points

-          Too much hassle

o   Going to bank, submitting forms, etc

o   Inertia

-          Awareness

o   Why bank, why not piggy bank, any benefits

-          Tailored solutions / suggestion

o   Compliance piece that child cannot be targeted for marketing

o   What can they do, any bonds, FDs, recurring deposits etc

Criteria – Intensity | Goal

Kid friendly | too much hassle |  

Solutions

1.      Collaboration with schools [ Impact – M  | Effort – H ]

a.      B-2-B partnership

b.      KYC in school, open zero balance account

c.      Weekly / Biweekly visits to school and help with the withdrawal or deposits

d.      Saving schemes for parents / Teachers to propogate

2.      Amex app for kids [ Impact – M | Effort – M ]

a.      Parent guided app

b.      Create account and do KYC for kids

c.      Digital services such as receive payments – Parents to transfer pocket money portion to bank

d.      See how it grow and some analytics if the same amount is saved how much it will accumulate

3.      Goal guidance [ Impact – H | Effort – M ]

a.      Save for bicycle in 6 months

b.      How much monthly to save

c.      Guided listings for avenues to make money

Go to market strategy

Because of the compliance issue, the best way to reach out is via guardians or schools.

Campaign for parents with some initial benefits to start the child account with some guidance or sessions

Collab with schools on the same to provide finance literacy along with compounding benefits.