For many years, we’ve seen banks attempting to come up with a kid’s account proposition. Typically, the lack of commercial return on such product or campaign is being justified by “financial education” or “nurturing future customers” of the bank. This often translates into a simple acquisition campaign with 10 EUR top up to kid’s account opened under a parent account with limited or no further attempts to actually understand and engage with kids around their needs.

So what do kids under the age of 15 really want? It’s not that difficult. It comes to down to

1. having a mobile app where they can see their account (not under parent app)
2. being able to pay through phone or watch
3. wanting to split the bill / transact with friends and community.

Surprisingly none of these wants and needs are addressed to date. Even new-comers like Revolut don’t do it right yet – their Junior account provides a mobile app, but without Apple pay or Google pay, and no account number where grandparents can transfer their birthday pocket money. Bottom line, after the initial set-up, kids ask their parents to withdraw cash so they can handle their banking needs the old fashion way.

If not appealing enough for banks, could these customer clusters be served properly with someone from outside of financial industry? Someone who

1. has intimate knowledge, trust and relationship with the segment
2. has products with enough profitability to bundle in a “free account” only as a feature or lock-in element of their proposition.

For example could LEGO, Nintendo or other brands roll-out a bank for children across multiple territories and steer the share of wallet toward their products? With PSD2 un-bundling of financial services, this doesn’t sound impossible. All too often, players outside of banking industry do not recognize the possibilities just “next door”. And it’s not about a kid’s account only.