Wireless provider Verizon this month rolled out an app to allow children to try out banking and personal finance management – with the oversight of their parents. The app, which is called Family Money, comes with a savings account, real-time alerts, and spending notifications.

Why should we care?
Verizon joins competitor T-Mobile as it moves into the financial services sphere. Its rationale for doing so is likely to further monetize its extensive wireless customer relationships, though the app is also available to non-Verizon customers. By leaning on Gen Z customers, Verizon, which is partnering with Metropolitan Commercial Bank, is looking to reach these customers early in their lives and hoping they’ll stay with Verizon banking as their financial needs evolve. The offering is free for the first 30 days, and $5.99 after the initial month. Time will tell if adoption will follow. In 2013, AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile launched a mobile payments product called Softcard, which was shut down two years later due to low adoption. Still, with the rise of challenger banks and products aimed at Gen Z customers, Verizon sees opportunities. “It’s the perfect way to help kids learn the ins and outs of managing money and yet another way we’re providing real benefits to our customers,” said Todd Oberstein, executive director of product management and development at Verizon.