MoneyLion is a mobile banking platform offering borrowing, saving, and investing solutions. Founded in 2013, the company is now listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and reported 4.9 million customers on its app as of August 2022. 

In an interview with The Financial Revolutionist, Cynthia Kleinbaum, MoneyLion’s Chief Customer Officer, describes the launch of MoneyLion University, an inclusion-focused education program teaching financial literacy to MoneyLion’s users. Founded in partnership with NFL player and UPenn lecturer Brandon Copeland, the program is the result of strategic hiring, acquisition, and operations decisions, and reflects a conscious investment in content creation as a form of user engagement and education. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

The Financial Revolutionist: Why did you launch MoneyLion University? What need does it address?

Cynthia Kleinbaum: MoneyLion set out with the mission to rewire the financial system so every American can live their best life without worrying about money. As part of that mission, we noticed a financial literacy gap that starts with our students—especially the lack of financial curriculums in many schools. Money skills, or money education, is not traditionally taught in schools. Students and many of our customers are told they need to invest, need to save, need to improve their credit scores, but aren’t shown or taught how to effectively do so.

For example, FINRA Investor Education Foundation’s National Financial Capability Study found that higher financial literacy causes better outcomes. These respondents were more likely to make ends meet, they spent less than their income (53% vs. 35%), and set aside three months’ worth of emergency funds at higher levels (65% vs. 42%).

It has long been difficult for many people, and students in particular, to have a comprehensive understanding of their financial status and how to achieve better financial health. This is why we decided to launch MoneyLion University (“MLU”); the content and technology behind it will fill in the current education gap in a way that hasn’t been done before. Fun, engaging, and actionable content at our customers’ fingertips brings premium “edutainment” to anyone who downloads our app. 

How did you go about building it? What kinds of hiring and operations decisions made it possible?

We started building the MLU “curriculum” with the most basic money-related topics in mind, and we sought out the right person to help build the program—NFL player and UPenn lecturer Brandon Copeland, who is anchoring this initiative as the newly minted Dean of MLU, and brings a compelling curriculum centered around real-world money education and skills to consumers nationwide. 

Dean Copeland, otherwise known as “Professor Cope,'' will kick MLU off and take content from his college-accredited course “Life 101,” and, with the power of MoneyLion’s media division, bring a premium, social-first version of his curriculum to audiences around the country on topics such as budgeting, planning for retirement, gross income, building credit, investing, and understanding financial inequities. 

MoneyLion’s acquisition of MALKA media in 2021 was a conscious decision to develop and curate content. Ownership of a content studio allows us to produce compelling, educational, and entertaining content. The production of MLU utilizes these key capabilities. Not only does MLU showcase MoneyLion’s content capabilities, it is made possible because of the unique assets that MoneyLion brings to bear on the issue of financial education, including our partnerships with professional and Name-Image-Likeness (“NIL”) athletes and our technological capabilities that allow for the delivery of the content through the MoneyLion App.  

What would a successful MLU launch and expansion look like? What do you hope viewers and students gain from it? 

A successful launch and expansion for us would broaden the program across the country through different mediums, continued content generation, and partnerships with individuals and educational institutions. MLU courses will soon be available to MoneyLion users, but we already have content with Dean Cope that can be accessed now. 

Throughout the semester starting in January 2023, MLU will also hold monthly live-streamed webinars on MoneyLion’s mobile app with Professor Cope and high-profile guests, covering lifestyle and money topics. We hope that viewers and students gain money skills, and learn more about money, but also we hope to make an inclusive program that helps them throughout the different milestones in their life: from their first paycheck, to tax refund, building their credit score, and the like. 

What does the future hold for MLU and similar initiatives?

We are just getting started and MLU, and it’s only part of our extensive financial literacy initiative. We look forward to transforming how we teach and learn about money across the country through more innovation in our app and through strategic, symbiotic partnerships. Our future lies in content, and we feel that is how we’ll reach a broad audience in order to effect change.