The news: Regional financial institution First Horizon Bank will give young clients free access to Greenlight's family finance app, which includes youth-focused debit cards, money-management tools, and financial education with parental monitoring, per a press release. 

Zooming out: Gen Alpha consumers are far from a new target for FIs.

• Greenlight already works with more than 200 banks and credit unions.
• Chime partnered with e.l.f. Beauty on a financial literacy game inside Roblox, a platform with 151.5 million daily active users.
• Block pushed Cash App down the age ladder, expanding parental controls and planning products for children ages 6 to 12, after launching a teen product in 2021.
• New York-based Apple Bank is using children's high-yield savings accounts, financial literacy partnerships, and community events to build relationships with the next generation of depositors, per a Banking Dive interview.
• And Canadian Bank of Montreal (BMO) partnered with financial education platform MoneyPrep to bring free financial literacy resources to elementary school students across Canada.

Why this matters: Gen Alpha influences household budgets before holding their own accounts. Nearly all (97%) of kids ages 7 to 14 influence clothing and accessories purchases, per a PwC survey. 

Beyond acquiring long-term relationships with Gen Alpha consumers, FIs could be building new or deeper relationships with their entire families.

Implications for banks: The question is no longer whether to offer youth banking products, but how to differentiate them in an increasingly crowded market.

Banks can build familiarity with Gen Alpha through gaming, interactive financial education, and partnerships that reach kids outside traditional banking channels. But attracting their attention is only the first step. Turning that engagement into lasting relationships requires products and experiences kids return to—like debit cards linked to allowances—while offering parents tangible benefits like spending controls and visibility into their children's financial habits.

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