Previously known as the fastest-growing consumer investing app in the United States, Stash has today announced it is partnering with Green Dot Corporation, and its subsidiary Green Dot Bank, to offer digital banking services to all of its users.
Green Dot services will be providing debit cards, overdrafts with no fees, and a large network of free ATMs across the US alongside Stash’s current offering of savings and investment options in ETFs, as well as advice on budgeting.
"There are more than 100 million Americans who need a banking product just like the one we are building with Green Dot. Stash is committed to being a true partner and source of support for our clients, and for those who have systematically been left behind," said Brandon Krieg, CEO and cofounder, Stash.
"Layering Green Dot's robust Banking as a Service platform with Stash's full suite of offerings will provide innovative, affordable tools to teach healthy financial habits, relieve financial stress, and help our clients save and invest more money."
Stash currently has 2m users of its saving and investment services with a further 5m subscribed up to its educational channels, which provide help with financial literacy, how to save for a rainy day and understanding investment strategy. The platform has yet to mention a fee structure for the new service, but current Stash users pay a monthly subscription fee to access the investment and savings options.
Since its launch in October 2015, Stash users can invest and save in ETFs and companies as part of a balanced long-term investment strategy. The platform will also soon be releasing ‘Stash Coach’, a piece of technology that can provide users with “dynamic and personalised” recommendations to help them build a balanced and diversified portfolio for the future.
Stash has said that the average age of a customer on its platform is 29, showing that the fintech start-up is doing a great job of breaking into the millennial investor market. Research published earlier this week showed that well over 60 per cent of millennials now believe digitisation to be a “basic requirement”of any investment service, pushing incumbent players to up their game.
Stash announced its plans to move into bankingback in February, just after closing a $37.5m Series D fundraising round. At the time the platform said that approximately 86 per cent of its users are first-time investors, as it launched investment accounts for kids that can be managed by parents to give their children a “financial head-start” in life.
