We often say that there is no such thing as a “tech industry” because, in our experience, app and connected device companies are solving problems in virtually every industry. Some are better positioning bars and restaurants to weather the global pandemic; others are revolutionizing agriculture by monitoring cattle and preserving piglets with state-of-the art sensor technology; and some are turning smart devices into digital literacy tools, helping parents teach their kids how to save and set goals. Members of the service industry, agriculture, education, and healthcare are now all part of the “tech industry” – we’re all connected.
On April 26, the ACT I The App Association co-hosted a Capitol Hill event, Lifting Off and Lifting Up: The Use of FinTech to Build Financial Literacy Skills and Credit for the Underserved and Unbanked.
This event told a powerful story of the role modern financial technology (FinTech) apps can play in educating, empowering, and strengthening younger consumers – especially those who face credit and banking challenges.
The first panel, moderated by our senior director for public policy, Graham Dufault, was titled, “How Fintech Can Help Lifelong Financial Skill-Building.” It centered on the ways mobile pay apps, including family digital wallets and budgeting tools, are educating consumers and helping them make smart choices in the market. This panel also explored a host of challenging public policy questions around parental control, privacy, and data security and centered the vital question “How can the tech sector best help young consumers make informed and thoughtful financial choices?”
The panel kicked off with Tanya Van Court describing how the company she founded, Goalsetter, helps kids (and adults) learn the financial literacy basics by tailoring the learning experience to the audience. Tanya pointed out that it’s hard to keep kids’ attention on subjects like saving and investing, so Goalsetter enables parents to gamify the learning experience for their children, including by conditioning access to allowance funds on completing educational tasks — and, of course, by setting goals. On public policy, Tanya shared her perspectives on how federal, state, and local policymakers can better position kids—especially from underserved areas and disadvantaged economic backgrounds—for financial success and stability. For example, she noted that very few K-12 schools teach financial literacy and though a handful of states recently made changes to require more financial literacy in schools, much work remains to be done. Similarly, the federal Community Reinvestment Act could be improved, she said, because current law tends to lead school districts to choose the cheapest (often “free”), and often least effective, teaching tools.
Along with the difficult questions around how best to fund and enable better financial literacy, policymakers and app developers also face challenges related to privacy. Panelists discussed how developers can leverage the privacy and security characteristics of platforms like the Apple App Store and the Google Play store to ensure digital financial literacy tools protect and securely manage children’s (and their parents’) data. One of our member companies, REGO, addressed this public policy concern during the panel by discussing how it has engineered the Mazoola digital family wallet that protects children of all ages by applying its patented Child Online Privacy Protect Act (COPPA) “opt-in” protections to what is otherwise an “opt-out” digital financial world. Mazoola, the only COPPA certified digital wallet, allows parents to enable online and offline shopping at approved retailers, control what funds are available for which purchases, and reward children, encourage charitable giving, and pay allowance via the app. REGO explained that it seeks to make COPPA compliance the norm among FinTech solutions aimed at children.
App economy companies like Goalsetter and REGO are putting the power of smart design and cutting-edge tech to work, solving public policy problems and making our increasingly digital everyday activities work better—and safer—for all of us.