RoosterMoney allows parents to immediately freeze a card if it’s lost and block payments to specific merchants
NatWest acquires kids banking fintech RoosterMoney. (Credit: NatWest Group.)
NatWest has today announced the acquisition of fintech RoosterMoney as part of its strategy to help families and young people more easily manage their money.
Launched in 2016, Rooster, the London-based fintech, makes it really simple for parents and children to learn about earning, saving, giving and spending money. The app has a five-star rating from users and has been growing quickly, adding new features such as reward charts, chore reminders, and customised interest rates that can be set by parents to encourage the saving habit.
RoosterMoney allows parents to immediately freeze a card if it’s lost and block payments to specific merchants. It also gives parents and children real-time notifications on their spending and comes with a ‘contactless counter’ so children know how far away they are from having to next use their chip-and-pin.
Simon Watson, Retail Banking at NatWest Group, said: “We want NatWest to be the easiest and most useful bank for families and young people. Rooster have built a brilliant app with best-in-market features that we’re excited to offer to NatWest customers. We know that the world of money is changing, and we want to help parents, carers and young people feel confident and capable – Rooster helps us do just that.”
NatWest conducted research to understand the perceived opportunities, challenges, behaviours and attitudes of young people and their carers today. When considering what help they needed to build confidence with money management, 88% of parents felt support to help their children practice new skills in a safe space would be helpful. 76% agreed the ability for them to unlock more powers for their children as they learn and 80% felt the option for them to practice together with their child would be helpful – needs which will be better served through RoosterMoney.
Rooster has over 130,000 UK users and following today’s announcement existing customers can continue to use the Rooster app as they normally would. NatWest will be working to offer Rooster as part of its existing products and services in the coming months.
RoosterMoney CEO, Will Carmichael, said “We’re delighted to be joining NatWest Group at such an exciting time. At RoosterMoney we believe that if you build financial capability early on, you’re better prepared to take on the challenges that life throws at you. That’s totally aligned with the bank’s purpose and we’re very excited about working together to help more parents and kids to build their financial confidence.”
In recent months, NatWest has introduced a suite of new products and customer education, building an ecosystem to specifically support the needs of young people, including Island Saver, a free console & mobile game for young people to learn about money management, as well as working with a panel of influencers to understand the most effective and relevant ways it can communicate fraud & scam prevention messages.
Source: Company Press Release