Marcell King explains that Nuuvia is a youth-focused digital banking experience embedded into a credit union’s existing technology stack. He says the product is designed to help credit unions compete with fintech companies for Gen Z and Gen Alpha by offering tools that combine financial education, real money use, and gamification.
He says the need for youth financial education has existed for a long time, but technology now makes it easier to deliver. King describes his own experience entering college without much financial knowledge and says many families do not teach money management in depth. He also notes that several states now require financial education in high school, while many Americans still are not financially literate.
King says the product helps credit unions with acquisition, growth, and retention, not just service. He points to one institution that grew from a few hundred youth accounts to over 10,000 after adopting the program, with some of those accounts bringing in new adult members through joint ownership.
He describes features for children and parents, including financial education, real-time transfers for chores or allowances, debit card spending controls, charitable giving, savings goals, and a parental lending tool that shows interest charges. He says the experience is designed to be personalized and easy to use within the institution’s existing digital banking platform.
On implementation, King says the solution is white-labeled or co-branded for credit unions. He says parents and kids access it through the institution’s current digital banking experience, and the youth version can be limited so children do not see features like bill pay or remote deposit capture.
King says institutions need to market the service to parents, but he believes it can also teach parents about money management. He adds that future plans include helping institutions bring in deposits from outside sources, such as relatives or other people paying a child for work. He says Nuuvia differs from some competitors because the credit union keeps the deposits, interchange, data, and member relationship.
