BankMobile collaborates with Google to offer digital bank accounts

By Edil Corneille

BankMobile, a division of Customers Bank, announced the execution of an agreement with Google to introduce digital bank accounts to be available for customers. Customers who sign up for the accounts will be able to manage their accounts through Google Pay and have access to financial insights and budgeting tools to stay in control over their transactions.

“We are thrilled to be collaborating with Google to offer our customers enhanced digital bank accounts,” stated Luvleen Sidhu, Co-Founder and CEO, BankMobile. “Today, BankMobile serves approximately one in every three college students through our relationship with ~800 campuses across the country. By collaborating with Google, we can provide millions of college students across America with an even better banking experience to help them manage, save and grow their money.”

The digital checking account will be built on top of BankMobile’s existing banking infrastructure and the accounts will be FDIC-insured. Google will provide the front-end user experience. Google’s expertise in building user experiences and highly-scaled and secure infrastructure complements BankMobile’s financial and regulatory expertise and its customer acquisition funnel in the higher education segment.

“Many college students today are struggling to manage their money as they work part-time and attend school. Through our collaboration with Google, we believe we can provide the appropriate financial tools to help them navigate through these difficult situations successfully,” said Sidhu.

“Google is excited to partner with BankMobile in enabling a digital experience that is equitable for all and meets the evolving needs of a new generation of customers,” said Felix Lin, vice president of Payments Ecosystems at Google. “We believe that we can use our technology expertise to benefit users, banks and the entire financial ecosystem.”

Launched in January 2015, BankMobile’s mission is to provide a compliant, mobile-first banking experience that is simple, affordable, and consumer-friendly. It is said to have a disruptive, multi-partner distribution Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) model. Presently, the bank provides its BaaS platform to colleges and universities through BankMobile Disbursements, which serves over 5 million students on nearly 800 campuses nationwide. Through this distribution channel, it is said to serve 1 in every 3 college students in the US. The new accounts that BankMobile is working on with Google will be available to customers in 2021.