Brazilian YouTubers Create Digital Bank for Children and Adolescents; Over 160,000 Accounts

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Neagle Bank, a digital bank for children and adolescents, has reached the 160 thousand account holders mark in just three months. The digital account was launched in August this year by YouTubers Victor Trindade, 22, and Gabriel Soares, 23, the owners of Neagle YouTube channel. On the video platform, the youths have over seven million subscribers.

The digital account app is featured on the list of the most downloaded in Brazil both on Play Store and App Store. The digital bank’s target audience is the so-called Generation Z. The average monthly account opening rate is of over 50,000. Most Neagle Bank account holders are aged between 14 and 20.

Mário Augusto Pitanga de Sá Filho, FanStar Productions CEO, owner of the Neagle brand and one of the digital bank’s partners, explained that the concept of an account targeting children and adolescents emerged from the YouTubers’ own needs. “At the age of 15 we are already making money on YouTube, and the existing market banking options did not meet our needs. We realized that there was a niche for this public”.

With the youths’ interest in meeting this demand, they signed a partnership with the PUC-Rio’s Genesis Institute, a startups accelerator. The project was developed considering an easy interface that encourages the digital inclusion of children and youths. “We focus heavily on financial education. So that young people will learn how to handle money. We have specific videos for that”.

In the app one can manage a programmed monthly allowance, hold a prepaid credit card with the Mastercard brand, generate bank slips, transfer money between accounts and withdraw cash at ATMs. In addition, it is possible to purchase digital game credits and a benefits program, Neagle Plus, which offers access to exclusive YouTubers’ content and advantages that basic accounts do not possess, such as a discount on bank slips, cashback on purchases within the app, free skins and a virtual card option.

The digital account is expected to have additional features, such as the option to invest and even buy dollars. With all these features, the bank is expected to reach one million users by the end of 2021. Sá Filho also stressed that the brand could be internationalized, given that the app is widely sought in Portugal, although it has no operation in Europe. “Our plans is to start operating abroad. We are working for that”.

Source: Exame