i2c, BrightFi Partner To Serve Underbanked Community

Cloud-based banking-as-a-service (BaaS) platform BrightFi is partnering with i2c Inc. to offer mobile financial services to underbanked and unbanked consumers at a low cost, as announced on Tuesday (Mar. 16) in a press release.

With BrightFi’s subscription offering, customers will have access to a digital banking solution that offers savings accounts, payment and mobile deposits and live customer service. The accounts carry no minimum balance requirements and have no overdraft, transfer or hidden fees.

Per the press release, 33 million families are underbanked or unbanked in the U.S., according to a 2019 Insider Intelligence Report. More than half of the report’s respondents said they do not have enough money to meet typical minimum deposit requirements.

i2c, a digital payments and banking technology provider, will also offer users the ability to access their mobile paycheck deposits, with up to $2,000 available in real time.

Operational costs of financial services often serve as a deterrent for financial institutions (FIs) to address the needs of underbanked and unbanked consumers, the press release noted, but i2c’s building-block technology helps lower the costs of its offering. “As part of a flexible, best-in-class stack, i2c enables us to lower the cost of banking to expand access and increase financial wellness for millions,” said Michael Coghlan, CEO of BrightFi.

BrightFi’s technology helps banks develop and deploy new products; the platform will also be available for FIs and other organizations to use to cater to the underserved population, and to “support their own branded financial wellness and inclusion programs,” noted the press release.

Digital and mobile banking is often better suited to unbanked consumers than traditional institutions, PYMNTS found in a recent study, noting that “81 percent of U.S. consumers owned smartphones as of 2019, and the use of mobile solutions that do not rely on bank account access — including mobile wallets — is also increasing.”

i2c recently partnered with financial super app TAG to offer financial services to unbanked consumers in Pakistan.