BNY Mellon's Treasury Services business will now provide federal, state, and local governments, as well as corporate clients, with a digital disbursement payment service that reaches individuals without current access to basic financial services through MoCaFi's offering. The alliance reflects BNY Mellon's broader commitment to financial inclusion, helping to connect unbanked and underbanked individuals and communities to high-quality financial services.
According to a recent Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation survey, an estimated 4.5% of US households (approximately 5.9 million) were ‘unbanked’ in 2021, meaning that no one in the household had a checking or savings account at a bank or credit union. Further, an estimated 14.1% of US households (approximately 18.7 million) were underbanked in 2021. An underbanked household is one that has a bank account but lacks adequate access to other traditional financial services.
The new disbursement service, offered through BNY Mellon's Vaia platform, allows governments and corporate clients to seamlessly distribute payments and disbursements, such as disaster relief financial aid and employee payroll to individuals without financial services access. These often-vital cash injections can now reach the communities where they are needed most, timely and effectively. The opportunity to also receive basic banking services—including an FDIC-insured account as well as a debit card and credit reporting capabilities—will also be available for unbanked and underbanked individuals through the MoCaFi platform.
Officials from BNY Mellos said that the inability to provide digital payments to a significant portion of the US economy has been a major hurdle for both public and private sectors. Through their commitment to innovation, they met this challenge head on and are happy to join forces with a fintech doing outstanding, tangible work in their communities. Not only does this fit with BNY Mellon's values of making the financial ecosystem stronger, better, and more accessible, it also promotes financial equity across the country for people in need.
Also commenting on this partnership, MoCaFi’s executives said their alliance with BNY Mellon will accelerate their mission to reduce the racial and social wealth gap through increasing pathways to wealth for underserved individuals, especially communities of colour. Access to modern banking services is one of the best approaches to making the economy more inclusive, and by working with BNY Mellon they are helping to provide opportunities to as many people as possible. Further, by joining the Vaia platform, they are creating a more seamless experience for corporations and municipalities from New York City to New Orleans and beyond to receive and distribute cash to a new pool of consumers.
Every day we send out a free e-mail with the most important headlines of the last 24 hours.
Subscribe now