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Financial Institution Letter

FDITECH Launches Tech Sprint to Reach More Unbanked People

June 16, 2021
Notes
 

Summary:

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation today announced a ‘tech sprint’ designed to explore new technologies and techniques that would help expand the capabilities of banks to meet the needs of unbanked individuals and households.

Statement of Applicability: This Financial Institution Letter applies to all FDIC-supervised financial institutions.

Highlights:

  • The FDIC’s tech lab, FDITECH, is launching a first-of-its-kind ‘tech sprint,’ challenging participants to identify better resources and tools to help banks get unbanked households into the banking system and to keep them banked.
  • The FDIC recently published How America Banks , the agency’s latest survey of household use of banking and financial services. This study found that while nearly 95 percent of U.S. households were banked (i.e., had a bank or credit union account), more than seven million households were unbanked.
  • Given the challenges reaching the ‘last mile’ of unbanked households, the FDIC seeks tech sprint participants to help answer the following question:

“Which data, tools, and other resources could help community banks meet the needs of the unbanked population in a cost-effective manner, and how might the impact of this work be measured?”

  • In a few weeks, FDITECH will open registration for the tech sprint. Interested parties will have two weeks to submit applications requesting participation. After a brief review of submissions, FDITECH will invite a select number of teams to participate. Selected teams will attend a kick-off meeting and then work on their proposed solutions for a period of approximately three weeks. Finally, FDITECH will host a ‘Demo Day,’ inviting teams to make short presentations to a panel of experts who will evaluate their submission.
  • Read more about FDITECH’s tech sprint, Breaking Down Barriers: Reaching the Last Mile of Unbanked U.S. Households .

Distribution:

FDIC-Supervised Institutions

Suggested Routing:

Chief Executive Officer
Compliance Officer
Chief Information/Technology Officer

Additional Related Topics:

  • Information Technology/Cybersecurity
FIL-43-2021

Last Updated: June 16, 2021