Virtual Piggy Crafts Mobile Wallet Product for Young Consumers
Pay Award-winning Virtual Piggy said Feb. 14 it soon will begin testing a mobile wallet for consumers age 17 and younger, the latest move in the parent-supervised world of mobile payments.
The test, set for April, will involve a mobile payments platform that enables parents to supervise spending by their children. Virtual Piggy, which is working on the technology with Pennsylvania-based Univest Bank & Trust Co., said it crafted the product to gain a bigger slice of the $830 billion in annual spending influenced by young consumers.
The first stage of the test will involve consumers between the ages of 8 and 14, Virtual Piggy said. Although the company didn’t provide much more detail about the product, it added that it’s a response to more children becoming increasingly attached to their mobile devices. “We are excited to finally reveal our payment platform system through mobile application—where the modern child lives and resides,” said CEO John Coyne.
Virtual Piggy’s test comes months after Germany-based Wirecard AG and Orange launched a parent-supervised, prepaid mobile payment service in France for teenagers called Orange Cash Jeune. Parents go online to create an account for their children who are younger than 18, signing up via the Web interface of Orange Cash before the app is installed on their children’s smartphones.
Virtual Piggy’s Oink Card, launched with Discover, was recognized as the Best-in-Category winner in the 2015 Pay Awards Head of the Class category for delivering financial services to the youth market. The Oink Card is an extension of a digital wallet that teaches young users to spend wisely, save for the future and donate to charities.
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