In the United States, the first LGBTQ+ owned digital banking platform launched in November as part of a growing effort to meet the needs of LGBTQ+ customers.
The new platform called ‘Daylight’ said it has developed tools and content to help LGBTQ+ Americans reach specific financial goals such as saving money for surrogacy or gender-affirming surgery and to make banking more inclusive.
The United States estimated 9 million LGBTQ+ people wield some $1 trillion in collective spending power, and estimated $3.7 trillion globally, according to LGBT Capital.
New research from hornet.com and Kantar Consulting, shows that this market is currently the fastest-growing market right now, and is on target to grow by millions in the US in the next few years.
The Hornet’s data shows that 8% of Baby Boomers, 13% of GenXers, 20% of Millennials and 31% of GenZ identify as LGBTQ+. In addition, as Millennials move into their prime earning years and GenZ begins entering the workforce, the purchasing power of the LGBTQ+ community will continue to grow.
With 66% of LGBTQ+ individuals saying “I don’t see my lifestyle represented in advertising” and 51% saying, “I wish I could see more advertising with families like mine,” one would think this is a marketer’s paradise. It’s a large and funded demographic who wants to be represented and that wants to do business with companies that authentically engage with it.
Besides advertising, many are also under-served by banks that fail to tap into their assets or address their interests. This is where Daylight comes in, “While it’s wonderful that financial service companies join us in Pride marches, too few have absorbed our community’s critical challenges,” stated Rob Curtis, Daylight Chief Executive.
Entrepreneurs in Brazil established the country’s first bank for LGBTQ+ people, Pride Bank, last year, and the first credit union designed for the LGBTQ+ community, Superbia Credit Union, is expected to launch in the United States later this year.
“We are working to create a more inclusive and accessible financial ecosystem… for those who have long been underrepresented,” said Terry Angelos, a senior vice president at credit card company Visa, which is backing the effort.
Daylight will offer prepaid credit cards in customers’ preferred names, addressing the issue for transgender people who use names different from those given at birth.
It also will provide financial coaches trained to handle LGBTQ+ specific needs. Daylight plans to begin offering services officially in mid-December.
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