To provide community banks and credit unions the ability to compete head-to-head against larger institutions, Agora has launched Agora Junior and Agora SMB, two white label digital bank products that any financial institution can deploy within a month. These digital banking apps provide a user experience above the standards and features offered by challenger banks. (app Agora Junior / SMB).

The SMB market of roughly $370 billion needs the advanced technologies and services that Agora Services provides. Teens have become a rising addressable demographic as they become a primary target for digital banking, according to a recent survey and study. Teens also are less likely to join the banks of their parents because they are looking for more convenient and accessible products, which Agora Services has incorporated into its arsenal.

Challenger banks, like Greenlight, Gohenry, Venmo, Azlo, Intuit, Kabbage, N26 and Revolut, are rushing in these segments, and national banks are expected to enter the market by early 2021.

The Agora Junior app allows either parent of a teen to control their children accounts. Teens also have access to unlimited pockets accounts (sub accounts), plastic and virtual cards, perks, and money pools, group funds and much more.

SMB users will have access to unlimited plastic and virtual cards for their employees, matching receipt management sub accounts for tax purposes, perks and other key business tools. The apps will also include all traditional challenger bank features as real time notification, fully mobile application, etc. All these features and more to come post launch place Agora as a leading provider in the space.

“In this day and age, it is very important for community financial institutions to be able to compete with their main new competitors - challenger banks and national banks - and have access to the same technology that can be deployed in weeks not years. We are the only one to be able to do it in a time to market as Agora is coming from this world,” said Arcady Lapiro, founder and CEO of Agora Services who was part of the founding and management team of a leading digital bank launched in 2000 that grew to over $20 billion in deposits. “By having access to these solutions for teens and SMB, banks and credit unions can expand their digital offerings to provide services way beyond what their core may offer.”

In addition to this launch, Agora Services has chosen Sterling National Bank, a prominent bank founded in 1888 that spans from the New York metropolitan area to the Hudson Valley regions as its bin sponsor. A letter of intent has been signed between the parties and Sterling National Bank will become Agora’s bin sponsor after custom compliance, legal and regulatory review that will take place through September. This will allow Agora and its financial institution clients access to full payment infrastructure and card processing as faster deployment without core integration.