Meet The Millennial Empowering Women Through Her Success In Finance

When it comes to financial matters, there’s a lot that millennials aren’t aware of – including the best investment schemes, stock trading, banking and more. Millennials, especially women, are striving hard to gain financial independence and what better time than now to really get the ball rolling, right? If you’re among those looking to use this time to learn everything you can about finance, look no further. Let Luvleen Sidhu, CEO of BankMobile, show you how to make the most of your money.

In 2014, Sidhu started her own company and turned it into one of the fastest-growing digital-first banks serving millennials. While climbing the ladder to success, she has remained focused on elevating others by launching a number of diversity and inclusion initiatives, while serving as a mentor to other women. Read on to find out more about her journey toward female empowerment and entrepreneurship.

GRAZIA: Tell us a bit about yourself and your background.

LUVLEEN SIDHU: I’m the Co-Founder and CEO of BankMobile, one of America’s largest mobile-first banks. I launched the company at the age of 28 and in under six years, we have acquired over 2 million customers. During this time, we have also developed our multi-partner distribution model called Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS). This model allows us to help non-banks offer banking services to better attract, engage and retain customers. For example in 2019, we partnered with T-Mobile and launched T-Mobile MONEY and in August 2020, we announced the execution of an agreement with Google to introduce digital bank accounts, which will be available to customers in 2021.

I’m also a member of the BankMobile Board of Directors and Director and Founder of the BankMobile Foundation, where I help to identify and fund budding entrepreneurs and organizations that promote financial literacy. Outside of my professional life, I am a health and wellness coach and avid traveler.

G: What urged you to start BankMobile?

LS: I consider my dad to be my personal role model and mentor, and growing up, I had the privilege of gaining first-hand insight into the banking industry by observing his career as a successful banker. After graduating from Harvard in the midst of the 2008 financial crisis, I joined Lehman Brothers, and on my first day, the company filed for bankruptcy. This greatly impacted me as I saw how millions of Americans lost everything in a blink of an eye and had to build themselves back up from scratch. Experiencing this was one of the reasons I eventually founded BankMobile, as we have a mission to help Americans build a strong financial foundation through the products and services we offer. After Lehman, I worked at Neuberger Berman and then Customers Bank, where I researched digital banking models before earning my MBA from The Wharton School. As a summer associate at Booz & Company, I helped develop a strategy for a financial services firm to launch a digital bank.

My early career had been focused on investing and business development and I identified a weakness in traditional banking. Realizing that branch-based customer acquisition is both inefficient and costly, I had the vision to use technology to break away from this model, while solving consumers’ pain points around banking and managing their finances. In January 2015, I co-founded BankMobile using a disruptive approach focused on technology and innovation to give customers a financially-empowering, seamless banking experience.

G: Tell us more about the services that you offer.

LS: BankMobile offers checking and savings accounts, personal loans, student refinance and credit cards. The company is focused on technology, innovation, easy-to-use products and education with the mission of being ‘customer-obsessed’ and creating ‘customers for life.’ BankMobile employs a multi-partner distribution model, known as ‘Banking-as-a-Service’ (BaaS), that enables the company to acquire customers at higher volumes and a substantially lower expense than traditional banks by partnering with distribution partners like higher education campuses and brands like T-Mobile.

There are currently over 65 million unbanked and underbanked individuals in the U.S. who are not part of the traditional banking system. They do not trust banks, are skeptical and because of the monthly fee requirements, are often locked out of the system. Due to these circumstances, they often opt to work with payday lenders and alternative banking solutions where 10 percent of their income goes towards the exorbitant fees of these providers. At BankMobile, we strive to offer affordable banking solutions to anyone who needs our services, often including millennials and low-income and middle-income Americans. As we expand our company by advancing our technologies and collaborating with companies like Google, we are also expanding our ability to better service people across the country.

With our model, we are able to provide a superior customer experience based on transparency, innovative technology and excellent customer service.

G: What are some of the challenges you faced in your journey?

LS: When we first launched BankMobile, we were a new company with a new type of business model that was yet to be proven. By clearly communicating our passion, vision and strategy, we were able to secure some high-profile partnerships early on that elevated our brand and helped us achieve success. Most recently at the start of the pandemic, we were faced with the need to transition to a remote work environment in order to protect our employees while continuing to provide banking as an essential service. Our decisions were driven by our dedication to employee safety and customer service, and we were able to create new ways to earn revenue, while simultaneously cutting costs throughout the pandemic.

G: How do you aim to empower women through your success story?

LS: Actively focusing on promoting women in leadership roles, creating mentorship opportunities, providing equal pay and ensuring female voices are represented on our leadership team and Board are just a few critical steps that I’m taking to propel women in finance.

I strive to create a positive work culture for all my employees. In my spare time, I work as a health and wellness coach, and have recently used those skills to promote employee mental health and a strong work-life balance.

Additionally, in response to the recent social justice issues, I’ve expanded our Diversity and Inclusion Council, which recently hosted an all team member family meeting to discuss the Black Lives Matter movement and the need for diversity and inclusion in the workplace. My goal is to ensure all our employees feel safe, heard, celebrated and cherished. We also released a public statement echoing what has long been our internal practice.