Here´s what’s ahead for the digital-only bank with a deal to set up its HQ in Clearwater

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BankMobile, the Pennsylvania digital bank under contract to sell to Flagship Community Bank in Clearwater, plans to roll out a “customer for life” strategy this year.

BankMobile, which currently offers checking accounts to students, added a personal loan product late in 2017, and plans to add credit, checking and savings products, Luvleen Sidhu, president and chief strategy officer, told online publication Tearsheet.

BankMobile’s parent company, Customers Bancorp Inc. (NYSE: CUBI) in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, signed a definitive agreement in November to sell the digital bank to Flagship, in a complex deal that would result in a combined publicly traded entity called BankMobile and with its headquarters in Clearwater.

The deal, if approved by regulators and shareholders and completed as planned, could put the Tampa Bay area in the national spotlight as a leader in banking innovation.

BankMobile, with 1.8 million customers, currently markets the Vibe account, a non-interest bearing checking account specifically for college students. It will add an interest-bearing checking account this quarter, to reward customers who live paycheck-to-paycheck, Sidhu told Tearsheet.

 

A personal loan product was launched late last year, with plans to introduce credit cards and student refinancing in the second quarter and auto loans and home equity by the second half of next year. A savings account also is planned.

A broader suite of products creates “an emotional connection” with customers, Sidhu said.

“There’s definitely that sense that being a full-service banking institution is much more fruitful in creating a customer for life,” Sidhu said.

BankMobile, the Pennsylvania digital bank under contract to sell to Flagship Community Bank in Clearwater, plans to roll out a “customer for life” strategy this year.

BankMobile, which currently offers checking accounts to students, added a personal loan product late in 2017, and plans to add credit, checking and savings products, Luvleen Sidhu, president and chief strategy officer, told online publication Tearsheet.

BankMobile’s parent company, Customers Bancorp Inc. (NYSE: CUBI) in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, signed a definitive agreement in November to sell the digital bank to Flagship, in a complex deal that would result in a combined publicly traded entity called BankMobile and with its headquarters in Clearwater.

The deal, if approved by regulators and shareholders and completed as planned, could put the Tampa Bay area in the national spotlight as a leader in banking innovation.

 

BankMobile, with 1.8 million customers, currently markets the Vibe account, a non-interest bearing checking account specifically for college students. It will add an interest-bearing checking account this quarter, to reward customers who live paycheck-to-paycheck, Sidhu told Tearsheet.

A personal loan product was launched late last year, with plans to introduce credit cards and student refinancing in the second quarter and auto loans and home equity by the second half of next year. A savings account also is planned.

A broader suite of products creates “an emotional connection” with customers, Sidhu said.

“There’s definitely that sense that being a full-service banking institution is much more fruitful in creating a customer for life,” Sidhu said.