Let us be brilliant: Banking for LGBT+, by LGBT+

By Theodora Lau and Bradley Leimer of Unconventional Ventures who look at LGBT+ in this article.

How can a bank be brilliant? How can a new bank grab our attention in a way that provides a truly different perspective, and a form of inclusion that most of us take for granted?  Maybe it’s just the feeling of hope you get when you first hear their founding story — the very personal empathy that it demonstrates. Though it’s likely a bit more than that too.  Or maybe this feeling of banking brilliance just came from the clock moving our lives up an hour. Well — that did happen this week — at least for some of us.  And as usual, we are getting a little ahead of ourselves, as something else is very much afoot.

Let us be brilliant: Banking for LGBT+, by LGBT+

This week feels more significant because it is just that.  Can you believe we’ve been doing this for a year?  This past year is simply an extension of time’s transgression against humanity. So much has changed in every aspect of our lives. It’s been one celestial cycle around our star since this pandemic created a schism between the old and the new, between what was and what shall be.

And as we have every day this past year, we continue to look for a bit more of that hope to help make it through this long, dark tunnel we’ve been inside — toward that ray of light we have sought for so long. And slowly, surely, after a year of suffering and isolation, we are starting to see just that.

Daylight

This light gives us a moment of solace at dawn. The time to breathe. A time to reflect. A time to build a new day. A time to create something that delivers on that sense of hope.

We look for those that are building more meaning within the framework of what we have known.

As we edge toward this light, it feels like a new world indeed. New habits, new patterns, new paths. A renewed focus on communities, of needs beyond our own, ways to breathe life into old business models — new thoughts into what we had always done. If anything, this past year has seen the fabric of our communities that bind us truly bring us together like no other time in most of our lives.

It’s the same with banking (or at least it can be)

How do we build a bank that learns from the challenges of the past year, that focuses on meeting the unique needs of our unique communities? It seems that not treating people like marketing segments is a good start. Most financial institutions aren’t set up to focus well on one population.

But this is not only changing, this construct is really picking up momentum.

In recent months, we’ve seen fintech startups launch (along with solid funding rounds) that are addressing the specific needs of communities of color (Boulevard, Greenwood, and Cheese among them), the needs of people with disabilities (learn more about Purple) and so much more — alongside more inclusive community business models delivered by CDFIs and credit unions.

And while this has been countered by the phenomenal growth of more mass market neobank challengers from Chime to MoneyLion to Varo Bank (as well as the metal-card wielding fintechs targeting rich millennials masquerading as lifestyle apps), we are starting to see a movement toward smaller, more targeted, more truly impactful, community business models. Those that strive to understand the financial needs of regular people who happen to self-identify a particular way.

A ray of hope

We can help make serving the financial needs of underserved communities a norm. Maybe we can make it as much a norm as an annual time change that never needs to change again — something that was designed in an era that needs to disappear into the history books.

It’s far past time for the industry to alleviate the long unmet needs of so many that simply wanted to see the solace that only a little ray of light can provide.

Enter Daylight. Banking for LGBT+ people by LGBT+ people.

Sometimes you need a community that understands your unique needs, sometimes you need a peer that understands what you are going through, sometimes you need services that go beyond that provided by incumbents because they wouldn’t know where to start. Sometimes you need a bank partner that understands different challenges and different timelines, different kinds of families, different goals and different futures — one whose empathy comes from within because the entity and the empathy are one of the same.

Being Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, or Transexual is not a choice — one is born this way after all — but not meeting the financial needs of LGBT+ (LGBTQ), and the beautiful fabric of the entirety of our communities, is really a choice.

And as banking entities like Daylight will soon show, treating people as a segment without any real deference to their real needs or demonstrating empathy to what makes them special, is a strategic lapse whose time has come full circle to rectify.

Given this momentum, it’s time the industry sees the dawn of a new day.

We wouldn’t have it any other way.

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In this episode of our #OneVision podcast, Theodora and Bradley talk to Billie Simmons, co-founder of Daylight. Daylight bank is being built to be brilliant. To their team, LGBT+ (LGBTQ) is not just a marketing segment, it’s something personal. It is also a community with unique needs that incumbent financial institutions have largely failed to address. It’s about time we change that. You can find this conversation on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other players.

Please consider subscribing, and please let us know what you think in the comments. Sponsorship opportunities for #OneVision are now available.

Unconventional Ventures helps drive innovation to improve systematic financial wellness. We connect founders to funders, provide mentorship to entrepreneurs, strategic advisory services to a broad set of corporates, and broaden opportunities for diversity within the ecosystem. Our belief is that anyone with great ideas should have a chance to succeed and every voice should be heard. Visit unconventionalventures.com to learn how you can partner with us.

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