The race to capture the next generation of banking customers is no longer confined to fintechs. Barclays is making a play for young consumers by acquiring the UK business of GoHenry, a popular financial app that helps children learn how to manage money.
Along with Greenlight, GoHenry has been one of the pioneers in the youth banking space, offering families a prepaid debit card, spending controls and financial education tools designed for kids. The company’s success helped fuel its expansion into the U.S., where it was eventually acquired by fintech Acorns and rebranded into Acorns Early.
Barclays will purchase the UK GoHenry business from Acorns and retain the GoHenry name, giving the bank an established platform and customer base in a market where competition for young consumers is intensifying.
“This is a strategic move to strengthen its youth banking presence as well as deepen relationships with the mass affluent,” said Ben Danner, Senior Debit Analyst at Javelin Strategy & Research. “Barclays offers youth banking accounts down to 11 year olds, but GoHenry’s minimum limit is 6 years old. Although the brands may be separate, I expect some cross-selling to occur into Barclays as the child accounts reach maturity.”
The Battle for Consumers
The battle for younger consumers has heated up as more members of Gen Z have reached adulthood. This digital-first generation is highly comfortable in mobile environments. As a result, social media platforms like TikTok and Meta have evolved from major e-commerce players into fintech providers in their own right.
Peer-to-peer payment apps such as Venmo and Cash App have also made inroads with younger consumers looking to split bills and expenses. These services now offer debit cards and bank account-like features, further expanding their reach.
Integrating Well-Liked Tech
For traditional financial institutions, fintech companies have increasingly become competitors.
This has spurred many banks to modernize their systems, but those efforts often lead back to fintech firms, as partnering with or acquiring a fintech is typically faster and more cost-effective than building custom solutions from scratch. UK lender Lloyds recently took the partnership route, working with Stripe to overhaul its small business banking offering.
For Barclays, acquiring GoHenry gives the bank a much-needed edge in an increasingly crowded market.
“It is a way for Barclays to compete with rival fintechs like Revolut and Monzo who also offer children’s accounts,” Danner said. “It could also be about the technology and features of the app, which has been highly successful in the UK market. Acquiring opens up the door to integrating some of the most well-liked tech into Barclays own child banking services.”
