Growing up, I lived in a community with many choices on how to keep my hard-earned money safe. The options bewildered me, and I settled with one of the most child-friendly banks available at the time – CitiBank. Later on, my opinion of CitiBank changed when I conducted my research, showing that CitiBank requires a whopping minimum balance requirement of $100! My knowledge at the time was limited, but what attributed to my ultimate selection was its successful child-friendliness; its outreach programs and simple explanations on the power of my bank account. With those thoughts in mind, I set out to pursue my financial interests as a child-friendliness banking advocate.

My name is Mahir Jethanandani. I am from the United States, and I am lucky to live in a well-off community, with many banking options open to me. However, there are many children in the United States who cannot utilize the same opportunities as I have, and I would like to change this. I would like to advocate for open and easy access for all children. This means – no opening fees to open a (savings) account, a low minimum balance (not like the $100 that some banks require, like Wells Fargo) and good interest rates (0.01%). I want this change to start in the U.S. and inspire children in other countries to do the same.

Minors in the United States lose a major portion in their personal savings by opening a bank account. With such small interest rates and expensive opening fees, minors are often discouraged from opening bank accounts. Some banks charge up to $100 in opening fees which means that many minors are unable to pay for their opening fees. Similarly, minimum balances are sometimes unable to be met because the child lives in poverty, and cannot achieve the minimum balance requirement. Some children are unable to collect $100 at any time for the risk of it getting stolen, so they cannot open a bank account. Lastly, banks should increase interest rates because that encourages children to deposit their savings and begin their bright and prosperous financial futures. This all helps encourage financial literacy within children, and helps them get started. By teaching a child to save, he or she will be on track for a bright future.

I was inspired to take on this issue ever since I attended the Child and Youth Finance’s Youth Summit in Amsterdam in 2012. There, I met with 70 other children from all parts of the world. There, we discussed issues of financial education for children and youth, their financial inclusion, the role of money in our societies and our role in financial systems. That really got me thinking, so I decided to take part in their 2013 Youth Champion Awards. For this, I went to visit banks to try and analyze the different products they were offering to youngsters. This opened my eyes to the fact that there were a lot of barriers that prevented children from opening bank accounts and made me all the more determined to make a change through this petition. After all, we need to be included too!

I plan on attending the second Youth Summit in Istanbul, Turkey this May, where I will present this petition to spread awareness for financial inclusion for minors. There will be policymakers and central bankers there to who I will present this petition.

I believe that minors deserve to have a role in their financial services, and this petition can help them express their interest and freedom. Will you join me?