Finn, a 17-year-old teenager, loved the idea of managing money on his own. His banking app for youth turned pocket money into something bigger. It divided his allowance into categories: saving, spending, even investing. The app sent him cheerful reminders about good habits, and he felt more independent than ever.
After a while, Finn noticed strange coincidences. Notifications encouraged him to buy game upgrades right after his allowance arrived. A payday-timed “special offer” convinced him to invest in a brand new cryptocurrency. How did they know? Online forums and investing videos promised quick wins with the new investment, but when it suddenly crashed, he lost his Playstation savings. What had begun as financial empowerment became a cycle of pressure, manipulation, and loss.
Finn’s story might be fictional, but the challenges are real. In August 2025, the Datasphere Initiative and UNICEF Innocenti used his journey to spark discussion in the Global Youth Tech Consultations, three sessions comprising 41 young people from 22 countries. Together, they explored how financial technologies can empower youth — and how they can also put them at risk.
Why Youth Perspectives Matter
For many adults, financial technologies (FinTech) are a matter of convenience. For young people, it is often their very first encounter with money. Mobile wallets, peer-to-peer transfers, in-game purchases, and first savings accounts shape how they learn to spend, save, and take risks. Yet youth perspectives are almost never included in the design or regulation of these tools.
That was the gap the consultations aimed to close. UNICEF Innocenti and the Datasphere Initiative brought youth together to answer: what does safe and fair digital finance look like for the next generation?
The sessions began with Finn’s story, grounding the discussion in a scenario participants recognized. From there, they shared their own experiences: moments when apps helped them feel independent and work towards their goals, and moments when they felt pressured or misled.
One of the most dynamic moments came during the design exercise. In breakout groups, participants mapped the problems they saw in current financial apps and proposed practical solutions, from spending caps and consent tools to playful financial lessons and advertising restrictions. The exercise showed that young people are not only alert to risks but also ready to co-design solutions.
What Youth Said About FinTech
Youth participants highlighted how FinTech platforms can empower them with a renewed sense of agency, help them learn to manage money responsibly, and provide tools to make informed financial decisions. Across the three sessions, young people shared ideas that were specific, creative, and deeply pragmatic:
1. Consent that works
Parental consent should be more than a formality. Youth emphasized that parental consent should be real and not easily bypassed, and that parents need tools to actively guide young people through the process of choosing which features and investments are appropriate.
2. Ending manipulative features
Participants pointed to features like loot boxes (paid digital ‘mystery boxes’ that give random rewards), payday offers timed to when allowances or salaries arrive, and limited-time prompts that pressure users to act quickly. They described these as exploitative and called for their removal, arguing that financial apps should build trust rather than drive risky behavior.
3. Built in financial literacy
Youth want apps that teach as well as transact. Gamified lessons, progress dashboards, and goal-setting features could transform money apps into classrooms for financial responsibility.
4. Safer design standards
Participants proposed clear safeguards, including spending caps, cool-down timers, advertising limits, and restrictions on adults contacting minors within apps. They also emphasized that transparent transaction histories are essential for accountability.
5. Oversight of algorithms and AI
Young people voiced concern about algorithms recommending offers or investments without human checks. They called for stronger human oversight and customer support that connects young users to real people when something goes wrong.
From Insights to Action
The consultations were designed to do more than collect stories. They created a channel between youth experiences and global policy.
The findings will feed into UNICEF’s recommendations on child-safe digital finance, to be shared with governments, regulators, and industry. They have also been presented in international policymaking spaces — including at the Global Privacy Assembly (GPA) in Seoul, Korea, where policymakers from more than 90 countries gathered to debate how to balance innovation with responsibility in AI-driven finance.
Why It Matters
Money decisions shape futures. For young people, those decisions are increasingly happening online, in apps designed without their input. Finn’s fictional journey reflects a reality in which youth are both early adopters and easy targets.
The consultations made one thing clear: young people see the traps, but they also see the solutions. They want apps that reward responsibility instead of exploiting experiences, and safeguards that make independence safe rather than costly.
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