The Financial Solutions Lab (FinLab), an innovation programme created by the Center for Financial Services Innovation (CFSI) and founding partner JPMorgan Chase, has opened applications for a £3 million, two-year challenge to address financial shocks.
The new challenge follows the culmination of the $30 million virtual lab's first-year contest which featured an inaugural group of nine fintech innovators. This initial cohort, focused on solving consumer cash flow issues, emerged from nearly 300 applications from companies and nonprofit organisations.
FinLab provided each participant with $250,000 in capital, support from operating partners IDEO.ORG and ideas42, strategic guidance from its advisory council, and resources from CFSI and JPMorgan Chase.
For its second challenge, FinLab is seeking solutions that help Americans prepare for - and weather - financial shocks. A recent study by the JPMorgan Chase Institute estimated that a typical middle-income household needed approximately $4,800 in liquid assets to sustain monthly fluctuations in income and spending, but had only $3,000 available.
Noah Wintroub, vice chairman, JPMorgan Chase Investment Bank, says: "The work of this and future FinLab classes will change the way Americans are managing their finances - allowing them to stabilise their finances, build resiliency and meet their long-term goals.”
Applications for Year 2 are open, and finalists will be invited to pitch their solution to a panel of judges at the Emerge Forum 2016, held June 15-17 in New Orleans.