The word “staff” has had a wild four years. After centuries mostly pointing down (my staff will handle), “Member of Technical Staff” emerged and turned it into a marker of untouchable prestige. Now, we’re at the beginning of yet another shift, and seeing glimpses of always-available “staff for everyone” at our fingertips. Consumer agents are ready to schedule our doctor’s appointments, run our household calendars, and pay our parking tickets.
At Pool, we’re excited about how agents will change our day-to-day lives, especially around money. And when we think about agents transacting, we think about the trust mechanisms needed for them to transact safely in the first place. Whenever consumer money is involved, trust is always our first question.
First, it’s quickly becoming clear that agents need dedicated financial accounts for specific purposes. It’s uncomfortable and risky to give an agent access to an entire bank account. The more you have going on in your primary checking account or primary credit card, the more you stand to lose if the agent gets it wrong. Handing over full access to a Citibank account or an Amex is not yet a “hell yes,” and rightfully not. Plus, banks and card issuers could pull their support for these services at any time.
The experience is still nascent, too:
But it’s coming, and will happen fast.
Second, financial accounts used by agents need to support spending rules, limits, and member permissions. This was already hard to find in consumer accounts, as the classic joint account doesn’t offer much in the way of rules or structure. Those limitations matter a lot more now that agents are acting with increasing autonomy.
In short, as we move into a world where agents transact on their own, a dedicated and permissioned financial account is inevitable. It has been eye-opening for us to see the similarities between what’s needed for agents to interact safely with money and what we’ve already built at Pool. In fact, permissioned, collaborative financial accounts have always been our main focus.
Pool accounts are built for financial collaboration around a specific purpose, with all the permissions and rules needed to make that collaboration a success. Pools are for house funds, childcare expenses, a sports team, a food fund or a fledgling side project that isn’t yet a company. These are scenarios too small for a business banking solution, but too complicated to run from your own personal checking account.
While sub-accounts and their ilk (vaults, pockets, buckets, pots, spaces, etc.) have existed for years, there is an enormous gap between those products and a true shared space to collaborate with money. Collaboration also means creating the conditions to feel comfortable sharing money. With transparency, rules, and structure, it becomes natural to share and use money together.
In order to make this possible, we’ve built extensive, complex financial infrastructure that would take years to recreate: a custom ledger, multi-user support and permissions, member tiers, account and routing numbers, cards, ACH and RTP payments, and a robust compliance program. Do you see it too?
Collaboration with agents is just like collaboration with people.
Making Pool the most agent-friendly financial account out there feels like an obvious next step. We’ve got a lot in the works over the next few months that we’re excited to share. If you’ve been thinking about how agents will transact as they become more and more mainstream, we’d love to talk.
Soon, we’ll all have agents on staff. They’ll help us manage our projects, activities, and households. And to do that properly, they’ll need ongoing, clear and credible access to money.
Creating reliable, trustworthy financial software that allows for collaboration and shared ownership has been our obsession for many years. Increasingly this means supporting collaboration with agents, not just people.
But our mission remains the same. We work on Pool because we believe that sharing money lifts everyone. Shared assets power shared dreams and shared lives. Share more. Have help. Never do it alone.
Author: Amanda Peyton
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* Pool is a financial technology company, not a bank. All banking services provided by First Internet Bank, Member FDIC.