Case Study: Moves

Moves is an all-in-one financial app built exclusively for gig workers. The gig economy accounts for a third of the world’s employed workers and is projected to reach $455 billion by 2023. By 2027, the US is expected to see 60% of its workforce as independent workers. However, while millions of Americans earn their primary income in the gig economy, they are currently excluded from traditional lenders and financial services.

The company was founded in 2020 by CEO Matthew Spoke as a way to help gig economy workers by building better banking and financing solutions. Moves’ mission is to improve the collective financial health of gig workers and offer better financial products tailored to their needs.

Moves partnered with Unit to launch a banking product in the United States to offer gig workers full-feature checking accounts, debit cards, and instant funding on cash advances. When launching in the United States, as a Canadian company, they knew there would be challenges from both a technical and regulatory perspective.

“When I found out about Unit, we knew it was the right banking-as-a-service partner to help us launch in the US and navigate a complicated regulatory space,” said CEO Matthew Spoke. “Unit’s banking-as-a-service API and streamlined compliance made it a no-brainer for us to build and scale on their platform. As we continue to grow and further deepen our relationship with our users by building more financial products – such as automated tax deduction and savings accounts – I see Unit being a huge part of the equation and a critical component to our long-term success.”

What Unit has enabled for Moves:

• No Fee Banking: Moves Spending Account with no monthly maintenance or overdraft fees available to both individuals and businesses
• Instant Cash Advance Funding: Ability to offer instant cash advances to users who have a Moves Spending Account and debit card
• Free Debit Card: Physical debit card so users can access their money and cash advances instantly and hassle-free.
• Wage deposits: Gig platforms (e.g. Uber) can send wages directly into a user’s Moves Spending Account. This is done either by pushing funds to a Moves debit card or via ACH, based on the routing number and account number.

“Unit was able to level us up in a new geographic market and allowed us to launch not only quickly, but cost-effectively,” said Spoke. “Unit acted as a true partner, streamlining the banking relationship and compliance, and saved us the time, energy, and money we would have had to spend training and building a compliance team ourselves.”

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Moves is a financial technology company and is not a bank. The Moves Spending Account is provided by Blue Ridge Bank N.A.; Member FDIC. The Moves Financial Visa® Debit Card is issued by Blue Ridge Bank N.A. pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc. and may be used everywhere Visa debit cards are accepted. Cash advances are provided by Moves Financial, not Blue Ridge Bank N.A.

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