ASB to send out first 50,000 digital money banks

ASB launching new digital kids piggy bank Clever Kash with twins Kimora and Leeroy, 5, and brother Samson Matika, 11, at ASB HQ Wynyard Wharf. Photo / Getty

ASB will start sending out the first of 50,000 new digital piggy banks from today as part of its bid to encourage children of the 21st Century to save.

The bank has spent the past two years working on a prototype of the plastic yellow elephant which uses blue-tooth technology to allow people to 'swipe' coins and notes from their mobile phone banking app onto the tummy screen of the elephant which then displays the balance of a child's savings account.

Parents who have convinced their offspring to do chores for cash will no longer have to poke around the couch or car for coins but can transfer money easily from their account to their child's account with a visual reminder.

ASB chief executive Barbara Chapman said the primary reason for building the digital piggy bank was because parents were finding it increasingly difficult to teach their children about money.

"Clever Kash is a financial literacy tool designed to help develop good money management habits among a young generation of customers growing up in an increasingly cashless society."

"The younger we can teach children the value of money and the importance of saving the better. This is about making it fun again."

The bank won't say how much it has spent on developing the technology but says the devices will be free for customers.

An initial run of 50,000 Clever Kash money boxes will go to ASB customers who have already pre-registered with people able to choose for it to be posted out or collected in branch.

A further 50,000 are also on order with others who are keen able to pre-register online to go on the waiting list.

To be eligible people have to have an ASB transaction account and a child between the age of 4 and 12 who has a savings account.

Chapman said some initial prototype work the bank had carried out suggested it may attract outside customers to the bank while the bank has also had interest from overseas banks in acquiring the world-first technology for their use.

"We have been in active discussions with others around the globe."