WilliamBynum, CEO of the 28,000-member, $161 million HopeFederal Credit Union, said its new mobile app is the first stepin what the credit union foresees as an effort to make widespreadbanking and financial management solutions available tolower-income people in underserved areas throughout the MississippiDelta.

The Jackson, Miss.-based credit union announced the app last week. It's available for both Androidand iPhone devices as a download from the credit union's website.

The credit union, which people can join when they join itssponsor, the Hope Enterprise Corporation, has members in Arkansas,Mississippi, Louisiana and Tennessee.

“Many people don't realize it, but Mississippi has the largestpercentage of wireless households in the nation,” Bynum said.“Lower-income households are foregoing getting a wired telephoneline and moving straight to wireless – and they don't just havecellular phones, they have smartphones.”

Bynum said Hope FCU decided to move more in this direction afterBynum became aware of how many mobile financial transactions areconducted overseas and how comparatively behind this trend theUnited States had fallen.

He refrained from saying whether he thought that Hope FCU wasthe only financial institution in the country doing somethingsimilar, but said he was sure the credit union was part of a verysmall group.

After the mobile app, Bynum said the credit union would roll outa financial management app which will enable members to better planand track their money use as well as other online tools which willhelp non-members become members of the credit union and helpmembers make loan applications.

“Essentially, with the apps, one of our debit cards and ATMaccess, we hope to make it p possible for our lower-income membersto conduct a complete financial life without ever needing to comeinto a branch,” Bynum said.