U.S. Bank will roll out a multi-product offering targeting young affluent customers

The strategy: U.S. Bank aims to attract young affluent customers who are starting to build their wealth by offering interconnected products that combine savings and spending.

That multi-product offering, known as Bank Smartly, includes a Smartly Savings Account and a Smartly Visa Checking Card, per The Financial Brand.

• This product currently has a waiting list, which 10,000 people joined within 48 hours after the launch.

The details: Smartly Visa cardholders will be able to earn up to 4% cash back on all purchases when paired with a Smartly Savings Account, per CNBC. 

• Without pairing the card with a Smartly Savings Account, customers earn an uncapped 2% cash back.
• The final rate is based on the customer’s average balance across all U.S. Bank accounts. Customers with $100,000 or more in the Smartly Savings account can earn the maximum rate of 4% back.
• The Smartly Savings Account also has a savings rate of 4.1%—so customers get rewarded twice when they keep the balance above $100,000.

It’s a clever move: Mass affluent customers don’t always identify as wealthy, and their needs aren’t typically met by basic mass-market products. But financial institutions (FIs) that tailor products to that segment’s specifications could engender greater brand loyalty. U.S. Bank can argue that it's helping affluent customers’ money work harder for them than it would in competitors’ accounts. 

And it will also incentivize customers—who on average have 5.3 bank accounts to their name—to move at least $100,000 into U.S. Bank to optimize their rewards, which in turn benefits the bank. 

Can it work? U.S. Bank isn’t offering the best cash-back incentives across the industry. Cards from Capital One, Citibank, Discover, TD Bank, American Express, and Chase all enable users to reach higher cash-back rates through certain purchases. 

But U.S. Bank’s Bank Smartly product line is unique in that its rate is tied to the combined account balance at the bank, and it rewards affluent customers twice for letting that same large balance.

• Plus, young customers seem to love waiting list hype.