Photo by James Sanna | Banker & Tradesman staff

Citizens has launched a new product that will let corporate clients give employees on-demand access to their earned pay, the Providence-based bank said in a statement.

The product also includes financial health tools designed to help employees feel more financially secure, the bank said in Tuesday’s statement.

“Acquiring and retaining strong talent is more important than ever, and this program enables our clients to offer their employees a valuable benefit,” Michael Cummins, Citizens’ head of treasury solutions, said in the statement. “This solution also offers employees tools that can help reduce their financial anxiety.”

Citizens in the statement cited a 2019 Visa survey of 1,000 workers nationwide where 95 percent of respondents said they would be interested in working for an employer that provides the feature known as earned-wage access.

Citizens said its 2022 Payments Pulse survey of 200 middle-market treasury executives found that 70 percent already offered some form of earned-wage access, and another 24 percent of respondents said they expected to offer it soon.

With its new program, Citizens funds the earned wages, and companies then reimburse the bank during the traditional payroll cycle. Employers can use the product at no additional cost and with no impact to their working capital, Citizens said. The bank said that the program connects with nearly all major enterprise human resource information and payroll systems, adding that the process can be established in as little as 30 days.

Citizens also said it plans to launch a separate account feature in the second quarter called Citizens Paid Early, which will let customers receive direct deposits up to two days early.