The U.S. Department of the Treasury announced on Monday that it has designated BNY Mellon as the financial agent for the “Trump Accounts” program. BNY Mellon will partner with financial services company Robinhood to develop a dedicated application for the new tax-deferred child investment accounts.
The announcement outlines the next steps for the program, which is scheduled to launch on July 4. The initiative provides a one-time $1,000 Treasury deposit for children born between 2025 and 2028. According to the Treasury, BNY Mellon will manage the initial accounts through the forthcoming app developed with Robinhood’s technology.
In a statement regarding the partnership, BNY Mellon CEO Robin Vince said, “We are honored to be selected as financial agent for Trump Accounts. In collaboration with Robinhood, a leading financial technology platform committed to democratizing the markets for investors, we are helping to expand access to financial opportunity for all Americans.”
Vlad Tenev, CEO and Chairman of Robinhood Markets, also commented on the company’s role. “Our task is clear: to provide the next generation of Americans with a world-class, intuitive platform to jumpstart their financial future,” Tenev said in a statement.
According to data released by the Internal Revenue Service, as of March 31, taxpayers had enrolled more than four million children in the program. Of those, over one million were eligible for the initial $1,000 pilot contribution from the Treasury.
IRS CEO Frank Bisignano stated that the agency has worked with the Treasury Department to simplify the enrollment process. Parents and guardians can register for the program by submitting IRS Form 4547 with their 2025 tax returns or through the government’s TrumpAccounts.gov website. The Treasury has indicated that an authentication process is expected in May, with the initial seed money to be deposited on July 4.
The program allows parents, guardians, and others to contribute up to $5,000 annually in after-tax dollars. Companies can contribute up to $2,500 pre-tax per year for the children of employees, which counts toward the $5,000 annual limit. This contribution cap is scheduled to be indexed for inflation after 2027.
Some organizations have also made commitments to provide additional seed money for the accounts of qualifying families. BNY Mellon was among several large employers that had previously pledged to match the Treasury’s $1,000 contribution for the children of its U.S. employees.
Madeline Brown, a senior policy associate at the Washington-based think tank Urban Institute, commented on the announcement. Brown said that while the selection of BNY Mellon and Robinhood provides more clarity, “there are certainly still questions that remain about what the interface and product will look like for account holders … and how financial planning and coaching may be integrated.”
