By Saqib Iqbal Ahmed
NEW YORK (Reuters) - BlackRock Inc (N:BLK) has teamed up with Mastercard Inc (N:MA), United Parcel Service Inc (N:UPS) and Etsy Inc (O:ETSY) among other organizations, to build and test tools to help individuals start saving for emergencies.
The companies will work with a group of nonprofits focused on consumer financial health to build then test savings products on their employees, BlackRock said in a statement.
The program will be funded by BlackRock's previously announced $50 million commitment to its emergency savings initiative, the asset manager said.
A number of companies have in recent years taken steps to encourage employees to fund emergency accounts as they respond to data that suggests a large percentage of American households are ill-prepared to deal with a financial emergency.
A recent Federal Reserve report on the economic wellbeing of American households found that about 40% of Americans would struggle to cover an unexpected $400 expense.