Apple Slices Up Payments in Germany
Future of Fintech - Edition #123 (11th-17th June)
Big tech is doubling down on embedded finance, legacy banks embrace crypto, and AI tackles recurring payments. Get ready for a future where payments are seamless, data is secure, and finance is frictionless. Dive in to see how the industry is transforming around you!
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📖 Today’s Must Read: Apple Pay Later Hits the Brakes, But Apple Goes All Gas on BNPL!
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Apple Pay Later Hits the Brakes, But Apple Goes All Gas on BNPL!
In a dynamic twist, Apple has unveiled strategic partnerships with Affirm and Santander’s Zinia, while concurrently phasing out its Apple Pay Later loan services. This bold move underscores Apple’s intent to redefine the buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) paradigm, emphasising collaborative strength over solitary enterprise.
Thanks to Apple’s integration with Affirm in the US, consumers can now spread their payments comfortably over time. Similarly, for German consumers, Apple’s collaboration with Zinia offers a suite of financing choices, from 30-day deferred payments to installments stretching up to 36 months, turning big-ticket purchases into manageable bites. Partnering with credit card giants like Citi and Synchrony further expands financing choices at checkout.
Initially, Apple aimed to be a full-stack lender, evidenced by licence acquisitions across 15 US states. However, partnering offers distinct advantages:
Mitigate Risk: Established lenders bring proven experience in underwriting, risk assessment, and loan servicing, freeing Apple to focus on core competencies.
Market Reach: Existing customer bases of partners like Affirm and Zinia instantly expand Apple Pay's BNPL reach.
Flexibility of Choice: By partnering with diverse lenders and credit card issuers, Apple Pay caters to a wider spectrum of financial needs. This flexibility strengthens Apple Pay's competitive edge, offering a one-stop shop for secure payments with financing options tailored to individual financial profiles.
Apple Pay's BNPL pivot underscores a crucial lesson: collaboration can be a powerful driver of growth in the complex world of fintech. By leveraging established expertise and fostering a diverse ecosystem of partners, Apple positions itself as a central hub for secure and flexible payments, ultimately allowing it to capture a significant share of the market without the burden of directly issuing loans.
This shift becomes even clearer when viewed through the lens of our comprehensive report, “Apple's Embedded Finance Playbook”. This in-depth analysis reveals Apple's grand vision to seamlessly integrate financial services into its existing hardware, software, and ecosystem.
Our playbook offers a deep dive into this strategy, providing insights into:
The long-term vision behind Apple's forays into embedded finance.
How Apple leverages its strengths to elevate user experience within its ecosystem.
The potential for even more innovative financial services integrated seamlessly with Apple's existing offerings.
Download your copy of Apple's Embedded Finance Playbook today and gain a deeper understanding of Apple's strategic moves!
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Edition #123 brews the hottest trends and names to watch >>>
The Week's Hot 10! ♨️🔟
Partnerships for Enhanced Embedded Payments:
⤷ Apple tapped Santander’s digital consumer finance platform Zinia to power new payment capabilities (split & deferred) across its operations in Germany.
⤷ Accor partners Stripe to implement a single centralised system across all its hospitality properties for online bookings.
European Fintech Landscape Enhanced:
⤷ Trustly launches its AI-powered recurring payments solution, enabling European businesses to seamlessly accept recurring transactions directly from customers’ bank accounts.
⤷ Moldindconbank leverages Salt Bank's full-stack Open Banking Compliance solution to comply with Moldova’s law on PSD2 legislation.
Account Verification and Digital Security:
⤷ Moneyhub introduces Moneyhub Account Verification, its account verification service that enables better payment security utilising bank level security controls and biometrics.
⤷ Lumin Digital partners with Pinwheel to offer banks and credit unions advanced digital deposit switching solution - Pinwheel Prime - and other products like Pinwheel Verify and Pinwheel Earnings Stream.
Expansion and Licensing:
⤷ Merge secures in-principle approval for an EMI licence in France, widening its operational scope and providing a new range of financial services.
⤷ Neobanking startup Jupiter secures prepaid payments instrument licence from the Reserve Bank of India to provide digital wallets for UPI payments, fund transfers and bill payments.
Blockchain and Digital Assets:
⤷ Fidelity International selects J.P. Morgan’s Onyx Digital Assets blockchain to tokenise a money market fund, improving efficiency in delivering margin requirements.
⤷ Garanti BBVA launches crypto wallet and trading platform "Garanti BBVA Crypto", allowing customers to trade and store BTC, ETH, and USDC seamlessly via the bank's mobile app.
Now, for the ‘byte’-sized fintech buzz –
The Embedded Finance wave keeps rolling, highlighting the growing focus on seamless in-person and e-commerce payment solutions tailored to specific business needs.
Chase Payment Solutions, part of J.P. Morgan Payments, expanded Tap to Pay on iPhone for its merchant clients in Canada, with Sephora being the first client to enable it.
Liberis and Paytrail partnered to offer revenue-based financing to e-commerce businesses in Finland, providing Finnish SMBs with the funding they need in as little as 48 hours.
Open Finance is opening the doors to secure, data-driven lending and streamlined payments across the globe:
Fintech Galaxy and Yabx forged a strategic partnership to improve access to financial services for underserved segments in the MENA region through innovative digital lending solutions.
Jaja Finance leveraged TrueLayer’s Payments product to offer instant pay-ins, allowing customers to make one-off credit card repayments directly from their bank account. The payment is linked to an individual’s bank app – making the overall experience safer and smoother. Settlement is also instant and repayments are reflected immediately in the individual’s bank account.
Last week’s Digital Finance moves highlighted the growing focus on both fostering financial literacy for younger generations and equipping businesses with modern payment tools:
U.S. Bank tapped Greenlight for family-focused money management tools, helping families to instil positive financial habits in their kids. U.S. Bank customers with Bank Smartly and other eligible checking accounts will be able to gain access to Greenlight’s money app and debit card via the bank’s mobile app.
Beobank selected Viva to advance local SMEs’ digital evolution by powering new corporate payment solutions for SMEs in Belgium.
Fintech Infrastructure heats up, with financial institutions leveraging digital transformation as they seek agility and scalability.
BridgeFund selected Mambu’s cloud banking platform to scale its SME lending proposition in the Dutch market and beyond.
Eurobank Cyprus went live on Temenos for digital and core banking - centralising operations such as payments and wealth management back office and moving several transactional activities to digital channels for client self-service.
The DeFi space gains momentum with tokenised assets and regulatory clarity:
Ripple and Archax extended their collaboration to bring hundreds of millions of dollars of tokenised real-world assets (RWAs) onto the XRP Ledger (XRPL) over the coming year. This collaboration brings together Ripple’s enterprise blockchain and crypto solutions and Archax’s capabilities as a UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA)-regulated digital asset exchange, broker and custodian.
The Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) of ADGM and the Bermuda Monetary Authority (BMA) signed a joint Digital Assets Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), creating a framework to support the establishment of digital assets entities across their jurisdictions and ensure their effective supervision.
The Green Finance landscape was all about managing environmental risks and enabling green initiatives the past week.
BIS Innovation Hub and Monetary Authority of Singapore developed a blueprint for a platform to help financial authorities identify, monitor and manage climate risks in the financial system.
Unlimit and Moby teamed up to improve access to more sustainable transportation options for customers worldwide. The partnership focuses on strengthening Moby’s payment portfolio across a range of payment methods, from traditional credit card payments to alternative payment methods.
And that's a wrap 👋
We hope you enjoyed this edition of the Weekly Fintech Brew!
As a reward for making it all the way here, enjoy a curated list of awesome fintech resources to keep your curiosity cup full to the brim. Cheers to continuous learning!
🔗 Link Up! –
The rise of pay by bank: How merchants can reduce costs and grow revenue Report - Plaid X Adyen
Interpol Global Financial Fraud Assessment Report - Interpol
Stripe, more than a PayFac Blog - Fintech R&R by Jas Shah
What Is Financial Data Access (FIDA)? And What Does It Mean for Your Business? Blog - Brite Payments
Inside Saudi Arabia’s Open Banking Boom: A 2023 Snapshot Blog - WhiteSight
Toast Teardown: Vertical SaaS meets Embedded Finance Report - WhiteSight
Hungry for more fintech insights? Check out some of our other work at WhiteSight.
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