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While it still faces hurdles, the company’s finances have improved markedly—setting it up for a strong IPO in 2025

Payment providers are taking note: Affirm just partnered with Amazon Business, while fintech Capchase launched a BNPL product for long-term business contracts. FedNow is a looming disruptor. Adoption has been low since the government-run real-time payments service’s July 2023 rollout. Higher-than-expected pricing must first be worked out, but FedNow can still transform the US payments system.

Steep discounts drove shoppers to splurge on Black Friday: Consumers scooped up bargains across several categories, helping online sales jump 14.6% YoY the day after Thanksgiving.

Chase’s newly launched financial media network has opened the floodgates for other financial institutions. While lucrative on paper, securing advertiser and customer buy-in isn’t guaranteed.

In addition to BNPL fintechs rolling out BNPL-integrated debit cards like the Affirm card, other payment players are also getting in on the action. Chase offers Chase Pay in 4 to its debit card holders. Unlike its credit card-linked Pay Over Time, Pay in 4 charges no fees to turn a transaction into installments. Suffolk Credit Union has a BNPL product for its debit cards.

Companies implemented the tech for hyperpersonalization, AI chatbots, fraud prevention, and other use cases

Digital wallets are gaining share of retail transactions in the UK. Retailers that don’t accept them risk losing sales.

The capability should help boost Pix’s in-store volume, serving as a roadmap for the US’s FedNow to boost retail adoption

A Trump administration could lead to sweeping changes at the agency

The final word: Flare’s analysis affirms a few key points we have previously made. While health systems have an enormous need for AI-driven efficiency, they’re very methodical in how they vet and choose which products to purchase.

Affirm and Zip’s buy now, pay later (BNPL) options will be available at more merchant sites and Android apps across the US following a December pilot. Consumers can link their BNPL accounts to Google Pay or sign up with either provider within Google Pay’s checkout. How it can help: Not offering a customer’s preferred payment method at checkout can hurt conversion rates.

It will launch in the US this summer through a partnership with Affirm. Why it can work: More than half of cardholders are interested in accessing multiple accounts through a single credential, per a Visa study. Making the payments process more convenient and seamless, removes key friction points that come with switching between payments tools. Pay by Bank.

Other fintechs, like Affirm, are adopting similar strategies. PayPal will let go of about 2,000 employees, or roughly 7% of its global workforce, this month. This will help the company save about $600 million, on top of the $1.3 billion in savings it’s already achieved, Schulman said during the earnings call.

The bigger picture: Stripe’s slowing growth mirrors competitors like PayPal and Affirm, both of which have pivoted to trimming costs and focusing on more lucrative business areas. Stripe is similarly changing tack: Expanding its Amazon partnership should bolster processing volume, and diversifying could grow customer numbers and build new revenue streams.

Despite intensified payment competition and rocky economic factors, private label credit cards will maintain their importance in the payments industry in 2023. Retailers should not discount the value they can bring in terms of revenues and loyalty.