‘Change is hard for banks’, how crypto-backed cards are disrupting payments, and Schwab’s Stock Slices and Starter Kit
- Schwab's Stock Slices and Starter Kit make the firm more relevant to newer, younger investors.
- Also, Amount buys Linear to move into corporate lending software and crypto cards are disrupting payments.
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'Change is hard for banks': Behind Amount’s acquisition of Linear
Amount, a banking technology provider offering account opening, loan origination and BNPL financing solutions, recently announced the acquisition of Linear, an SMB loan and account origination platform, for $175 million.
Banks have been struggling with the transition towards digital, as their infrastructure was created around products from decades ago, and have been heavily customized and modified over time. Their systems tend to be rather inflexible, and integration points are hard to rip out – the exact opposite of the architecture that operates at modern institutions that are open and API based, Amount’s CEO Adam Hughes told Tearsheet.
This surfaced an opportunity for the Amount and Linear to combine forces to strengthen the team and add a new product line, as well as an attractive list of customers.
'Since our founding with Chuck, there’s been this passion around ownership of individual equities': Schwab's Zack Gipson
Today’s guest on the podcast is Zack Gipson, who runs Charles Schwab’s digital investor solutions.
We talked in depth about Schwab’s Stock Slices, the firm’s fractional share product. Together with a new investor starter kit, the incumbent is reaching a new investor base, younger and earlier in their journeys.
Zack shares how the product is being received and where the firm is headed in the future.
The latest briefing
Bankchain Briefing: How crypto-backed cards are disrupting payments
You’ve probably heard about crypto-backed cards by now.
A crypto-backed card connects a crypto wallet, provided by an exchange like Coinbase, Crypto.com or another crypto-based company, to a card issuing and payment processing platform. This allows cardholders to make crypto payments, both electronically and in-person, through conventional payment networks such as Visa and Mastercard.
This week, we explore how crypto-backed cards have become one of the fastest-growing card categories.
Tearsheet's Ismail Umar spoke with i2c’s president Jim McCarthy to get some more insight into crypto-backed cards and how they are changing the way the industry thinks about payments and cardholders.
Read more (exclusive to Outlier members)
Just look at the charts
- People don't use mobile wallets to save
Source: S&P Global
2. Envisioning a new stack for the post-bank era
Source: a16z
Today's stories
SWIFT's moves against Russia mirror what happened with Iran
It was broad financial sanctions and fines, not cutting off access to the messaging network, that had the biggest impact (Financial Times)
Visa and Mastercard join Russian blockades
Mastercard and Visa have blocked multiple financial institutions from their payment networks in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine (Finextra)
Russian billionaire publishes anti-war article
Nik Storonsky, the Russian billionaire cofounder of Revolut, opposes the Russian war against Ukraine and is putting money towards relief (Forbes)
AutoPayPlus will be Alviere’s first automotive industry client
Alviere, an embedded finance platform, will support different payment capabilities for AutoPayPlus customers (PYMNTS)
Plaid’s platform accessible to Frost clients
Frost Bank teams up with Plaid to bring open finance solutions to almost 400,000 clients (Crowdfund Insider)
SoFi expects to grow net revenue in Q1
Shares of SoFi Technologies jumped 18% in after-hours trading Tuesday after the challenger bank exceeded expectations with its earnings outlook (MarketWatch)
What makes the metaverse interesting for banking?
Banks and credit unions are trying to figure out the potential of these virtual communities, where the opportunities lie, and how to do it right (The Financial Brand)
Shift4 acquires Israeli fintech Finaro
Israeli fintech Finaro, which enables easier international payments, is acquired by leading integrated payments and commerce technology company Shift4 for $575 million (Calcalist)
MX partners with embedded banking platform Rize
Together the two fintechs will make it easier for developers to build and launch new financial services and products through a single API (Finovate)
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