Financial Services

Clearscore is now valued at $645 million thanks to lenders eager to use its open banking-powered marketplace for matchmaking with borrowers—as some credit bureaus are already doing.

JPMorgan pushes branch staffers to get licenses: The banking giant wants all of its nearly 5,000 Chase branches staffed with licensed relationship bankers by year’s end—a move that may bolster branch usage even as consumers go digital for transactional services.

Fifth Third expands early paycheck access: Early Pay will become available to all Fifth Third Momentum Checking customers after its launch in select areas—and neobanks offering that feature will need to think up another competitive differentiator.

The retail giant is making its prepaid debit card—offered with Green Dot Bank—available as a demand deposit account. That and its big store footprint could pose a threat to smaller banks in rural areas.

The profitable fintech is expanding its product suite and will create its own loan-servicing platform—an IPO figures in its long-term roadmap.

Wise partnership to help Yapeal keep pace in Europe: The Switzerland-based neobank and the fintech will roll out a remittances feature that will work in over 80 countries—and help Yapeal keep up with other digital-only banking players in Europe.

The neobank’s addition of several new features to its paid accounts could help it attract and retain premium customers.

Visa seeks to build up open banking: Months after its bid for Plaid was called off, the payments giant is buying the Sweden-based API provider Tink for €1.8 billion ($2.05 billion)—a deal that could enable the combined entity to establish a de facto European open banking standard.

More than 45 million people ages 14 and older in the US will use buy now, pay later (BNPL) services this year, according to our inaugural user forecast for these financing options. That’s up 81.2% over 2020, and the age range of BNPL users will widen over the coming years as well.