Financial Services

The revenues help BNPL fintechs like Klarna overcome the low-margin business model and chart an elusive path to profitability

Given the industry’s historic reliance on cash, Square is hoping to become an early mover and grab share of this massive industry

Bank sponsorships shift from sports stadiums to music venues: Gen Zers at outdoor music festivals this past summer were more likely than ever to see bank logos on tents and signboards.

How social media fits into the marketing mix for smaller firms: We look at the ways four community and regional financial institutions are humanizing their brands on social media—turns out everyone’s on Facebook—as well as through other channels.

The firm added new payment methods, a dynamic express checkout, and an A/B testing system

The Block CEO’s return to Square could include a crypto push

RFID technology makes Just Walk Out compatible with clothing and other softline shopping categories, opening it up to new use cases

Good deeds now may help banks do well later: USAA Federal Savings Bank got ahead of the impending government shutdown with an interest-free loan offering tailored to its military-affiliated customer base.

No change in rates expected at Fed’s September Meeting: But banks and consumers are still watching their budgets, and everyone’s already starting to worry about whether another rate hike will be forthcoming in November.

On today’s podcast episode, we discuss how finserv digital marketers are incorporating credit marketing, even in top- and mid-funnel campaigns. • In our “Headlines” segment, we chat about the role of marketing as a revenue generator in banking—specifically, an article we published in August with results from an American Banker Association survey that stated 72% of marketing execs don't believe revenue generation is a part of marketing’s role. • In “Story by Numbers,” we examine the results of digital campaigns that revolve around credit marketing and the ROI in creating a unified, full-funnel marketing strategy. • In “Pretend CMO,” our guests have to thread together a multifaceted digital-only marketing campaign and discuss how it attributes ROI to the campaign's different digital channels. Tune in to the discussion with host Rob Rubin, our analyst Tiffani Montez, and Aundra Thompson, director of product strategy and strategic planning for marketing solutions at TransUnion.

US digital-only account openings will remain flat at just 200,000 every year from 2024 through to 2027, according to our forecast. Traditional account openings, however, will hover at 5.0 million and above during the same period.

Canadian bankers feel judged: Their government’s special one-off tax, the Canada Recovery Dividend, won’t hit their earnings as hard as feared—but it sets a surprising and unsettling precedent.

The number of US BNPL users has doubled since 2021, even though firms can’t fund rewards as richly as issuers do. But they do have retail connections.

Banks keep getting better about social selling: An ABA survey looks at how social media campaigns are helping banks and credit unions turn anonymous institutions into friendly, approachable community members.

Most credit unions say they take a wait-and-see approach toward innovation: That means their members might eventually jump ship for the shiny new digital experiences that megabanks and fintechs are investing in.

Generative AI and embedded finance popped up across a host of conversations—we give our take on how firms should approach these innovations.

What went wrong at First Republic: The FDIC’s report includes a “mea culpa,” saying it could have been more aggressive in policing the bank’s risk management—but it’s still not sure that would’ve helped, as depositors yanked their money too quickly.