Truist Buys Gamified FinTech Long Game The seventh-largest bank in the nation, Truist, purchased a mobile app—Long Game—that rewards users for saving money. Launched in 2015, Long Game had 12 bank and credit union customers prior to the acquisition. The average user saves $60 per month. DCA Insight: The investment in gamification is intended to increase Truist’s market share. Interactive...

Americans Are Spending Like It’s 2019 After a two-year decline, consumers in America are spending at levels that rival those of 2019, right before the pandemic hit. DCA Insight: Gym memberships, child care, travel, meals out, concerts—demand is high. Americans are spending money on experiences at rates close to or above pre-Covid times. At the same time, companies that flourished...

AI Helps FinTech Firms Reach More Borrowers  Fintech lenders including Pentadata Inc., OppFi Inc. and LoanSnap are helping traditionally underserved borrowers get loans. These companies feed a wider range of data and use AI to determine credit eligibility, giving more people access to the credit market. It has been crucial for these fintechs to be able to have access to...

Plaid Founders Buy Bank The co-founders of data network Plaid have purchased Northern California National Bank. The newly acquired one-location FI has been renamed Column and it will manage Plaid’s regulated tasks including holding customers’ deposits and issuing debit cards. DCA Insight: Name-brand banks don’t generally perform these tasks, so the work is usually done by community banks, many of...

Banks Consider Zelle as Card Alternative A group of banks that own money transfer service Zelle are contemplating promoting the payment option, which competes with card networks Visa and Mastercard. The move would open growth opportunities for Zelle, which doubled its number of transactions in 2021 driven by the pandemic. DCA Insight: Collectively, banks and card networks earn billions each...

[image_with_animation image_url=”22378″ animation=”Fade In” hover_animation=”none” alignment=”” border_radius=”none” box_shadow=”none” image_loading=”default” max_width=”100%” max_width_mobile=”default”] Farfetch Invests $200 Million Into Neiman Marcus Online luxury retail platform Farfetch Ltd. is investing in Neiman Marcus. The investment will enable the luxury retailer to expand its brands overseas digitally, as well as more closely associate its e-commerce business with its in-store experience. DCA Insight: While consumers of...

Russia’s Financial System Western economic sanctions disrupted Russia’s financial system, with one exception, the WSJ reported. Russian consumers continued to use their Mastercard and Visa cards, even though these two organizations exited the country as the war began. Why? Payments made by these cards issued in Russia aren’t processed via U.S. networks, but rather through a system developed in-country. DCA...

Fast Casual Chain Offers Bitcoin Rewards Shake Shack is offering cryptocurrency as a customer reward. Consumers get 15% back on any purchase made with Cash Card, a debit card available to Cash App Users, and by buying items with Cash Boost, a rewards program available to Cash Card members. DCA Insight: Shake Shack is interested in expanding its customer base...

Credit Card Fees To Rise Some large merchants may pay higher fees when they accept consumer credit cards. After postponing interchange fee increases for two years due to the pandemic, Visa and Mastercard are scheduled to up some charges in the next month. DCA Insight: Interchange fees are transparent to consumers. Paid by merchants and received by the bank that...

Walmart Adding New Delivery Options The world’s largest retailer isn’t letting up on its push to drive delivery innovation. Walmart is continuing efforts made early in the pandemic to provide new ways to get goods in consumers’ hands, including automated fulfillment centers attached to stores, autonomous trucks, employee drivers and deliveries made to inside the home. DCA Insight: Walmart’s betting...

Direct Payments Offered By Discover Merchants will soon have the option to access payments directly from shoppers’ checking accounts using an app, with no card required. The newly announced capability is made possible by DCA member Discover and fintech firm Buy It Mobility Networks. DCA Insight: The direct payment arrangement Discover is introducing is popular in Asia: Alipay and WeChat...

BNPL Travel Booms  Travel paid for layaway-style is booming. Increasingly travel companies are offering flights, cruises and vacation packages that consumers can buy now and pay for over time. DCA Insight: Buy-now pay-later can be a great option for consumers with pent-up desire to travel now that pandemic restrictions are easing. Some deals offer zero percent financing to qualified buyers—others...