EU Banks are Missing the Boat on BNPL
Buy now, pay later (“BNPL”) is experiencing huge growth in awareness, uptake, and press coverage. Klarna is the largest and most visible standard-bearer, showcasing a 33% revenue growth rate and a $46 billion valuation in its last funding round in June 2021 implying a 30x revenue multiple. Fintech incumbents have issued a slew of BNPL […]
The Top 20 Neobanks: Growth via Product Expansion
Neobanks have been highly influential in prodding traditional banks to digitize and improve the customer experience, but many still face a long road towards scale and profitability. The strength of the product catalog is a key growth driver; therefore, we examined the offerings of the top 20 neobanks in Europe and North America as measured […]
Updating Your Payments and Fintech Roadmap for 2021
As we previously discussed in a three-part series, COVID-19 has impacted the payments and fintech landscape across the board, including M&A activity (as investors continue to love digital payments), sectors (for instance travel and restaurant verticals have suffered, while groceries and online retail have thrived), and has shifted customer preferences towards digital channels and form […]
Marqeta IPO: Investors’ Love of Digital Payments Also Extends to Issuing
Investors love SaaS and integrated payments, as we recently showed here. Marqeta, a next generation issuer processor, went public on June 9 with a market cap at close of $16 billion, 13% above the IPO price. Based on Marqeta’s historical revenue growth rate of cca. 100%, this valuation corresponds to approximately 68x forward twelve months’ […]
The Paypers: Who’s Who in Payments Report 2021
Flagship recently supported the development of The Paypers’ Who’s Who in Payments report for 2021, and would encourage everyone to download the report for great market and participant insights.
The Processing Landscape for Card Issuing and A2A Payments in 2021
Issuer card processing and financial institution account to account processing have evolved dramatically in the past ten years. What used to be an (arguably) commoditized landscape of providers with a clear delineation between card issuing and account to account payments has undergone significant shifts in technology, business models, and new entrants. Below we examine the […]
Vision for Credit Card Issuer Growth: Optimization Toolkit
European bank management boards typically view credit cards as a cash cow business with good returns on equity but challenging to invest in growth. Recent trends largely reinforce this skeptical view:
Ant Group IPO Demonstrates the Power of Fintech
Ant Group, the parent company of Chinese digital payments and fintech giant Alipay, recently filed an IPO prospectus which demonstrates the value-creation potential of fintech: for shareholders, consumers, and partners. Ant’s 674-page prospectus makes for fascinating reading, and strikingly illustrates three key takeaways:
Cracking the Code in Fintech SME Banking
The SME business segment has traditionally been profit-challenged for large commercial banks. Many fintechs love the segment however, due to general under-penetration and opportunities to differentiate with digital products and quick and easy user experiences. Despite the pandemic, fintechs continue to pile into the SME segment as illustrated by recent introductions of business banking services […]
Vendor Future-proofing Is a 2020 Priority
There are a fortunate subset of companies who have benefitted from the COVID-19 pandemic, those overweight in digital-commerce and underweight in travel. Most companies are struggling with the P&L impacts of the downturn however, and are looking for evasive actions to drive revenue expansion and cost reduction. Many have already taken initial steps to address […]