Most Read Flagship Insights of 2023
In 2023, Flagship published insights across a wide range of payment and fintech topics. The scope and scale of Apple’s fintech ecosystem, in parallel with our analysis of fintech’s efficiency, generated the most traction amongst our readers. Other topics that gathered attention were our definition of the widely used catchphrase ‘embedded finance’, KKR’s failed investment […]
Infographic: 6 Years after the EU Launch of Apple Pay, over 44% of Europeans use Mobile Wallets
General Commentary & Highlights A mobile wallet is a payment tool that stores the user’s payment credentials on a mobile device, which can be used to pay in stores and/or remotely (incl. person-to-person and C2B mobile commerce The prevalence of mobile wallets has risen in Europe, stemming from tech advancements in acceptance, heavy presence of […]
The Rise and Fall of the Apple-Goldman Sachs Consumer Finance Partnership
The Wall Street Journal’s reporting on Nov. 28 that “Apple is pulling the plug on its credit-card partnership with Goldman Sachs” caps off months of highly public news about the dissolution of Goldman’s entry into consumer financial services. In this article, Flagship estimates the profitability of the Apple Card program, which we believe is the […]
Fintech M&A in Europe Hits New Low In the Second Half of 2023
General Commentary & Highlights Investments in the European fintech sector have slowed down in the second half of 2023 but have started to show signs of recovery recently Challenging macro-economic conditions and concerns of depressed asset valuations have been acting as key obstacles in the recuperation of fintech M&A activity in Europe Feedback from investors […]
European Office of CFO SaaS: New Battleground for Embedded Fintech
The European office of CFO SaaS is a new battleground for embedded fintech. Leading SaaS platforms are increasingly embedding fintech solutions with software workflows and creating a winning formula of success. In this article, we analyze this space and present our key takeaways.
Executive Interview Series: Ram Sundaram, co-Founder & COO, TerraPay
Flagship Advisory Partners’ Executive Interview Series provides readers with exclusive insights from thought leaders in the payments and fintech industry. This edition puts the spotlight on TerraPay, a leading fintech that serves businesses and fintechs in the B2B cross-border payments space. Flagship Advisory Partners met with Ram Sundaram, Co-Founder and COO of TerraPay to learn […]
Infographic: Q3 ’23 Fintech Stock Price Movements
General Commentary & Highlights Q3 earnings season brought heavy volatility to payments stocks Share price increases or decreases of +/- 20% were common as shown above Technology investors are now hyper-sensitive to earnings misses, even small misses (-5% vs. expectation) seem to drive c. -20% impacts to share price Substantially negative guidance, such as that […]
Impact of Proposed Revision to Debit Card Interchange Fee Cap on U.S. Banks
General Commentary & Highlights In 2011, The Federal Reserve implemented the Durbin Amendment which capped debit card interchange for U.S. financial institutions with over $10 billion in assets at $0.21 + 0.05%, plus a $0.01 fraud prevention fee for eligible transactions. The Fed had not altered this cap since implementation. Last month, The Fed proposed […]
Square’s International Expansion
General Commentary & Highlights While Block works to fix its corporate challenges including a recently announced and much-needed expense reduction program, Square continues to demonstrate steady (though not spectacular) progress in the organic international expansion of its core merchant products, which achieved $380M of annualized gross profit in the most recent quarter. Square becoming more […]
SaaS Embedded Payments Accelerating in Europe
Video Summary Introduction The evolution of SaaS embedded payments is the preeminent theme in merchant payments in North America and is also now increasingly in Europe. The U.S. market remains the clear bellwether of SaaS + payments disruption, but the U.K. and Europe are fast followers as the shift towards integrated payments gathers speed. ISVs/SaaS […]