Scope and Scale of the Apple Fintech Ecosystem
Apple effectively discloses no data on its fintech business, forcing us to speculate on the size and substance of this franchise. There are plenty of wacky numbers floating around as to Apple’s scale in fintech, including one widely quoted data point that Apple processes $6 trillion of payments volume annually (claiming to be more than […]
Our Most Read Insights of 2022: Debate About the Impact of BaaS, Open Banking Payments, and SoftPOS
Flagship published insights across a diverse set of topics in 2022, including integrated payments, crypto, open banking, payfacs, M&A, neobanks, SoftPOS, Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS), the impact of inflation, B2B payments, spend management, and many others. Below we review and summarize our most popular articles of the past year. The rise of Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS), in parallel with […]
SoftPOS is Ready for Prime Time in 2023
SoftPOS, otherwise known as ‘tap to pay’ or ‘pin on glass’ was first conceptualized a decade ago. Since then, SoftPOS progressed slowly but steadily towards mass market readiness, and that time is now, or at least visible on the 2023 horizon. Several key events in 2022 catalyzed the momentum of SoftPOS, which is now clearly […]
SaaS Providers & Platforms: Navigating the Payment Facilitation Journey and Beyond, 2022
Software-as-a-service (“SaaS”) providers and platforms play an increasingly significant role in the payments ecosystem. Payment facilitation, a term loosely describing how these providers and platforms enable payments for their customers, has several operating models, each with varying levels of control, liability, and revenue opportunity. SaaS providers and platforms should not think of facilitating payments as […]
Top Neobanks in Europe and North America: State of Current Growth, 2022
Neobanks continue to be an important driver of innovation in financial services. In this article, we compare the offerings of the top neobanks in Europe and North America and investigate how they have evolved since our prior research last year.
Flagship Advisory Partners Analysis of the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s “Buy Now, Pay Later: Market Trends and Consumer Impacts Report” 2022
Recent data published by the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau illustrates how the U.S. Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) landscape is changing based on consumer behavior and shifting economics. In this article, we analyze their findings and present our key takeaways. We advise downloading the slides via the “Download Article PDF” button in the […]
Executive Interview Series: Open Banking Payments with Wilko Klaassen, VP Business Development, Klarna Kosma
Flagship Advisory Partners’ Executive Interview Series provides readers with exclusive insights from thought leaders in the payments and fintech industry. The series offers diverse perspectives on everything from market developments to strategy to commentary on developments in the industry. This edition puts the spotlight on open banking developments in Europe. Flagship Advisory Partners met with […]
Infographic: MENA Fintech Landscape, 2022
General Observations The Fintech landscape in MENA is developing rapidly including many start-ups and heavy investment in recent years. Payments, in particular merchant payment acceptance, is one of the largest verticals for investment activities. The MENA fintech sector attracted $519 mil. of fundraising and 92 newly launched fintech start-ups in 2021. Both external investors and […]
European A2A Schemes Thriving, Not Yet Open Banking Payments
While the European market waits for open banking payments to find a foundation, alternative payment schemes built on account-to-account (A2A) banking rails continue to thrive. In this article we examine the European landscape for A2A payment schemes and open banking A2A payments. Catalyzed By Mobile Commerce, A2A Schemes Thrive Across the EU As shown […]
Infographic: Breakdown of the European Fintech Landscape, 2022
General Observations As of Oct. 2022, there are over 3,300 active fintechs in Europe (vs. 4,200+ in the US) More than 70% of all European fintechs specialize in investments, lending, and payment services; most B2B fintechs focus on addressing white space in the SME merchant segment Cross-border payments and spend management fintechs are up and […]