The payfac model has catapulted into the mainstream, thanks to payments disruptors like PayPal, Square, and Stripe. The growth in the number of payfacs, and in the payment volume passing through them, is reshaping key relationships within the payments ecosystem. But the model bears some drawbacks for the diverse swath of companies adopting it, as well as for the merchants that work with them.

The small-business-centric point-of-sale solution can push PayPal further into in-store payments and help it court more small sellers—though it’ll face competition from players like Square and Stripe.

Payments service providers are building an array of financial services to compete with financial institutions (FIs). Lending, bank account products, issuing, and other services that have been FIs’ bread and butter are being challenged in a bid to add more revenue opportunities and engender greater loyalty. These payment disruptors, such as Square, Stripe, and Shopify, are using their existing relationships with small businesses to attract clients away from FIs and persuading them to use their own financial offerings.

Wix operates as a payfac in the US and Europe via Wix Payments, in partnership with Adyen and Stripe. Its processing and gateway offerings have found success in competing against third parties: Wix Payments accounted for more than 30% of all of Wix’s sales transactions in Q3 2020, president Nir Zohar said on the company’s earnings call.

Firms including Amex, PayPal, Splitit, and Stripe are working to enter China through partnerships with local companies. The duopoly’s dominance had previously forced these providers to pursue niche sectors, like debit and cross-border commerce, but its erosion could widen their window of opportunity.

The news: After a yearlong beta, China-based card network UnionPay and Stripe deepened their partnership so Stripe sellers can accept payments from UnionPay cardholders, including in Chinese currency. They can also automate returns and disputes and manage these payments through their existing Stripe dashboard.

This tactic is favored by firms like Mastercard, Stripe, and Visa, which have partnered with numerous BNPL providers in recent years so that their merchants can offer a variety of solutions. For Stripe, this process can be as simple as one of its existing merchants electing to use one of the available providers’ solutions and going through a 10-minute integration process.

Analysts who closely follow the company speculated that it may have been Stripe, which last year notched $7.4 billion in revenues, people familiar with the company’s finances told The Wall Street Journal. Although Bisignano declined to elaborate on the loss, analysts estimated it would mean a 5% impact on the company’s overall processing volume and a larger hit to its ecommerce segment.

The largest are Stripe ($95B), Klarna ($45.6B), and Revolut ($33B). And while the US remains the largest unicorn hub, Europe is catching up to Asia, as we predicted. At the end of 2020, Asia had 10 more unicorns than Europe; there’s now only a five-unicorn difference. Record exits. There have been 664 M&A in 2021, compared with 540 for all of 2020.

Interestingly, Stripe, which hasn’t yet added open banking to its own payments infrastructure, participated in the round—potentially paving the way for a strategic investment in the future.

Stripe. UK Finance. UK Parliament. UK Payment Systems Regulator. Which? Worldpay.

And like Splitit’s recent move, providers also inked new deals to bring their solutions to more merchants and customers: Affirm partnered with Shopify to power Shop Pay installments, and Afterpay formed a tie-up with Stripe. The big picture: Global expansion lets providers reach new customers who may have a need or an appetite for BNPL solutions.

It’s not alone in the race. An influx of new BaaS entrants indicates the emergence of an industry to underpin embedded banking.

If they strike a deal, Pinterest would help the payments giant tap into the massive US social commerce industry.

OCC pick favors sweeping changes like Fed takeover of accounts: Saule Omarova’s radical proposal has splintered Senate Democratic backing for Biden’s nominee—just as the very nature of banking is also being questioned by market forces.

A standard currency for TV and digital is unlikely, despite buyers’ wishes: Media buyers want more connection between linear and streaming TV, and though individual networks are making strides, an industrywide solution is unlikely.

Payments startups have done especially well, with Stripe and Checkout.com being the highest-valued unicorns of any sector in the US and UK, respectively, while BNPL Klarna is, in fact, the highest-valued private company in all of Europe, per CB Insights Complete List of Unicorn Companies. Future unicorns-to-be extend beyond payments to include open banking providers and neobanks. For example:.

Hispanic Heritage Month is upon us: brands are making strides in reaching out to this growing demographic at this time of year, but what about the other 11 months?

Some major players include Bill.com, Intuit, MineralTree, and Stripe. Card networks and providers: With the consumer card payments market largely saturated, corporate cards and small business credit cards can provide new opportunities for card networks and providers, especially since many are also pursuing noncard payment options for businesses, like developing noncard payment rails.

Payments giant Stripe, meanwhile, has partnered with Goldman Sachs and Citi to offer an API that allows Stripe’s clients to offer bank accounts—as well as debit cards and cash management features—to their own customers.

Walmart’s strong retail media business may help it compete with Amazon: Soaring revenues and more advertisers than ever bode well for the big-box retailer’s future.

The neobank hit this lofty level on the back of bagging $750 million in new funding. Insider Intelligence examines the bullish and the bearish cases for whether it’s worth it.