The payment giant’s app overhaul could set it up for substantial cross-promotion possibilities, which can grow payment volume and create a more loyal user base.

PayPal signed an agreement to buy the Japanese BNPL provider, which can help it gain a stronger foothold in Japan’s budding installment lending market and overall digital payments space.

The UK-based neobank is looking to do buy now, pay later (BNPL) trials in Europe next year—and it could quickly find a following within its large customer base.

PayPal wants to expand its in-store digital payment solution and card business as cash use falls across Europe.

The UK launch is its first international crypto expansion and anticipates the company’s super app goal.

Although BNPL is flourishing, intensifying competition might push providers into new global markets and sectors outside of traditional retail to sustain their growth.

Digital commerce platforms help merchants of all sizes sell online, making them an increasingly big factor in ecommerce payments. This creates new opportunities for processors, gateways, and other payments stakeholders to reach merchants—but also complicates their relationship.

The top 10 P2P payment apps worldwide

The payments firm’s total payment volume hit a whopping $311 billion—and it will likely sustain that momentum as it dives deeper into BNPL and cryptocurrencies and builds out Venmo and its in-store payments business.

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.

The PayPal-owned P2P payments player will soon introduce new fees and privacy updates that should bring it one step closer to profitability and might make its platform more trustworthy.

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.

Digital account opening is on the rise after a pandemic slump.

Service providers are using their existing relationships with small businesses to move into financial services, taking on financial institutions by offering solutions like lending and bank accounts that are powered by partnerships, digital banking developments, and even in-house banks.

Apple and PayPal hinted at future plans for crypto payments, but concerns surrounding regulations and crypto’s volatility could dampen development.

Mobile proximity and peer-to-peer (P2P) payments have hit the mainstream, thanks to a pandemic-driven upswing in digital payments that is set to last. This trend is leading providers to diversify their offerings and compete for share of the market.

PayPal outpaces Venmo