Zelle will use stablecoins to break into cross-border payments, per a press release. Countering this integration will be challenging for all players, unless they can also find a pay-by-bank integration as convenient as Zelle with better incentives. Incumbent remittance platforms like Western Union and Moneygram may be able to harness entrenched customer behaviors to their advantage. Many US remittance users feel safer dropping off cash for overseas loved ones at storefront locations versus using an app. Fintechs may be also able to peel off some competition by leaning on the underbanked within the remittance community, who may not have banking accounts with an institution in Zelle’s consortium.

MoneyGram launched a mobile app that uses stablecoins to make cross-border payments easier and cheaper. Investment in crypto services can help MoneyGram secure loyal patrons as its rivals also offer stablecoin-backed cross border payments.

SoFi recently reported that its AI chatbot, Konecta, has helped make significant operational and customer service improvements since its 2023 launch, per Yahoo Finance. Banking customers have been experiencing chatbot fatigue when glitches and errors prevent them from getting meaningful solutions to their problems—or when they can’t reach a human. But the more empathetic, human models could undo some of the negative perception of these bots. By demonstrating tangible benefits, like faster service and fewer dropped chats, SoFi is directly addressing these customer pain points. This approach improves efficiency and builds a foundation of trust—particularly with self-service-leaning Gen Zers.

The news: We’ve covered the importance of life-stage banking, which demonstrates an understanding of customers’ most pressing needs and helps banks move past product-centricity. With its family-focused products, SoFi demonstrates what this strategy can look like in practice. Our take: SoFi is far from the only bank to have developed products aimed at solving target customers’ financial challenges. But its holistic approach to financial health could help it stand out when young parents are looking for the right fit for their families, especially considering its savings rate—which is well above many of its traditional competitors’. Customers' deposits are largely determined by banks’ rates, and are much more volatile than many banks assumed. Learn more by reading our article, “Customer deposits are more volatile than banks assumed: What banks can do to keep them.”

The news: SoFi will relaunch its crypto investing platform and will introduce self-serve international money transfers powered by blockchain technology by year’s end, per a press release. Our take: As customers warm to crypto transactions, remittance providers stand to score valuable volume—and customer loyalty—if they style their businesses around what remittance senders want most: cheap, convent, and fast transactions.

These can fuel more frequent debit card usage, helping these cards better compete against credit card programs

They have higher customer satisfaction rates, adding to the competitive pressures

The neobank has big credit card aspirations as it looks to become a one-stop shop for financial services, but its new programs may struggle to secure uptake.

We look at how some major fintechs’ marketing strategies helped put them on the map.

Why big banks are losing market share with younger generations: A report finds fintechs and neobanks have captured 47% of all new checking accounts opened in 2023, and that Gen Zers increasingly see them as their primary accounts.

Modern card issuers are turbocharging the issuer processor space by offering API-based, customizable card solutions for non-financial services companies. Mobile payment services, ecommerce marketplaces, and the gig economy are in their sights—along with $17.12 billion in issuer processing revenues.

Powered by cloud-based APIs, modern card issuing leapfrogs traditional issuer processing to help non-financial services companies launch and customize card programs. Here’s where their offerings will be most disruptive.

Lawmakers are questioning why the online bank is offering new digital asset services when it should be winding them down.

Although the volume and value of global M&A deals in banking has stalled, pent-up demand is building.

SoFi aims to become the AWS of banking services: The US neobank plans to acquire cloud-based core-banking provider Technisys and pair it up with banking-as-a-service (BaaS) subsidiary Galileo.

Its fintech is out of stealth mode and is making acquisitions to build a neobank that will call itself as ONE. Its scaling potential makes it a threat to US banking players.

PrimaryBid partnered with Euronext to offer French retail investors early access to IPOs, but fintechs should ensure users understand that these present potentially highly risky investments.

Simple customers met with turbulent switch to BBVA USA: The shuttered neobank’s users faced lockouts as their accounts migrated over the weekend to sister bank BBVA USA—giving competitors an opening to attract affected customers.