Research

Klarna’s buy-now, pay-later model is colliding with global regulation. A Netherlands court has invalidated consumer debts, ruling BNPL creates credit obligations—despite zero interest—and Klarna’s guardrails were lacking. Rising losses are outpa...

There is a clear and consistent relationship between household income and both the breadth and sophistication of financial product ownership, with higher-income households ($100K+) demonstrating materially greater financial engagement and portfo...

There are plenty of ways to pay. Which payments are small businesses accepting? This report looks at acceptance patterns across in-store and online channels, showing where cards, cash, digital wallets, ACH, buy now, pay later, and other methods ...

Iran-linked cyber activity is no longer hypothetical for U.S. financial institutions. International tensions, collaboration by adversaries, and gaps in oversight are reshaping financial-sector risk—and traditional defenses fall short. This repor...

The success of neobank Chime has drawn the attention of more traditional banks, which understandably wonder whether its recipe of simplicity and a limited set of financial tools represents a threat to mainline FIs. But the very factors that driv...

Consumer spending habits and rewards program adoption are largely shaped by shopping frequency and generational tendencies, with age influencing large swings. Retailers can target different generations across various categories to expand spendin...

Stablecoins are often framed as just another payment rail, but that view misses what makes them important. Programmability shifts how and where payment behavior is defined, moving logic upstream of banks and traditional processors. That change i...

Financial institutions are seeing rising losses from first-party fraud, yet many still struggle to detect it before the damage is done. Traditional controls confirm who the customer is, but not how they behave. This report examines the gaps in d...

Co‑branded credit cards thrive when financial institutions and consumer brands join to create value neither could deliver alone. When designed well, these partnerships fuel customer acquisition, deepen loyalty, and generate major revenue streams...

Kraken didn’t gain a Fed account to mimic existing banks. It gained one to rebuild core payment architecture. This report breaks down how direct access to Fed settlement layers, coupled with dollar rails, alters the risk stack for payments and r...