Research

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...

Enterprise innovation has moved beyond labs, demos, and culture theater into a disciplined, business-anchored capability. Based on interviews with innovation leaders across payments and financial services, this report examines how accountability...

Consumers, regardless of age, are using AI to research personal and business-related purchases. Some are even allowing AI to buy the products with no need to visit a store or website. Merchants should build a deeper understanding of this decisio...

Ten years after the Federal Reserve set the U.S. faster-payments agenda in motion, the market is beginning to show what fit-for-purpose adoption looks like in practice. This report examines how real-time payments, Same Day ACH, and other faster-...

Zelle’s growth in its nearly decade of existence has made it a central P2P feature in U.S. banking apps, but the overall user experience still lags behind what consumers have come to expect from third party platforms. Despite strong adoption, cu...