Research

Prepaid cards have evolved from handwritten gift certificates to digital wallets, and now they face a new inflection point. This Impact Note explores how stablecoins and tokenized digital assets could transform prepaid cards from balance-sheet l...

Cash App’s new feature that allows users to break P2P payments into short-term loans recognizes that short-term liquidity isn’t about traditional lending; it’s about meeting a moment of need with a proactive offer. Full-service banks, as it turn...

This report provides a detailed view of how consumers allocate their purchases between in-store and online channels across a wide range of retailer types, and how those online purchases further break down by channel. The findings highlight a ret...

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...