Research

Neobanks may be easy to dismiss, serving a small share of newer, digitally native businesses, but that framing misses their real impact. They are repositioning digital banking around operational efficiency and rethinking how day-to-day financial...

Stablecoins are becoming increasingly embedded into real payment flows. This report provides a practical framework for FIs to evaluate various partners in categories such as issuance, custody, orchestration, compliance, and integration. FIs will...

Many banks remain reluctant to offer merchant acquiring services to their business customers because it’s a low-margin business with deep technology requirements. For business customers, however, card payments from their customers represent the ...

The debit experience is expected to feel as seamless and digital as the apps customers use every day. As card‑not‑present spending surges and debit quietly powers P2P and wallet transactions, financial institutions face a pivotal moment to moder...

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 ...