Fintech stocks declined on Wednesday following a Bloomberg report that Apple is looking to create new direct financial services for its customers. Ines Ferré goes into additional detail in Yahoo Finance:
The report states the tech giant is building a payment processing technology and infrastructure as part of an effort to decrease its dependence on outside partners. The strategy is aimed at future financial products instead of existing ones.
The continued evolution of Apple’s strategy follows the news last week of their purchase of Credit Kudos. That purchase aligns with Ferré’s reporting:
The reported plan would expand Apple’s pretense into the financial services industry. The Cupertino, California–based company has been growing its services businesses.
The tech giant already offers an Apple Card in connection with Goldman Sachs. It also runs Apple Pay and a peer-to-peer payment service. Apple Pay is available in around 70 countries, while the Apple Card and the company’s peer-to-peer payment features are only accessible in the U.S.
As Apple continues its drive into additional services there is clear potential to add both features and geographic scope to their portfolio.
Overview by Jordan Hirschfield, Director of Research at Mercator Advisory Group