Bankloch

There is a clear trend with the   young generation to be averse of credit cards . They have seen from their parents what a too high usage of credit cards can lead to and at the same time feel that credit cards are complex and lack transparency. The   rise of BNPL   (= Buy Now Pay Later - see my blog " Buy Now Pay Later - A credit in disguise?   -   https://bankloch.blogspot.com/2021/07/buy-now-pay-later-credit-in-disguise.html" ), is a clear consequence of that, i.e. these companies provide a different means to the same end (buying a good on credit), but with a better user experience and more transparency (or at least the feeling of more transparency). As a result of this shift, a potential   gap   is rising on all   loyalty and reward programs offered by most (credit) card schemes . These advantages are a huge market, although these rewards are often more the perception of getting value than receiving actual value (as very few people actually con...

You could argue that the main role of a bank is to increase the   buying power   of its customers, i.e. support their customers in increasing their assets. This can be through credits or investments. Both solutions make purchases possible, which can give a positive return in the future, i.e. an investment is a purchase of a financial product aiming to generate a return, while a credit can allow you to buy something, which can save or generate money in the long-term, e.g. a credit for a house to avoid long-term rent payments. Increasing the buying power by optimizing financial flows   can however also be done in many other ways. These are domains where banks are ideally positioned to offer additional services, but most banks have left those untouched till now. This is about to change, as banks try to   build out financial ecosystems and offer more value-added services . The increasing number of PFM (for Individuals) and BFM (for Businesses) banking modules is a first ...

In my blog " Customer acquisition cost: probably the most valuable metric for Fintechs " ( https://bankloch.blogspot.com/2020/06/customer-acquisition-cost-probably-most.html ) I described how a customer acquisition strategy can make or break a Fintech. In the traditional Retail sector, focused on selling different types of products for personal usage to end-customers,   customer acquisition  is just as important. No wonder that the advertisement sector is a multi-billion dollar industry. However in recent years due to the digitalization and consequently the rise of   Digital Marketing , customer acquisition has become much more focused on   delivering the right message via the right channel to the right person on the right time . Big tech players like Google and Facebook are specialized in this kind of targeted marketing, which is a key factor for their success and multi-billion valuations. Their exponential growth in marketing revenues seems however coming to a halt...