Banks need to embrace new customer acquisition models or risk falling behind, a recent Accenture report argued.
The report, titled 5 Big Bets in Retail Payments in North America, examined how banks risk losing payments revenue to technology startups and other non-bank competitors. According to Kevin Grieve, North American lead for Accenture Payments, banks should invest in credit card alternatives like point-of-sale financing tools to maintain their share of payments revenue relative to startups.
“What has stood out the most in the past two years as we looked at the marketplace is how much of the incremental revenue is being picked up by new entrants,” Grieve said. In Europe last year, startups made up 35% of the incremental payments revenue, while in North America, they made up 15% of incremental payments revenue, he added.
That 15% of bank payments revenue lost to nonbanks translates to roughly $88 billion by 2025, of which $82 billion will come from U.S. banks and $6 billion will come from Canadian institutions. Meanwhile, retail and commercial payment revenue overall is expected to climb from $505 billion to $653 billion in North America by 2025.
Among institutions, Citizens Bank sees potential from point-of-sale loans. The bank is working with Apple on its purchase financing program, and it’s moving into other areas, including home improvement and security. According to Andrew Rostami, Citizens’ executive vice president of unsecured lending, banks like Citizens see attractive revenue prospects from point-of-sale loans, and its brand trust and expertise in the field gives it an advantage over upstart competitors. “It’s like having the cutting-edge experience that a fintech would offer, but having the resources, the analytics, the credit, the oversight and the capabilities of a bank,” he recently told Bank Innovation.
See also: Inside Citizens Bank’s point-of-sale lending strategy
Nonbanks continue to make inroads through point-of-sale financing products for consumers. Afterpay, for example, launched in the U.S. in May of 2018. In just one year, the company acquired 1.5 million U.S. customers and 3,300 merchants. Klarna, meanwhile, recently secured $460 million in funding, and the company says it earns $1 billion in revenue annually.

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