The trend: Continuing the rush of big-name financial institutions entering the banking as a service (BaaS) space, global payments firm Marqeta added a suite of BaaS products to its card-issuance platform, per FinExtra.
Becoming a bank: The seven products will be housed under the name Marqeta for Banking and will provide end-to-end banking services to its clients.
- The new features include demand deposit accounts, direct deposit with up to two days early pay, ACH with Plaid integration, cash loads and fee-free ATMs, with bill pay and instant funding capabilities entering beta testing next year.
- The service will operate via 40 banking-related APIs to allow customers to customize the banking services they wish to use.
- The platform is available in 40 countries.
Payments, meet banking: A sub-trend within the growing BaaS trend is the expansion of payments firms into the banking space.
- Adyen announced new BaaS products earlier this week, including checking accounts and small business loans. The firm’s move into banking, however, will likely stop at technological infrastructure, as it said becoming a full-fledged bank would be too costly.
- Block (formerly Square) launched Square Banking last year after attaining a US banking license. The service provides business loans and deposit products to clients.
- Also last year, PayPal released a new version of its app that allows users to manage their entire financial lives in one place. The payments giant offers a high-yield savings account, early-access direct deposit, and bill pay features. This year, Insider Intelligence found that PayPal was the leading provider that US digital banking users trust the most.