Consumer Lending Is Heating Up

Last month I shared my thoughts on how I could see Apple as the go-to consumer bank in the future. Since then, it’s been reported that Apple has partnered with Goldman Sachs to offer a buy-now-pay-later option for products purchased via Apple Pay on Apple devices. Today it was reported that Square is acquiring an Australian pay-later company for $29 billion. This announcement caught me off guard and got me thinking.

Consumer lending is a large and growing market. It plays a key role in the overall economy, so it’s big enough to move the needle for a huge company like Apple. And the market is large enough for there to be multiple winners. It’s not on the cutting edge—it hasn’t kept up with other changes in consumer behavior. Considering these and other factors, the moves by Apple and Square make perfect sense. I suspect they won’t be alone—we’ll see more companies entering this space.

I think consumer lending is about to change rapidly. I’m excited to see new entrants in the space and can’t wait to see what direction this goes in.