Square

While the fintechs that offer merchant loans usually argue they’re lending to the ultra-small businesses that banks don't serve, competitive forces will bring the technology companies deeper into banks’ domain.

Square CFO Sarah Friar, who helped lead the company's many forays into financial services, is leaving Square to become CEO of Nextdoor, a social network for local neighborhoods.

The company is offering short-term installment loans to its clients’ customers; even institutions not accused of wrongdoing may pay a price.

The technology arms race among payment fintechs is converging on the market for credit and loans, with Square rolling out an installment payment option for consumers that complements its merchant capital option for sellers.

Square Inc. is offering loans to customers to pay for goods and services from merchants that use its payments platform, another move by the company to push deeper into financial services.

Applications this year are more than double the 2017 mark and the most since 2009. But with some fintechs withdrawing their bids, observers are urging caution.

Stripe’s software development kit, application programming interfaces and other recently added features for merchants place it in almost all parts of the payment value chain beyond its e-commerce forte.

A week after revealing its Stripe Terminal as a way to enter the physical retail space, the online payments provider plans to add financial support through cash advances to the services it provides merchant clients.

Square’s online payments APIs and Square Invoices are adding support for Google Pay, which the mobile point of sale company hopes will streamline checkout for online stores and websites.

If Gov. Jerry Brown signs the legislation headed to his desk, it would be the first law of its kind in the U.S. It is designed to allow small-business owners to make comparisons between offers in the often bewildering world of online business lending.