Lending

Year to date Jun. 30, 2021. Dollars in thousands.

The Illinois bank is acquiring about 1,800 loans to insurance agents. As part of the deal, a team of Allstate specialists will join the bank's insurance agency finance business.

Fintechs have begun offering consumers installment-lending options to pay for airfare, putting competitive pressure on banks and credit unions that rely on travelers for significant credit card volume.

The bank tapped Antony Stephen, former head of Amazon Payments Europe, to oversee its move into small buy now/pay later loans. It is also reportedly seeking a partnership with the e-commerce giant in the U.K.

The partnership — combining one of the biggest buy now/pay later lenders with one of the major digital payment companies — gives merchants a compelling new offering that could enable Klarna to take wallet share away from traditional card issuers.

Businesses trying to meet a surge in demand for consumer goods are knocking on community banks' doors to finance expansions.

New enlistees typically lack credit histories, so the $1.2 billion-asset lender is using other transaction data to underwrite loans. It's a common practice among large banks and fintechs but rare for a community bank.

Using data aggregation subsidiary Finicity, the card network will allow its bank and credit union partners to offer installment loans directly to consumers, who can repay from checking and savings accounts.

Google has tied up with an Indian small lender to offer time deposits to users of its payments wallet, extending its presence in the nation’s lucrative digital banking space.

The partnership pits the buy now/pay later company against the e-commerce company's issuer partners, JPMorgan Chase and Synchrony Financial, and adds to the fintech's allure as an alternative to payment cards.