Apple is working to bring a host of financial services work, including payments processing, in-house to reduce its reliance on outside fintech partners, according to Bloomberg.
The tech giant has embarked on a multi-year plan, called ‘Breakout’, that would see it do payments processing, loan risk assessments, fraud analysis, credit checks and customer service work on its own, says Bloomberg, citing sources.
Last week it emerged that Apple has quietly acquired UK credit bureau Credit Kudos, which uses open banking technology to deliver finely-tuned credit scores.
The Breakout project is focused on future products, suggesting that Apple is planning on diving deeper into the financial services sphere.
The company already offers peer-to-peer payments, its Wallet app, a credit card and the ability for merchants to accept payments from an iPhone.
It is rumoured to be adding a subscription service for its hardware as well as a BNPL product, which Bloomberg reports could use in-house technology.
Apple partners CoreCard and Green Dot both saw their share price dip more than eight per cent on the news, while Goldman Sachs slipped by over one per cent, despite Bloomberg reporting that the bank would stay on as Apple’s card partner.
While Big Tech has been creeping ever further into financial services, things have not always gone smoothly. Meta has seen its stablecoin project effectively fall apart in recent months while Google’s plans for a checking account have been ditched.
