Planurile Apple pot zgudui BNPL (Vivek Iyer)

Apple a plasat pisica printre porumbei anunțând-o
incursiune into Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL). In an earlier whitepaper, we had taken a view that BNPL is not viable as a standalone product and is more sustainable as part of a larger financial services ecosystem. Well, enter Apple, the big daddy of ecosystems with
a billion plus active users.

Ceea ce diferențiază lansarea acestui produs de celelalte oferte de servicii financiare ale Apple este faptul că compania a decis să intre în acest spațiu singură, mai degrabă decât în ​​parteneriat cu bănci sau furnizori de servicii financiare. Măr

parteneriat with Goldman Sachs for its previous financial services offerings like Apple Card & Apple Cash. This is believed to have been done to enable a faster global rollout without having to be dependent on local banking partnerships. Another possibility
is that Apple would like to earn higher yields on its cash reserves which currently stand at over

200 miliarde USD prin desfășurarea propriului bilanț pentru operațiunile de creditare.

Furnizorii BNPL au fost supuși unei presiuni severe în ultima vreme. Lacunele de reglementare, cum ar fi neverificarea scorurilor de credit și neraportarea către birourile de credit, este probabil să o facă

inchideti soon. Complaints from legacy banks about the lack of a level playing field for them are getting addressed by regulators in most jurisdictions by requiring BNPL providers to report credit defaults to bureaus. Meanwhile, Legacy financial institutions
a inceput
lansare propriile lor oferte BNPL și au luat cote de piață pe baza experienței lor superioare în subscrierea de credite și a unui acces mai mare la datele clienților (în special pe clienții lor existenți).

We believe Apple has strategically addressed all the factors that contribute to success in BNPL. These are: 1) a huge base of users who are accustomed to using the Wallet app through which Apple’s BNPL product is to be delivered, 2) and a ready payment infrastructure
through Apple Pay, 3) hyper granular access to customer data through the Apple device and Appstore ecosystem. In addition, Apple has decided to leverage its recent

achiziție a Credit Kudos, o companie bancară deschisă și scoring de credit cu sediul în Marea Britanie, pentru a obține rapid expertiză în subscrierea de credite.

Ceea ce va diferenția produsul BNPL de la Apple de ofertele concurente este că baza de utilizatori ai Apple se înclină către venituri mai mari și, prin urmare, este probabil să aibă profiluri de credit mai bune. Acest lucru este în contrast cu liderii actuali din BNPL, care sunt preferați de

noi pentru credit și clienții mai tineri. Apple users interact with Apple services multiple times a day and provide a stream of data which will surely be used to pre-approve credit limits. However, this is likely to attract regulatory attention, as it would
give an unfair advantage to Apple which is not available to other BNPL providers. Additionally, many jurisdictions like the EU, US etc are on the verge of enacting stringent laws to regulate the types of data that Big Tech firms can collect and use.

Lending businesses live and die by their ability to get money back from their customers. While it is always easy to find willing borrowers, it is in getting money back that financial institutions typically falter. For large ticket credits like vehicle loans
and mortgages, it is viable to use collections services for recoveries in case of default. For small ticket items like BNPL (which are unsecured to boot), other levers must be pulled. BNPL providers have used intangible penalties like blocking access to their
apps when customers fail to pay back their loans. For Apple, bricking iPhones and blocking access to Apple apps are options to encourage repayments. However, these options are likely to be a public relations nightmare for the firm, and hence we believe Apple
will be unlikely to adopt such extreme methods. Meanwhile, employing collection agents is likely to be financially viable only for higher ticket purchases.

The coming months will make it clear what aces Apple is holding in its sleeve to make its BNPL offering a success. The current inflationary environment will put severe stress on incumbent players’ balance sheets and may lead to many going out of business.
Apple’s rock solid balance sheet will ensure it is able to withstand macro headwinds and be the last man standing to capture market share vacated by weaker players.