Amazon is in talks with banks to work on a customized branded service for its customers, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing “people familiar with the matter.”
“The talks with financial firms are focused on creating a product that would appeal to younger customers and those without bank accounts. Whatever its final form, the initiative wouldn’t involve Amazon becoming a bank, the people added.”
Two reasons for the new service cited in the article:
– to reduce the fees it pays banks and payments processors;
– to provide it with valuable data on customers’ income and spending habits.
Both of those reasons sound very much like Amazon, which is always looking to reduce its costs and gain data it can use to market more effectively to customers.
Amazon already offers merchants the ability to use Amazon Pay in their checkout flow, and Amazon Business (for business accounts) teamed up with Visa last year to provide enhanced transaction data on customer purchases made with Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Citi, and PNC U.S. issued Visa commercial cards.
