Walgreens to expand into financial services | Crypto firm first to be given national trust charter | Citi combines private bank, wealth-management business
Walgreens will begin offering a credit card and a prepaid debit card tied to its new loyalty program later this year in partnership with Mastercard and Synchrony, the retailer said Wednesday. The move is part of Walgreens' efforts to seek out new revenue streams in the face of changing consumer behaviors driven by the pandemic.
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South Dakota-based Anchorage Digital Bank is the first cryptocurrency platform to receive a national trust charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, paving the way for the company to collaborate with banks that want to offer their customers stablecoins and cryptoassets. Anchorage Digital Bank will not be able to take deposits, as the national trust charter does not require it to carry deposit insurance.
Incoming Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser is creating a unit that combines Citi's private bank with its wealth-management services. "Putting the full force of our firm behind an offering in this way reflects the approach we're taking to transforming our bank," said Fraser and CEO Michael Corbat, who will retire next month.
Consumers' and retailers' adoption of contactless payments will continue to accelerate in 2021, financial experts say. "It bodes well for digital wallet and mobile pay usage, as well as cashierless experiences," says Hemal Nagarsheth, principal of financial institutions practice at Kearney.
The Federal Reserve is considering how it should oversee banks' use of artificial intelligence to evaluate consumers' creditworthiness and to prevent fraud, Fed Governor Lael Brainard said. "We must understand the potential benefits and risks and make clear our expectations for how the risks can be managed effectively by banks," Brainard said.
Marketers boosted their budgets for mobile app ads by 26% from 2019 to 2020 while consumers spent 325% more time on social networking apps, according to App Annie's State of Mobile 2021 report. TikTok had the biggest gain in time spent per user among social networking apps and is projected to hit 1.2 billion active users this year.
With over 2 billion users, using YouTube to expand the reach of a small business is a smart idea, writes Gloria Chow, founder of Venturer. To increase your exposure, create videos using keywords for which there's already interest, include your call-to-action in the first 15 seconds, and add real value in every video that is posted.
