A report from the Wall Street Journal suggests Amazon has no plans to launch a disruptor bank in the USA, but is looking for partners to create a white label finance brand. US banking commentators have long suggested that post-credit crisis regulations have formed a protective moat keeping out new challenger banks as the capital requirements are bad for profits.
The current account would slash fees payable by Amazon to finance firms and allow it to collect valuable data on customer incomes and spending habits.
The effort is still in its early stages and may not come to fruition, the source said.
Fearsome competitor
The report said with millions of customers and a $700bn (£506bn) market value, troves of data, access to cheap capital and seemingly unlimited leeway from its investors to enter new businesses, Amazon is a fearsome competitor.
Other markets Amazon is preparing to launch into include a delivery service, hospital supplies and prescription drugs.
In a recent poll of 1,000 Amazon customers conducted by LendEDU, an online student-loan marketplace, 38% said they would trust Amazon as much as a traditional bank to handle their finances.
Amazon was unavailable to comment.