Reports suggest U.S digital giant Amazon is in talks with several big banks, including JP Morgan Chase, to potentially launch a current account targeting the young or those without bank accounts.
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.
Victoria Hartley is contributing editor at Mortgage Solutions, Specialist Lending Solutions, Your Money and Your Mortgage at London-based publishing company AE3 Media.
She has an MA in Radio from Goldsmiths after gaining a 2:1 in a Comparative American Studies BA at Warwick University. She also holds a TEFL qualification and taught overseas in Mexico and Japan from 1994 to 1997.
Her role includes editorial oversight of the news, analysis and features, event content management and strategic and editorial consultancy for the AE3 Media group. She is an experienced video, broadcast and live-event host and regularly chairs web and podcast debates and interviews.
Multiple award nominations have resulted in two wins: Santander Media Awards, trade journalist of the year and Headlinemoney Awards, mortgage journalist of the year (B2B). Here is one of the award-winning pieces: https://www.mortgagesolutions.co.uk/news/2011/07/21/exclusive-tale-bailey-fraud-witness/
Previous roles include editorships of Mortgage Solutions, consumer title What Mortgage and trade title Credit Today as well as a stint freelancing for a variety of outlets including The Guardian and Which? Money.
