Amazon’s impending invasion of banking

Fears of an Amazon “invasion” in financial services have reached a fever pitch. One Financial Brand article reported that banks and credit unions are “bracing for the Amazon doomsday.”

Does Amazon–and other big tech companies, for that matter–really have that much of an advantage coming into the banking market? A new report, titled Big Tech in Finance: Opportunities and Risks, from the Bank for International Settlements, addresses that very question.

Why Would Big Tech Get Into Banking?

The report points out that the business model of “big techs” (i.e., Alibaba, Amazon, Facebook, Google and Tencent) rest on attracting a large number of providers and consumers and that:

 

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