Why U.S. Bank is elbowing into the competitive BNPL space
U.S. Bank's Elavon subsidiary has started bringing buy now, pay later lending to its merchant processing customers. That's a foot in the door with more than 1 million merchants for its Avvance program — which takes over where the more common 'pay-in-four' approach leaves off. Executives see this foray into BNPL as a complement to the bank's strengths in credit cards.
For retailers and other businesses, the goal is making a sale.
“One of the toughest things that most merchants have to battle against online is the abandoned shopping cart or the abandoned checkout,” says U.S. Bank’s Mia Huntington.
Payments can play a role in helping a sale go through, and with U.S. Bank being one of the largest merchant payment processors in the country, it is naturally interested in tactics that can turn pending sales into purchases.
What it has found is that consumers want to be able to do more than choose between just cash or cards, regardless of where they shop. Increasingly, many are choosing some form of buy now, pay later financing as an alternative.
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