• Chime Enterprise launched Chime Workplace, offering employers a single platform with financial wellness tools and an aggregated view of employee financial health.
• The suite includes tools for income management, savings, credit building, and an employee rewards program modeled after airline miles programs.
• Chime is expanding its fintech offerings significantly, having recently launched premium memberships, instant micro-loans, and free tax filing to attract underbanked users and enhance financial inclusion.

---

Chime Enterprise, the enterprise division of the neobank Chime, announced the launch of Chime Workplace, a financial wellness services suite available to employers and employees.

Chime Workplace offers free financial tools with workforce financial health insights for employers. The newly launched platform takes existing Chime tools and brings them to employees via the employer portal. Among the tools included are pay and income management tools, a high-yield savings account, credit health and credit building tools, and an employee rewards program that is modeled after airline miles loyalty programs.

“Employers have told us their biggest frustration with existing financial wellness programs is that they don’t make an impact or empower employees to get to the next step in their journey,” said Chief of Chime Enterprise Jason Lee. “Multiple vendors, logins, and endless apps only compound this problem and, ultimately, hinder effectiveness. Chime Workplace works with employers to solve these challenges by delivering one trusted app that meets employees where they are and gets them to where they want to be.”

While the financial wellness capabilities launching within the employer portal are not new, the employer visibility piece is. The financial health insights piece shows employers aggregated insights into their employees’ financial health, including their savings growth, credit health improvement, and engagement with the tools. These stats can be important for employers, as two out of three workers consider financial health the top area where they seek employer support, and nearly three-quarters of financially stressed employees prefer an employer that genuinely cares for their financial well-being.

Chime Enterprise was formed in 2024 after Chime acquired employee rewards and loyalty platform Salt Labs. Chime simultaneously unveiled news of its own today. The company is launching a premium membership tier called Chime+ that will offer a higher savings rate, custom cashback offers from retailers, and expedited customer support.

These changes come in addition to the California-based company’s launch last week of Instant Loans, a micro-lending product offering up to $500 instantly with a fixed interest rate. Additionally, the company announced a fee-free tax filing service in partnerships with April and Column Tax in January.

Chime is obviously working hard to become a robust competitor in the challenger banking field. Deeper than that, however, the fintech is positioning itself to capture the attention of underbanked individuals. By offering a seamless user experience, financial wellness solutions, and tailored financial products such as micro-loans and workplace financial wellness tools, Chime is strategically aligning itself to attract both employers and employees alike. As Chime continues to diversify its offerings with premium memberships and enhanced app functionality, it’s clear the company aims not only to expand its footprint but also to solidify its role as a trusted partner in helping underserved communities achieve financial stability.

---

Photo by fauxels

• Robinhood announced Robinhood Strategies, Robinhood Cortex, and Robinhood Banking, introducing AI-powered investment insights and premium banking services for Gold members.
• Robinhood Banking, launching this fall, will offer private banking perks such as global currency transfers, luxury benefits, and up to $2.5 million in FDIC insurance, challenging established private banking providers.
• Currently lacking a banking charter, Robinhood partners with Coastal Community Bank. Obtaining its own banking license could help it directly control offerings, reduce costs, and compete more effectively with legacy financial institutions.

---

At an event in San Francisco last night, digital stock brokerage app Robinhood unveiled plans for a new method of portfolio management, an AI investment tool, and a private banking offering. The new offerings come with exclusive benefits for Robinhood Gold members.

“Our goal is for Robinhood to give you a world-class financial team in your pocket, with cutting-edge tools you can’t find elsewhere,” said Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev.

The three new products announced include Robinhood Strategies, Robinhood Cortex, and Robinhood Banking. Robinhood Strategies is a wealth management tool that offers investors more control, managed accounts, and an interactive portfolio. Robinhood Cortex is an investing tool that leverages AI to provide real-time analysis to help navigate the markets, identify opportunities, and stay up to date on news.

Much of the buzz surrounding the event seems to be focused on Robinhood Banking, and for good reason. Set to launch later this year, the new offering aims to bring the private banking experience to Robinhood Gold members. Along with traditional checking and savings accounts, members can also expect to receive “luxury benefits.” Among the differentiating factors of the new accounts, which offer up to $2.5 million in FDIC insurance, are the ability to send money across the world in 100+ currencies, access estate planning and professional tax advice, receive a physical delivery of cash to your doorstep, and access exclusive perks such as tickets to events like the Met Gala, Oscars, F1 Monaco Grand Prix, The Masters, and more, as well as private jet travel, private chauffeurs, luxury helicopter rides, and members-only vacation clubs. 

Robinhood Banking will launch this fall and will offer individual and joint accounts with the option to add children’s accounts with allowances and spending limits. When the banking services go live, the Robinhood Credit Card app will become the banking app and the credit card, checking, and savings will all live in one place. 

The launch of Robinhood Banking will place the company in competition with Morgan Stanley, Charles Schwab, and others that provide private banking services for a fee. And while Robinhood charges just $5 per month for its service, the fintech is missing one crucial element to becoming a fully-fledged bank: a banking license. Robinhood withdrew its application with the OCC for a bank charter in 2019 and has since partnered with Coastal Community Bank to provide banking services behind the scenes.

If (or perhaps when) Robinhood does prioritize obtaining its banking license, it will benefit by gaining more direct control over its banking operations, significantly reducing reliance on third-party banks. This move would allow Robinhood to cut costs, offer a wider range of banking products, and quickly adapt and innovate its offerings in response to market demands or customer feedback. Most importantly, having a banking charter would strengthen Robinhood’s credibility and competitive positioning among legacy financial institutions, empowering it to potentially expand beyond its current target demographic of younger investors into the broader retail banking market.

Today’s announcement comes two years after Robinhood acquired credit card company X1 for $95 million and one year after the California-based company unveiled its own credit card, the Robinhood Gold Card. Since then, the waitlist for the card has grown to nearly three million people. The company has rolled out the card to more than 100,000 people, and plans to launch it to another 100,000 people on the waitlist.

“With Robinhood Banking, we’re trying to solve many of the challenges presented by legacy banks,” said Robinhood Money GM and VP Deepak Rao. “Robinhood Banking is thoughtfully designed to be as easy to use as possible, while still delivering cutting-edge features historically reserved for the ultra-wealthy. We’re pushing the boundaries of what you should expect from your bank.”

---

Photo by Thirdman

• Trek partnered with Gr4vy to power an online-to-offline payment experience, offering consumers accurate inventory checks and simplified checkout.
• Gr4vy’s payment orchestration dynamically routes transactions, which reduces friction, increases authorization rates, and allows Trek to manage multiple merchants efficiently.
• Gr4vy provides Trek with a no-code, cloud-native platform to quickly implement diverse payment methods, comply with data laws, and enhance fraud prevention.

---

When it comes to buying bicycles and cycling accessories, consumers often prefer a shopping experience that takes place in multiple channels. To better accommodate these changing preferences, bicycle manufacturing company Trek has selected payments infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) company Gr4vy to power an online-to-offline payment experience that enables consumers to Buy-Online-Pickup-In-Store (BOPIS).

BOPIS has grown with the surge in ecommerce, along with heightened expectations of consumers, who prefer to order online and pick up in-store. In fact, 50% of shoppers select online stores based on in-store pickup availability. These changes in preferences, however, come at the same time that retailers and manufacturers are facing payment processing and inventory management challenges that pose checkout issues and stock shortages. To successfully execute BOPIS, retailers must ensure accurate inventory updates and a reliable payment system.

Gr4vy is partnered with online-to-offline shopping API solution Locally to enable Trek to show real-time inventory data from its network of retailers. This visibility allows shoppers to check stock availability on Trek’s website and complete the transaction online, while picking the item up in-store.

“Our goal is to give enterprises full control over their payment processes while removing unnecessary complexity,” said Gr4vy Founder and CEO John Lunn. “Ultimately, simplifying payments, so merchants can focus on what truly matters—growth.”

With its payment orchestration system, Gr4vy dynamically routes transactions to the optimal payment service provider to help reduce friction and increase authorization rates. When a customer completes their purchase, Trek and the local retailer receive the transaction details, and the customer can pick up their item in the store. Gr4vy’s dynamic payment routing helps Trek manage online and in-store transactions across multiple merchants of record.

Gr4vy also gives Trek a no-code method of adding multiple payment options, including digital wallets, Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL), and alternative payment methods. “Partnering with Gr4vy has transformed how we approach payments, enabling us to seamlessly integrate options like BNPL and local shop inventory in a single checkout experience,” explained Trek Vice President of IT and Digital Steve Novoselac.

Gr4vy is cloud-native, PCI Level 1-compliant, and enables merchants to set up dedicated instances in specific regions to improve transaction speed and comply with data localization laws. Additionally, the API is set up to allow Trek to quickly implement new payment methods, currencies, and fraud prevention tools.

Founded in 2020, Gr4vy offers a platform that allows businesses to gain access to over 400 payment methods with a single integration. The platform also offers anti-fraud tools, and helps payment service providers optimize their payment stack without the need for IT expertise. In 2022, the California-based company was awarded Top Emerging Fintech Company at the Finovate Awards. Earlier this month, Gr4vy partnered with Australia-based New Payments Platform (NPP) Azupay to bring account-to-account payment solutions to Australian e-Commerce businesses.

---

Photo by Pavel Danilyuk

• Chime has launched Instant Loans, a micro-lending product offering up to $500 instantly with a fixed interest rate of 29.76%, without credit checks.
• When members repay these loans on time, it can help boost their credit scores by 10 to 30 points, as Chime reports on-time payments to credit bureaus.
• The Instant Loans product complements Chime’s existing suite of financial tools targeted toward middle-income users, including MyPay (paycheck advances) and SpotMe (fee-free overdrafts).

---

Neobank mega-competitor Chime announced that it has launched Instant Loans, a new product that allows users to access to up to $500 in funds instantly with a fixed interest rate.

The Instant Loans are three-month installment loans of up to $500 available to Chime members who receive direct deposits to their Chime Checking Account and are pre-approved, with no credit check required. To underwrite the loans, Chime uses its own technology combined with its own unique data sources.

Chime will notify members who are pre-approved within the Chime app and if a customer chooses to access the funds, they pay a fixed interest rate of $5 for every $100 borrowed and repay the funds in three monthly payments of $35 per $100 borrowed. This equates to an interest rate of 29.76%.

When consumers repay on time, they can potentially build up their credit, as Chime reports each on-time payment to credit reporting agencies. According to Chime, customers who pay on time may see their credit score increase by 10 to 30 points.

“We are relentlessly focused on helping everyday people achieve financial progress,” said Chime Chief Product Officer Madhu Muthukumar. “Our members have told us that they want simple and transparent tools to access money when they need it, and to help them build credit — and we’re excited Instant Loans provides both to our members.”

Chime was founded in 2012 and is well known in fintech for offering tools and services that cater to lower-to-middle income consumers. The challenger bank is best known for its earned wage access tool that allows users to receive their paycheck up to two days earlier when they set up direct deposit, but Chime also offers a credit-building tool and a feature that will spot users up to $200 to avoid account overdrafts.

Today’s launch of high interest micro-loans is a perfect fit for Chime, which aims to create transparency in lending with the fixed interest rate. The new Instant Loans product sits in Chime’s portfolio of other micro-loans, including MyPay, which is a paycheck advance product that allows members to access up to $500 of their check before payday with no interest; and SpotMe, which allows members to overdraft without fees.

---

Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash

• Block has rebranded Afterpay to Cash App Afterpay, embedding BNPL directly into Cash App. This move allows Cash App’s 57 million monthly users to access Pay Over Time products when shopping at partner merchants.
• The integration strengthens Block’s vision of Cash App as an all-in-one financial platform that combines banking, payments, investing, and now BNPL to drive deeper engagement with both consumers and merchants.
• The news is an indication that the BNPL space is heating up, with Cash App Afterpay now competing more directly with Klarna, which just secured an exclusive BNPL partnership with Walmart.

---

Block (formerly Square) announced it has rebranded Afterpay to Cash App Afterpay. The new brand will serve existing Afterpay customers while being embedded into Cash App, allowing eligible Cash App customers to access Afterpay’s Pay Over Time products when shopping online at partner merchant’s sites.

Block expects that as Afterpay becomes embedded into Cash App, merchant partners offering Afterpay’s Pay Over Time products can reach eligible customers in Cash App’s active monthly user base of 57 million people. Cash App was ranked among the top five most authentic brands to Gen Z, the brand’s target demographic, which may be the reason why Block chose to bring Cash App’s branding over to Afterpay.

“The scale of Cash App’s 57 million monthly actives means our merchant partners benefit from a larger network of customers, and eligible customers gain greater access to simple, fair, and accessible payment options outside of traditional systems,” said Global Head of Sales at Block and Co-founder of Afterpay Nick Molnar. “We believe that Cash App Afterpay will not only be an accelerant to Cash App growth, but also an accelerant in the growing preference towards BNPL options in the United States.”

Starting this week, Cash App customers shopping on the brand’s hundreds of thousands of merchant partner sites can select Afterpay at checkout to pay over time for their purchases. Customers will be able to manage their Pay Over Time transactions from merchant checkouts directly within Cash App. And while the brand name is changed, the user experience for Afterpay’s existing customers will remain the same.

Block released Cash App in 2013, five years before Zelle. At the time, Cash App most directly competed with Braintree’s Venmo, which was slow to gain traction; Braintree was acquired by PayPal that same year. Twelve years on, Cash App still has its roots in peer-to-peer payments, but it has now diversified into a more robust digital banking platform that enables users to hold funds, deposit their paychecks, spend their money using a QR code or cash, invest, manage their Bitcoin, and file their taxes.

Afterpay was acquired by Block in 2022 for $29 billion, marking one of the largest fintech acquisitions to date. The purchase indicated Block’s interest in expanding beyond payments into the broader financial services space, specifically into lending by leveraging Afterpay’s installment lending model to deepen ties with both consumers and merchants.

By fully integrating Afterpay into Cash App, Block is doubling down on its strategy to turn Cash App into a one-stop financial platform, further blending banking, payments, investing, and now, BNPL into a single ecosystem. It will also offer a boost to Cash App Afterpay, exposing the new brand to Cash App’s 57 million users. This lift will aid Cash App Afterpay in competing with the likes of brands like Klarna, which just announced it received a buoy of its own after Walmart selected it as exclusive BNPL provider.

---

Photo by Julio Lopez

• Expedia is partnering with fintech company Upgrade to offer Flex Pay, a BNPL solution that lets travelers pay for cruises in monthly installments, making luxury vacations more accessible.
• Flex Pay supports payments across Expedia’s platforms and 750 travel and retail brands.
• The partnership will assist travelers in managing their costs and will help cruise operators boost bookings, conversions, and order values.

---

Online travel booking company Expedia is partnering with mobile banking and lending fintech Upgrade to make its cruise booking services more accessible.

Specifically, Expedia is using Flex Pay, Upgrade’s buy now, pay later (BNPL) solution to enable travelers to pay for their cruise vacations in monthly installments. Consumers in the US and Canada will be able to book cruise experiences on 750 travel and retail brands via Expedia Cruises, Expedia.com, Travelocity.com, Orbitz.com and Cheaptickets.com using Flex Pay.

“We believe travel should be accessible to everyone,” said Expedia Cruises President Matthew Eichhorst. “With the introduction of Flex Pay, we’re not just offering payment options; we’re opening doors to experiences that once may have seemed out of reach. By allowing travelers to spread costs over time, we’re making dream cruises more attainable and enabling the exploration of the world on one’s own terms.”

Formerly known as Uplift, Flex Pay partners with Celtic Bank, Uplift, and Uplift Canada to allow travelers to finance their cruise vacation by spreading their payments over three to 24 months with no interest. While consumers benefit from a more approachable way to pay for their cruise, the cruise brands themselves also benefit. That’s because Flex Pay’s financing has proven to increase booking volume, conversion, and order value by 15% to 25%.

“This partnership builds on the success of our cruise division, which achieved a 23% year-over-year growth in bookings in 2024, driven by both increased volume and order value,” said Flex Pay President Tom Botts. “With products like no-interest loans and on-board financing, we take pride in helping partners like Expedia Group and their cruise lines expand their reach, attract more customers, and boost revenue.”

Founded in 2017, Upgrade is a digital banking platform headquartered in California. The company offers checking and savings accounts, personal loans, credit cards, and rewards programs that focus on low fees and responsible credit usage to help consumers improve their financial lives. Upgrade has served millions of customers and has facilitated over $35 billion in credit with tools such as its Upgrade Card, which encourages customers to pay off balances quickly and avoid revolving debt and build credit responsibly. Upgrade also offers cashback rewards, competitive savings rates, and credit monitoring tools, positioning itself as a customer-friendly alternative to traditional banks.

Upgrade launched the Flex Pay brand in 2024, rebranding it from Uplift. The BNPL tool serves 750 travel and retail brands, helping them to increase their customer engagement, loyalty, and consumer spending by offering more flexible payment options.

The partnership between Expedia and Upgrade is a prime example of how fintechs are expanding beyond traditional banking services into everyday spending categories, providing financial tools at the point of sale rather than only at the point of need.

The news comes at a time when the BNPL market, while not slowing, is experiencing a maturation. Regulators in the UK and Europe are more closely scrutinizing BNPL tools, while BNPL pioneer Klarna is reportedly set to file a $1 billion-plus IPO as early as next week. Despite the signs that BNPL is maturing, however, it does not seem to be slowing down, especially as consumers find themselves cash-strapped and credit-starved.

---

Photo by Samson Bush

• BVNK is launching an embedded wallet that unifies fiat and stablecoins.
• The new wallet will allow fintechs, payment providers, and platforms to offer their customers seamless multi-currency payments across traditional and blockchain rails.
• The API-powered wallet supports USD, GBP, EUR, and stablecoins, with auto-conversion options, compliance handling, and direct integration into client platforms under their own brand.

---

After raising $50 million for its stablecoin infrastructure platform two months ago, multi-rail payments infrastructure platform BVNK announced the launch of an embedded wallet that unifies fiat and stablecoins across the globe.

BVNK is launching the embedded wallet to help fintechs, crypto, and payment companies accelerate money movement for their customers by bringing together fiat and stablecoins on a single platform, providing payment flexibility. Using the new embedded wallet API, users can allow their customers to store, spend, and get paid in USD, GBP, EUR, and stablecoins any time of day.

The wallet, however, does not require end users to hold crypto even if they want to pay using crypto. BVNK has auto-conversion features that allow users to automatically convert stablecoin payments they receive into fiat currencies, or fiat to stablecoins upon payout.

The new wallet offers direct access to payments on leading blockchains and traditional networks such as Swift, ACH, and SEPA. Clients can use BVNK’s embedded wallet API to make the functionality available within their platform and as their own brand. In addition to the movement of funds, BVNK is responsible for the custody, safeguarding, and KYB and KYC compliance.

BVNK is gearing its new embedded wallet to serve three main user groups: payment service providers and fintechs, which can use it to offer their customers payout capabilities; payroll and tech companies, which can use it to speed up payments to international workers, hosts, creators and sellers; and cryptos and neobanks, which can use it to allow their customers move from USD, EUR and GBP to stablecoins within your app.

BVNK’s announcement is a clear example of the payment industry’s collective shift toward adopting stablecoins, which are cryptocurrencies pegged to fiat or a physical asset. Over the past six months, both fintechs and banks have shown increased interest in stablecoins because of their potential to bring significant value to users. That’s because they are both instant and inexpensive, unlike payments made via traditional payments rails such as SWIFT.

Notably, stablecoins work great for cross-border payments and remittances because they offer greater accessibility compared to traditional banking systems, while also mitigating the volatility typically associated with other cryptocurrencies.

These attributes make BVNK’s embedded wallet a compelling tool for businesses looking to harness the speed, flexibility, and cost advantages of stablecoins without the complexity typically associated with handling crypto. By seamlessly bridging fiat and stablecoins within a single, embedded solution, BVNK empowers fintechs, payment providers, and global platforms to offer faster, more affordable cross-border payments, enabling their customers to send, receive, and convert funds across currencies and rails with minimal friction.

---

Photo by cottonbro studio