Banking news roundup

June 30, 2023 4:08 PM

Wells Fargo leads $70 million funding effort targeting credit-challenged entrepreneurs; PayPal adds Tap to Pay for Venmo, Zettle; Amex names new CFO to succeed retiring veteran finance chief and more in this week's banking news roundup.

Angus Mordant/Bloomberg

Wells Fargo leads $70 million funding effort targeting credit-challenged entrepreneurs

The small-business self-help website Hello Alice has secured $70 million to extend equitable credit and capital access to entrepreneurs with initial funding led by Wells Fargo, according to a press release. The goal of the new Equitable Access Fund is to improve financiers' risk tolerance for lending to credit-challenged small-business owners by extending credit guarantees, loan-loss reserves and cash collateral deposits to financing partners over the next five years. Partners supporting the program include First National Bank of Omaha, which issues the Hello Alice Small Business Mastercard; Mastercard; and the Kauffman Foundation. The Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN), based in Washington, D.C., is collaborating with Houston-based Hello Alice to oversee and manage the fund. —Kate Fitzgerald

David Paul Morris/Photographer: David Paul Morris/

Goldman Sachs reportedly seeks breakup with Apple

Goldman Sachs is looking for a firm to take its place as Apple's partner for its credit card and certain other ventures, according to a Friday report in the Wall Street Journal. Goldman in 2019 announced plans to issue a credit card with Apple and the investment banking firm subsequently extended the partnership to include support for the recent Apple Pay Later installment loan service, paired with a bank account. Goldman earlier this year signaled it might sell or restructure its consumer lending business. Marketing for Apple Pay Later, which rolled out earlier this year after many delays, has been muted. —Kate Fitzgerald

PayPal adds Tap to Pay for Venmo, Zettle

PayPal has announced the capability for U.S. small businesses to accept contactless and digital wallet payments in person via Android handsets, bypassing the need for a card reader or additional hardware, according to a press release. The Tap to Pay feature is immediately available to users of Zettle, PayPal's mobile point-of-sale payment acceptance service and will be available to all Venmo business-profile users soon, the release said. Businesses that adopt Tap to Pay through Venmo will be able to manage their Venmo and other card payment transactions within the Venmo app, streamlining funds-settlement. –Kate Fitzgerald

Amex names new CFO to succeed retiring veteran finance chief

American Express has promoted Christophe Le Caillec to chief financial officer of the credit card network effective Aug. 14, replacing Jeffrey Campbell, who has decided to retire. Campbell has been CFO since 2013, after serving in the same post at American Airlines and McKesson. Le Caillec, who is currently deputy chief financial officer, has worked at Amex for the last 25 years and previously served in key executive positions including as business CFO for Amex's Global Consumer Services Group. –Kate Fitzgerald

Social media can help small businesses attract customers, Amex survey suggests

Social media may bring more customers to small businesses, which are worried about making revenue this summer, according to an American Express survey. Of the small businesses surveyed, 88% said they are worried about summer revenues and almost half said attracting consumers topped their list of concerns. Majorities of Gen Z and millennial customers said they discover companies on social media — a resource 60% of small businesses said they were unsure how to effectively use. That data comes as Amex prepares to launch a new edition of a 2022 program designed to enhance social media literacy among small businesses. -Charles Gorrvian

Visa to buy Brazilian payments provider Pismo for $1 billion

Visa agreed to acquire Pismo, a Brazilian financial technology firm that provides cloud-based payment and banking platforms, for $1 billion in cash. With the purchase of Sao Paulo-based Pismo, Visa will be able to provide core banking and issuer processing capabilities across debit, prepaid, credit and commercial cards for clients through cloud-native applications, the San Francisco-based credit card giant said in a statement Wednesday. Visa's talks with Pismo were reported earlier this month by Bloomberg News. Pismo, co-founded by Daniela Binatti and Ricardo Josuá, helps banks and financial technology companies rapidly launch products for cards and payments. The firm, which has operations in Latin America, the Asia-Pacific region and Europe, will retain current management. The acquisition is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to be completed by year-end, Visa said. —Daniel Taub, Bloomberg News

AWS launches a new global fintech accelerator

Amazon Web Services is selecting 150 early-stage fintech startups from around the world for its new Global Fintech Accelerator. The accelerator's focus is on companies using artificial intelligence and machine learning technology. The six-week program will run in the fall, and include programming in partnership with AI computing company Nvidia. The program will culminate in a demo day for the top 15 companies with venture capitalists, financial services institutions and more. "We are making big bets on the potential of generative AI to significantly change every customer experience out there, especially as it relates to financial services," said Howard Wright, global head of startups at AWS, in a release. — Miriam Cross