Could a fintech Spring be on the horizon
In the first 6 weeks of 2024, Thredd, a leading modern payments processor serving clients globally, has seen an atypical early-year uptick in debit and prepaid payment transactions.
Both in terms of month-over-month and year-over-year (YoY) growth, volumes have grown across several business verticals. Overall, organic transaction growth for January 2024 vs. the same period in 2023 is up 18% while BNPL, corporate spend managers and B2C retail providers achieved even more significant increases. This growth trend is continuing into February.
Typically, across the payments ecosystem debit and prepaid payment transaction levels tend to be their lowest in January and February following end of year shopping as consumers and organizations tighten their spending belts. Last year, at the beginning of what proved to be the fintech Winter of 2023, January and February transactions took a more significant downturn than usual from December levels. In contrast, in January 2024, Visa and MasterCard debit and prepaid transactions processed at Thredd have been steady against December levels and much higher than in the same period of 2023.*
Also of note are the industries that have performed best in January 2024. Specifically, BNPL providers on the Thredd platform saw a 58% increase in volume over January of 2023. Furthermore, this sector has grown threefold since January 2022.* Throughout 2023, there has been industry speculation that BNPL may have peaked, but the performance of Thredd’s clients belies this prediction; BNPL is here to stay. Consumers are voting with their wallets that BNPL fills a unique spot between revolving credit and debit.
The B2B payment providers segment also saw transaction growth of 22% YoY. This group includes accounting and corporate spend management organizations that are addressing the growing need for simplified payouts and disbursement.
In the B2C space, offerings that provide consumers with a reward component for their spending were the winners. While digital bank clients showed climbing transactions over the same period 2023, they were outperformed by these speciality offerings. Some examples include retail spending rewards, charitable giving, and travel-specific incentives. As a whole, this segment grew by 26%, with a handful of growing providers adding more than 1 million transactions in January 2024 vs. January 2023.
Remarking on these recent findings, Jim McCarthy, Thredd CEO, said, “While there are always a number of factors that can contribute to payment growth trends, the segment-specific improvements underscore the traction of digital payments in both the B2B and B2C space. Our 2024 growth to date continues the upward trend seen in the second half of 2023.”
“Another contributing factor,” added Ava Kelly, chief product officer, “is the rising popularity of virtual and one-time-use cards in the market. Corporate payors of all types—from travel management to gig economy payors–have embraced the flexibility of these digital wallet-based options.”
While February is not yet in the books, all average daily transactions in February are up 8% over January—a strong indicator that the growth trends are likely to continue.
“We may not be able to predict future transactions or spend patterns, but this early year volume performance is certainly a positive indicator for 2024 fintech payments programs,” concluded Jim McCarthy. “There is clearly opportunity for innovative organizations who are looking to improve the spending experience for both corporates and consumers.”
*Transaction comparisons are based solely on organic growth of clients processed by Thredd throughout all periods. New client activity is not included.
