Stripe to Offer Checking Accounts Through Shopify, Others

Need to Know

• Stripe Treasury will allow e-commerce platforms such as Shopify to embed financial services via APIs.
• Vendors will be able to send, receive, and store money with participating banking partners, which include Goldman Sachs and Barclays.
• With Stripe Treasury, platforms can offer their users interest-earning accounts, while customers can have quick access to revenue earned through Stripe.

Analysis

Payments processing company Stripe has announced it will be offering banking-as-a-service tools, partnering with e-commerce platforms to offer checking accounts to vendors and merchants.

Stripe Treasury, which Stripe announced on December 3, will use secure APIs to allow e-comm platforms to enable its vendors to send, receive, and store money with participating banking partners directly within those platforms.

“Everything about running an online business has been transformed by technology, but business banking has largely been left behind,” said Karim Temsamani, head of banking and financial products at Stripe. “But we’re changing this, just like we set out to change payments a decade ago. Offering a user-centric banking experience should be as easy as spinning up a virtual server—that’s what we’re starting to accomplish at Stripe with our bank partner network.”

In addition, Shopify, the leading e-commerce platform, is partnering with Stripe and Evolve Bank & Trust to build the Shopify Balance Account and Shopify Balance Card, a business account that will help merchants take control of their finances. With Stripe Treasury, Stripe’s platform partners can extend the level of support they provide to their users.

“At Shopify, we’re focused on reducing the barriers to entrepreneurship. As part of that mission, we will soon launch Shopify Balance to empower our merchants to take control of their finances,” said Tui Allen, senior product lead for banking at Shopify. “We’re excited to partner with Stripe to provide our merchants with critical financial tools and products for their banking experience, specifically designed for their businesses’ financial needs.”

Stripe’s current banking partners include Goldman Sachs, Barclays, and Citigroup, all of which will be able to offer financial services via e-comm platforms to the businesses and vendors that use them. E-comm platforms can offer their users interest-earning accounts, while customers can have quick access to revenue earned through Stripe.

The launch of in-platform banking from Stripe comes just days after the payments processor launched an online loans program through Stripe Capital, which will allow online platforms such as Jobber and Lightspeed to offer financing to their customers. When taken together, both launches prime Stripe as a leader in the banking-as-a-service arena, particularly with Shopify as a strong early partner. The two launches also position Stripe as a strong competitor to other fintechs looking to enter the consumer banking space, such as Square, which has already begun offering loans, and is planning to launch an online-only consumer bank in 2021.