Affirm’s ‘super-app’ ambitions win praise as company plots debit, crypto moves

Posted by Emily Bary, marketwatch.com

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Affirm Holdings Inc. is joining the ranks of fintech companies vying for “super-app” status as the company plans a series of feature introductions that will broaden its platform beyond buy-now pay-later capabilities.

Fintech companies in the U.S. are increasingly trying to follow in the footsteps of Chinese players like Alipay, combining payments with a host of other financial features in so-called super-apps. PayPal Holdings Inc. has been vocal about its super-app ambitions, and Square Inc. has also been looking to beef up its Cash App mobile wallet with a deal for Affirm-rival Afterpay Ltd.

Through an investor presentation late Tuesday, Affirm AFRM outlined similar aims as it rolled through a series of feature enhancements in the works. Chief Executive Max Levchin said Affirm has nearly 1 million people on the waitlist for its debit card that will make it easier for people to split in-store payments into installments, and the company sees opportunity to add other functions to the card over time.

The company is also piloting a cash-back program that will offer rewards to customers, and it’s planning a crypto product that will let people own digital assets in Affirm savings account. The Affirm super-app will combine the “best of Affirm’s commerce, payments and financial services,” Levchin said in the presentation…read more.