In the fifth and final installment of our "2024 Fintech Outlook" series, we explore the continued growth of BNPL with insights from Nick Holt, Sr Director Solutions Engineering at Marqeta.
I envision 2024 to be the year of embedded finance, credit card, and Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) innovation. In regards to the latter, I expect BNPL offerings to come into their own over the next year. The short term credit flexibility offered by BNPL could even see it begin to replace credit as we know it, becoming a regularly-used financial option rather than just for one-off purchases. Marqeta’s State of Credit research has found that 38% of the UK consumers surveyed have used BNPL to make ends meet during the last 12 months, increasing to 61% amongst 26-34 year olds. Amongst BNPL users, the most popular feature was lack of interest fees, convenience, flexibility and help with budgeting. These benefits are likely to be more desired by consumers, as people seek efficiency and extra financial tools to weather the cost-of-living crisis. We’ve also recently seen the likes of Swedish BNPL giant, Klarna, debuting its Initial Public Offering, and this indicates that the market for these services could be growing.