Apple reportedly looks to build its own payments and lending infrastructure

According to a report from Bloomberg, tech giant Apple is planning to build its own in-house technology and financial services infrastructure in a bid to lessen its reliance on third parties.

Apple has been busy in the fintech space of late

The report states Apple’s plans include bringing in-house services such as payment processing, risk assessments for lending, fraud analysis, credit checks and additional customer service functions such as handling of disputes.

The US firm has been busy in the fintech space of late, having acquired Credit Kudos, a UK open banking start-up, at a reported value of $150 million last month.

In February, Apple announced plans to allow US merchants to use their iPhone for contactless payments.

The new ‘Tap to Pay’ feature will leverage near-field contact (NFC) technology to allow merchants to accept Apple Pay, contactless card payments and digital wallet payments on an iPhone, with no additional hardware needed.

The company has also been looking into buy now, pay later (BNPL) services over the last year. In 2021, Apple was reportedly in talks with Goldman Sachs to launch a BNPL service called Apple Pay Later, while the firm also partnered Affirm Holdings to launch a pilot BNPL programme in Canada.