Page 31 - July 2018 Disruption Report

AMAZON EATS EVERYTHING JANJULAYRY20210818
Amazon Lending
Through partnerships with financial institutions, Amazon is able to mitigate lending risk, meet customers’, retailors demand for credit and harvest valuable data for future use. Amazon has expanding lending in the U.S., U.K., Japan and India and to U.S. consumers through partner cards.
In partnership with Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Amazon’s SMB Lending extends invitations to small businesses for loans, ranging from $1,000 to $750,000. From 2011 to June 2017, Amazon issued $3 billion of SMB loans to 20,000 businesses in the U.S., Japan.
On the consumer side, Amazon offers an array of credit cards to Prime and non-Prime customers, including the Amazon Prime Store Card (with 5% cash back on Amazon purchases), Amazon Store Card for non-Prime members, Amazon Prime Rewards Visa Signature Card, Amazon Visa Credit Card, and Amazon Reload Debit Card. Amazon’s push to offer a Visa card suggests that the retailer moving into an “everyday” credit card—for retail purchases “outside” the Amazon umbrealla (e.g., Amazon’s website and brick-and-mortar stores).
Will Amazon’s next move be in checking?
In March, news leaked that Amazon was in talks with banks—JP Morgan and Capital One— to create a checking account product for the on-line retailer. No further developments on the development of this product have been announced publicly.
Insurance
While Amazon has not formally launched an insurance subsidiary, the retailer rolled out a white- labeled service in the UK, providing accidental and theft insurance on consumer goods in April 2016, through a partnership with the Warranty Group’s London Insurance Group. The program was later expanded to other EU countries, including Spain, Italy, Germany and France. In June 2018, the Warranty Group was purchased by Assurant. This acquisition could make it easier for Amazon to expand its insurance product to new markets under Assurant’s umbrella of lifestyle protection products.
In May 2018, Amazon made an insurance push in India through a $12 million investment in Acko, an auto and bike insurer that is expanding its reach into e-commerce, travel and ride-hailing products. “The idea is to find some way to collaborate in the future,” said Acko CEO Varun Dua.
© 2018 by Canfield Press, LLC. All rights reserved. www.canfieldpress.com 31