PayPal officially launched its ‘super app’ today, introducing a substantial list of its services including P2P payments, high-yield savings accounts, direct deposit, bill pay, shopping tools, crypto and a digital wallet to the application, according to Business Insider.
The popular payment service provider has spoken about its plans to launch the super app for the past year, and is now making its move to take on a myriad of financial service companies to become the “go-to app for consumers.”
“I do think that this seamless omni-channel efforts by us is key to us doing everyday usage,” CEO Dan Schulman said during the company’s July Q2 earnings call.
PayPal believes the super app is a major key to the company’s mission of reaching 1 billion active daily users, according to Insider.
One of the more notable integrations is the direct deposit feature, which will allow users to be paid up to two days early, a program currently offered by finance competitor Chime. Once deposited, PayPal’s app enables using the funds to pay bills, purchase crypto or build savings.
Within its bill pay feature lies an integrated tracking system that allows consumers to track bills across 17,00 billing organizations, and the ability to set reminders and automatic payments schedules.
PayPal’s high-yield savings account is likely a shift to garner customers deciding to move towards neobanking. The account, enabled by a partnership with Synchrony Bank, offers a 0.40% Annual Percentage Yield (APY), and is intended to attract customers based on its ease-of-use within the larger application service structure, according to the company.
“We know that about half of customers in the United States don’t even have a savings account, much less one with a very competitive rate. So all in all, we think that by bringing together the full set of solutions on the platform, it’s a really competitive offering for an individual,” PayPal SVP of Consumer Julian King told TechCrunch.
While this super app is clearly powerful-upon-launch, the company says this re-launch is just the beginning foundation for more financial products to be released in the future. PayPal says it has plans to add investing tools for purchasing stocks and ETFs, and integrate QR codes into its payment infrastructure.
In other recent fintech news, Pipe is expanding its ‘Nasdaq for revenue’ platform to the UK, and picking up new hires from Stripe and HubSpot. Betterment is also tapping employer benefits platform JOON to reach small businesses.