Toronto-based Stack has partnered with Mastercard as it prepares to launch its beta.
Stack provides users with an all-encompassing banking platform, offering financial services like mobile tap-to-pay, tracking spending, automated savings, and a rewards program for reaching financial goals. Stack has 20,000 Android users registered for the beta, which will onboard users this month.
The millennial-focused platform is meant to be a “holistic” approach to finances that goes beyond payments, according to CEO Miro Pavletic.
“Prepaid allows us to have the flexibility of using a global payment platform so that the Stack platform works around the world.”
“What we see with competitors is that they concentrate on payments, but for us, payments are really the last mile of the journey. We concentrate on the journey itself that involves discovery, experiences, and enabling people to save money all the way through,” Pavletic said. “A lot of providers focus on the technology, and the technology isn’t necessarily what resonates with consumers. What they want to do is use services and products that embrace lifestyles.”
Stack accounts will include a chip-and-pin Mastercard prepaid card, providing secure point-of-sale access to retailers, global ATM networks, and purchase protection on transactions. For Stack, this partnership means being able to be compliant with regulations, which can be complicated to work through in Canada’s FinTech ecosystem.
“We look at the traditional models of how banks make their money; they really generate revenue off deposit accounts. When we look at our member base, they’re not necessarily sitting on the largest deposit accounts. So from a bank’s point of view, they’re not the most desirable customers,” said Pavletic. “Prepaid allows us to have the flexibility of using a global payment platform so that the Stack platform works around the world, but it also allows us to not generate revenue from fees. We generate revenue through B2B.”
Stack is also working on allowing customers to access multi-currency and crypto wallets. “We see cryptocurrency as a massive opportunity, and it fits into our philosophy that money should be free to use and universally accessible for all users. Because when you look at existing challenge with cryptocurrency right now is that it’s impossible to transact to it, especially when transacting with retail,” said Pavletic.
“Canadians want to manage their money on their own terms and STACK is giving them that ability,” said Patrick Sulston, Vice President of market development in Canada, Mastercard. “With a Mastercard prepaid card inside the STACK app, Canadians can easily, securely and conveniently access their funds and shop in-store and online.”
A public launch for Android and Apple users is planned this year, and the company is planning a US launch early next year.
Disclosure: Stack is BetaKit’s sponsor for the FinTech Times
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