In the News

Ron Shevlin put some shade on Starbucks this week. He claims the Starbucks prepaid app is just PNBL – Pay Now, Buy Later – and is nothing to do with being a bank. The thing about his view that piqued my interest is the PNBL v BNPL debate.

"FinTechTalk host Charles Orton-Jones was joined by Ron Shevlin, Chief Research Officer, Cornerstone Advisors, and Ryan Sorrels, Chief Revenue Officer, Quavo, to talk about 
The Fraud Experience: A Key Banking Relationship Differentiator, a new Cornerstone report."

The key to agentic payments will be the adoption of all payment types, said to Tony DeSanctis, senior director at Cornerstone Advisors. "I envision PayPal integrating agentic token acceptance for all existing card types, as well as future payment types such as stablecoins, ACH, and any other payment methods made available in agentic shopping experiences."

Zelle may also run into adoption challenges on the nonbank side of the industry, said Tony DeSanctis from Cornerstone Advisors. "If I can use PayPal's stablecoin or USDC or even Fiserv's stablecoin as a merchant, why would I adopt a [Zelle-issued stablecoin]? It's the same issue they are having with Paze adoption."

Fewer companies taking a cut means more money left for processors and their merchant customers, Tony DeSanctis, senior director of payments for the consulting firm Cornerstone Advisors, said in an email. “This is about the potential to provide merchants with another low-cost routing option."

The ability to receive funds privately is limited, said Tony DeSanctis, senior director at Cornerstone Advisors. He noted that Bank Secrecy Act and anti-money-laundering rules are still in effect. "A specific example of the opportunity is that people cannot see the transaction of my paycheck going into my wallet from my employer."

A Cornerstone Advisors report, sponsored by Bloom Credit, found that Gen Zers and millennials ages 21 to 44 move deposits to investment accounts about three to four times per month and account for roughly 60% of the deposit displacement Cornerstone has tracked since 2020.

A new report from Cornerstone Advisors and Quavo dives into the realities of card fraud and the customer experience that comes with resolving it. The key finding: it’s not just about correcting the fraudulent charge—it’s how you're treated throughout the process.

"Not requiring a bank partner streamlines the offering for these providers," Tony DeSanctis, senior director at Cornerstone Advisors, told American Banker. "They can own the end-to-end solution without dealing with a bank partner and its underwriting and risk management criteria."

The panel was moderated by Mary Wisniewski, editor-at-large for Cornerstone Advisors.