Apple has partnered with Spanish banking giant Santander’s digital consumer finance platform, Zinia, to introduce new payment capabilities in Germany.
This collaboration will allow Apple’s customers in Germany to access various financing options, such as split payments over up to 36 months or deferred payments for up to 30 days, for purchases made in physical or online stores.
To use the service, customers will need to provide their phone number and date of birth, initiating a validation process that Santander claims takes “just a few seconds.”
The partnership is set to launch “in the next few months,” after which Santander plans to expand the platform throughout Germany and into other European countries.
Zinia, launched in 2022 by Santander’s Digital Consumer Bank (DCB) – which includes Santander Consumer Finance (SCF) and the bank’s digital subsidiary Openbank – represents a strategic effort to blur the lines between traditional banking and fintech services.
“Here we have a large bank starting to behave and act like a fintech,” said Ezequiel Szafir, CEO of Openbank and Santander Consumer Finance, at the launch. “This is the first time an incumbent bank ventures into the fintech world with a fintech-type product, team, and technology.”
While Apple is a global technology leader, its own buy now, pay later (BNPL) service, Apple Pay Later, launched in March last year, is currently only available in the US. This limitation has driven the necessity for Apple’s new partnership with Santander to bring similar services to the European market.
Source: fintechfutures.com
