Apple Inc. is planning to offer buy now, pay later (BNPL) services in the United States despite concerns of a potential market squeeze as more providers have a crack at the sector amid growing consumer borrowing and spending.
Apple intends to launch its BNPL offering later in 2022 through its Apple Pay mobile payment and digital wallet service. To be called Apple Pay Later, the offering will have the tech giant underwrite loans and provide funds for users, as well as absorb any losses that may be incurred whenever borrowers miss their repayment obligations.
Apple’s BNPL comes at a time when the shares of fintech companies providing similar services have underperformed due to various concerns with the payment scheme. Some names that have underperformed S&P 500 financials recently are Affirm Holdings, Australia’s  Zip Co., PayPal, and Block Inc., which acquired Afterpay….