Amazon in talks with big banks to create checking-account-like product: 4 things to know

Amazon put out a request for proposals last fall from several big banks, including JPMorgan and Capital One Financial, about creating a checking-account-like product to offer its customers, people familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal.

Here are four things to know.

1. Amazon wants to create a hybrid-type checking account that would appeal to those without bank accounts and to younger customers.

2. The initiative is still in early stages, but it wouldn't involve Amazon becoming a bank, sources told WSJ. Although it is too early to say what the final product would look like, it could allow customers to write checks or access a nationwide ATM network, according to the report.

3. Amazon has been exploring a bigger push into finance for years, and providing customers with a checking account would reduce the fees it pays banks and payments processors. However, this type of arrangement is more complicated than a co-branded credit card, and there is not much precedent for this type of model, according to the report.

4. A recent poll by LendEDU of 1,000 consumers who purchased something from Amazon in the past 30 days revealed 44.5 percent of consumers were open to the idea of using an account created by Amazon as their primary bank account, while 39.1 percent were unsure and 16.4 percent rejected the idea.

Read the full WSJ article here.

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