The News
The bank account balances of Chime users suggest the US middle-class consumer remains resilient amid macro and geopolitical uncertainty, said Chris Britt, the fintech company’s co-founder and CEO.
Speaking Wednesday at Semafor World Economy in Washington, DC, Britt said the company has seen a high volume of tax-refund deposits but no uptick in unemployment checks landing. He said spending on fuel rose by a double-digit percentage month over month from February to March as the Iran war spiked prices, but consumers seem to be taking it in their stride.
“We’re seeing a nice mix of both non-discretionary and discretionary spending that’s been up,” Britt said. “We’re seeing savings account balances that also are up, year over year. Overall we see a very healthy consumer.”
Know More
Chime, which is not a bank, partners with community banks to offer checking and savings accounts. It has more than 9.5 million monthly active users, most of whom use Chime as their primary bank account. In the last few quarters, the firm has opened more new accounts in the US than any bank.
Britt said the bank partnership model has worked well for Chime but the firm continues to look at the potential for its own bank charter, a path other fintechs firms like SoFi have taken.
“Every year we reevaluate the opportunity to potentially pursue a bank charter,” he said. “Obviously the market is more open and receptive to that these days … I won’t put a line in the sand definitively, but it’s always an option for us, and certainly more so than ever right now.”