Retail Banks Accelerate Embedded-Finance Alliances with E-Commerce Platforms, Targeting $500 Billion Market by 2030
New McKinsey data show U.S. embedded-finance revenues already top $20 billion as lenders trade legacy branches for digital checkout lanes
New York, NY – November 19, 2025
Retail banks are moving their products to the digital point of sale at break-neck speed, forging embedded-finance partnerships with e-commerce marketplaces, ride-hailing apps and direct-to-consumer brands in a bid to capture the fast-growing, low-cost deposits that traditional branches no longer deliver.
According to a 2025 McKinsey & Co. analysis, embedded-finance transaction volumes in the United States have already reached $20 billion annually and are on pace to exceed $500 billion globally by 2030 as merchants integrate lending, payments and deposit accounts directly into their online checkouts . The same study shows conversion rates for bank products sold inside non-financial apps climbing from 15 percent to more than 50 percent when financing is pre-approved at checkout—an uplift that is persuading regional and community banks to swap brick-and-mortar expansion for API-driven collaboration.
“Every digital storefront is now a potential branch,” said Laura McWhirter, CEO of $14 billion-asset MetroBridge Bancorp, which powers instant-installment loans for three top-20 U.S. e-commerce sites. “By plugging our credit engine into a merchant’s cart, we underwrite in 400 milliseconds, fund the purchase in real time and acquire a borrower for one-third the marketing cost of a walk-in customer.”
A separate survey of 515 senior executives released last month by Green Dot Corporation found that 70 percent of U.S. companies now outsource embedded-finance delivery to insured banks, with 88 percent citing “trust and strategic alignment” as the decisive factor in choosing a partner . The findings underscore why JPMorgan Chase, WebBank and smaller players such as Starion Bank have all launched co-branded debit or deposit products inside platforms including DoorDash, Shopify and Toast over the past 18 months.
DoorDash’s “Crimson” account, issued by Starion and processed by Fiserv, lets drivers receive earnings instantly and withdraw cash at 64,000 ATMs—services that have doubled driver retention on the platform while generating low-cost deposits for the North Dakota-based community bank . Similarly, Shopify’s Balance account, backed by Stripe and Evolve Bank & Trust, has onboarded more than 600,000 merchants since 2023, funneling $4.3 billion in idle balances back to partner banks, according to PYMNTS Intelligence estimates.
Banking regulators are taking notice. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency issued guidance in August encouraging banks to embed “safe and fair” financial products inside third-party platforms, provided they maintain direct oversight of underwriting and compliance. The bulletin has accelerated deal flow: Treasury Prime reports that 100 percent of the 300 community-bank executives it polled in September are now in active embedded-finance discussions, up from 63 percent in 2024 .
“Embedded finance is no longer a fintech sideshow—it is core strategy,” said McWhirter. “Banks that sit on the sidelines risk losing primary customer relationships to Big Tech firms that already control the digital storefront.”
Despite the momentum, McKinsey warns that banks must guard against commoditization as merchants shop multiple partners for the highest revenue-share bid. To protect margins, lenders are layering value-added services such as real-time tax remittance, loyalty-driven savings buckets and merchant cash advances that leverage platform sales data for risk scoring .
Market projections suggest the race is far from over. Greenwich Associates forecasts that embedded consumer lending alone will compound 38 percent annually through 2028, while embedded deposit accounts could make up 15 percent of all U.S. retail deposits by 2030. “The next battleground is Gen-Z checkout preference,” said McWhirter. “Win that, and you win the next decade of banking.”
About MetroBridge Bancorp
MetroBridge Bancorp is a $14 billion-asset FDIC-insured institution headquartered in New York that partners with e-commerce, gig-economy and point-of-sale platforms to deliver real-time credit, deposits and treasury services through proprietary APIs.
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