FinTech IPO Index Gains 4.3%, Affirm Jumps on BNPL’s Black Friday Popularity   

And now, we’re back to the regularly scheduled stock market volatility.

The short trading week is behind us, and so is Thanksgiving and Black Friday.

And the initial read across is that buy now, pay later (BNPL) was a strong winner as consumers opted for the payment method to help get holiday shopping done and the gifts bought and paid for (over time). 

Affirm Gets Further Affirmation on BNPL  

Affirm shares popped 34.5% through the past five sessions. As noted by The Wall Street Journal, shares in Affirm leaped as reports came from Adobe that BNPL transactions saw $760 million in online spending through the Black Friday weekend, a 20% gain from last year. And use on Cyber Monday saw an even more pronounced quickening, per Adobe’s data, which estimated that BNPL use in the U.S. was up 42%.

PYMNTS Intelligence reported that 41% of shoppers planned to increase their reliance on installment plans, including BNPL, this holiday shopping season.

Gains were widespread across the FinTech IPO Index, and many firms remained buoyant as they announced new partnerships, expansions — and even a few pullbacks in some chosen markets.

Shares of Upstart were up about 14%. The company said this week that High Point Federal Credit Union, one of the largest credit unions in Western New York, has partnered with Upstart to provide personal loans, per a report from Yahoo. High Point Federal Credit Union became an Upstart Referral Network lending partner in September of last year. The companies said that applicants will receive tailored offers as part of a High Point Federal Credit Union-branded experience.

SoFi’s stock was up 5.6%.

The company this week announced that it is exiting its crypto trading business, having told customers that they will either need to liquidate their accounts or move their funds to the crypto exchange Blockchain.com by Dec. 19th. As PYMNTS has reported, SoFi last year received a banking charter via the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. But that charter was contingent on the company’s agreement to exit the crypto trading space.

Nuvei’s stock surged 5.1%. 

Nuvei, as we reported this week, has launched its new card-issuing solution in 30 markets worldwide.

This offering allows Nuvei clients to provide their customers, employees or contractors with both physical and virtual white-labeled cards, the Canadian FinTech company said in an announcement. The service is currently available in 30 markets across the European Economic Area, and Nuvei plans to expand it to the United Kingdom, the United States and Latin America next year.

Businesses can instantly access and utilize funds collected from their customers using virtual cards, enhancing their working capital.

Robinhood announced an expansion this week into the United Kingdom, enabling customers to trade 6,000 U.S. listed stocks.

Robinhood plans to grant access to its app on a rolling basis during the following weeks, reaching full availability early next year, the company said in its announcement detailing the expansion. U.K. residents can join the waitlist now and will be informed when they can sign up for early access.

Robinhood said earlier this month it also plans to launch crypto trading in the European Union following its debut in the U.K.

Robinhood shares were ahead by 7% through the week.