Uber Plans Expansion Into Financial Services

Uber is expanding its services and moving toward providing financial products, according to a report by CNBC.

The company has reportedly been hiring numerous product managers and engineers. Its new FinTech team could ultimately have more than 100 workers. Uber is taking advantage of New York’s talent pool in the financial department, which has more depth in the San Francisco sector.

The company’s push into FinTech will help broaden its lead over rival service Lyft, and its offerings will look to help increase customer engagement and loyalty.

Uber has about 93 million active users around the world, and the majority use Uber Cash or a credit card to pay for rides or food. Uber Cash provides discounts when users fund its electronic wallet.

The major products being developed include “payment experiences” that aim to help riders and Uber Eats users to save money or to help drivers manage their own money, according to a posting for a job. This would line up with Uber’s existing products like Uber Cash, Uber Rewards or its credit card. Uber also lets drivers get paid daily instead of weekly.

A more distant possibility could be an Uber bank account, which would help facilitate payments and save the company some capital by relying on banks for contractors’ payments. However, this would potentially be years away.

If Uber did provide a bank account, it would likely link up with an existing FDIC-insured bank instead of acquiring its own charter. Many FinTech outfits use a small group of institutions like Celtic Bank or Cross River for banking products.

Currently, Uber is also looking to expand its headquarters in New York and find a larger space, potentially as large as 300,000 square feet.