Apple partners Santander’s Zinia for BNPL financing services in Germany
Apple has tapped Spanish banking giant Santander’s digital consumer finance platform Zinia to power new payment capabilities across its operations in Germany.
The partnership will enable Apple’s customers in the country to access a range of financing options, including split payments of up to 36 months, or deferred payments of up to 30 days, when purchasing goods through its physical or online stores.
To access the service, Apple customers will be required to provide their phone number and date of birth, which will trigger a validation process Santander claims takes “just a few seconds”.
The bank says the deal is due to take effect “in the next few months”, after which it will seek to advance the platform throughout Germany, as well as in “different European countries”.
Santander’s Zinia becomes provider of consumer finance services for Apple in Germany. Image source: Santander
Launched by Santander’s Digital Consumer Bank (DCB) – which combines Santander Consumer Finance (SCF) and the bank’s digital subsidiary Openbank – in 2022, Zinia forms an active attempt to blur the lines between the different service remits of banking incumbents and fintechs.
“Here we have a large bank starting to behave and act like a fintech,” Openbank and Santander Consumer Finance CEO, Ezequiel Szafir, told FinTech Futures at launch. “Here it’s the first time an incumbent bank goes straight into the fintech world with a fintech-type product with a fintech-type team and technology.”
As one of the world’s largest technology companies, Apple also debuted its own buy now, pay later (BNPL) service, Apple Pay Later, in March last year. However, the service is currently only operational in the US, and has yet to penetrate the European market, spurring the necessity for the company’s newfound partnership with Santander.
