Propel signs agreement to become Pathward’s primary lending as a service partner

By Edlyn Cardoza

Propel Holdings Inc., an innovative FinTech company dedicated to credit inclusion, and Pathward, N.A., a financial empowerment company, announced that the two companies have entered into an agreement for Propel to become Pathward’s primary consumer lending as a service (LaaS) FinTech partner.

Powered by Propel’s proprietary FinTech platform, Pathward will provide credit solutions through this LaaS capability through its partners. In line with Propel and Pathward’s shared mission of financial inclusion, these credit products will be offered through a seamless online integration into the Propel platform.

For many years, Pathward, formerly MetaBank, has focused on increasing financial access through banking as a service, which includes payment, tax, and commercial finance solutions. Under its new name, the company continues to focus on its purpose of powering financial inclusion for all.

“We were impressed with their outstanding technology capabilities and highly experienced team. Our relationship with the Propel team is based on shared values, which gives us confidence in this new partnership and the potential long-term benefit to our customers. This partnership will allow Pathward to provide access to credit while limiting risk, similar to our other consumer lending programs,” said Pathward’s President Anthony Sharett.

The five-year renewable agreement contemplates fee income for Propel by providing white-labelled technology and service solutions for Pathward’s consumer lending capabilities, including customer acquisition services, loan management software, licensing of proprietary artificial intelligence-powered risk and response scores, and credit servicing capabilities. This partnership accelerates Propel’s strategic plan to expand and diversify its current product and service offerings and geographic reach as an adjacent business to its legacy business lines. Propel expects the program to launch by Q1 2023 and be accretive to revenue and net income in 2023, with financial impact growing into 2024. The company will release more details in the future financial outlook.

“Propel’s successful bid to become Pathward’s primary lending as a service fintech partner is a testament to our incredible team, as well as our world-class proprietary technology, operational excellence and artificial intelligence capabilities,” said Clive Kinross, Chief Executive Officer of Propel. “We are excited to expand on our current product and service offerings and believe that this new LaaS business will leverage our existing capabilities and complement our robust core business lines, all while providing credit solutions to even more consumers. We are looking forward to developing this program in partnership with the Pathward team with whom we have already fostered an excellent relationship and shares Propel’s mission to facilitate access to credit for more consumers.”