Big Tech is Disintermediating Everyone

Amazon, Google, Apple, and Meta, alongside their Asian, African, and Latin American counterparts, offer financial services. With large customer bases, advanced technology, and financial muscle, these firms are bypassing traditional banking channels. This creates both disruption and opportunity for retail banks, pushing them to reimagine their business models and consumer engagement strategies.

Amazon's Expanding Financial Services

Amazon has steadily grown its financial footprint since introducing "1-click". Amazon Pay lets users purchase on third-party platforms using their Amazon accounts, eliminating traditional payment processors. Starting in 2011, Amazon Lending began to provide loans to small businesses selling on its platform, decreasing their need for bank financing. These services consolidate Amazon's role in payments and MSME finance, reducing reliance on conventional banks.

Google's Digital Payments and Financial Services

Google's financial push centres around Google Pay, a wallet offered on many Android phones, which facilitates direct payments from bank accounts or credit cards. Between 2019 and 2021, Google has collaborated with Citigroup and Stanford Federal Credit Union to offer checking accounts linked to Google Pay, called Google Plex. Despite significant consumer interest, the project faced multiple delays and leadership changes contributing to the project being cancelled.

Google now focuses on enabling financial institutions through its core strengths: cloud computing, data analytics, AI, APIs, and secure identity tools. This shift reinforces Google's role as a technology partner to banks and fintechs, helping them modernise infrastructure, improve customer engagement, and innovate securely, rather than positioning itself as a direct competitor.

Apple's Mobile Payments and Credit Solutions

A manufacturer that increasingly offers services, Apple differs from the software giants. It uses its device ecosystem to simplify payments through Apple Pay. Apple Cash enables peer-to-peer money transfers. It has also introduced a Tap to Pay service that allows merchants to accept payments directly by tapping on the phone with Apple Pay, or credit and debit cards, as if it was a payment terminal. Together, these services allow Apple to personalise financial offerings and reduce customer dependence on banks.

Meta's Role in Digital Payments

Meta (formerly Facebook) has entered financial services through Meta Pay enabling money transfers across its platforms. One major goal for Meta was to have embedded payments for services such as Facebook Marketplace but it continues to rely on third-party payment services, and means that it suffers high rates of fraud and is often in conflict with banks. Though its digital currency project Libra (later Diem) faced regulatory blocks, Meta's initiatives show how social platforms can embed financial services, challenge banks, and use consumer data for customised financial solutions. WhatsApp Pay is available in India through the country's UPI platform.

Big Tech in Emerging Markets

Africa: As we have discussed earlier, telco giants such as Airtel Africa, MTN and Safaricom are Africa's home grown equivalent of big tech. Jumia, a pan-African e-commerce platform, operates in 9 countries (as of 2025) and has integrated digital payments through JumiaPay. While its core business remains online retail, JumiaPay supports its ecosystem by enabling secure transactions and laying the groundwork for future financial services such as credit and digital wallets. The company is still in the early stages of its fintech journey.

Africa also demonstrates how fintech might develop into big tech. Chipper Cash, Flutterwave, and Paystack are African fintech companies focused on digital payments and financial infrastructure. While their core business revolves around enabling seamless payments, cross-border transfers, and merchant services, they increasingly operate like big tech platforms by expanding their product offerings, building developer ecosystems, leveraging data, and scaling rapidly across multiple countries. This platform approach positions them as key players shaping Africa's digital financial landscape.

Chipper Cash specialises in peer-to-peer payments and low-cost cross-border transfers, with added services like crypto trading and stock investing. Flutterwave acts as a B2B payments infrastructure provider, enabling merchants across 30+ countries to accept diverse payment methods and expanding into credit and e-commerce support. Paystack, acquired by Stripe, focuses on developer-friendly payment gateways and merchant tools across several African markets, emphasising APIs and seamless digital payment acceptance.

Each combines fintech roots with big tech-style platform growth and regional influence.

Asia: Giants like Alibaba, Tencent, Grab and Samsung have deeply embedded financial services in daily life. Ant Group (Alibaba) operates Alipay, offering payments, lending, insurance, and investment services. WeChat Pay (Tencent) integrates payments into messaging, reducing the need for separate banking apps. Samsung Pay simplifies mobile payments via Samsung devices. Their scale and data use offer faster, integrated alternatives to traditional banking.

Latin America: Tech-led disruption is growing. Mercado Libre's Mercado Pago handles payments and credit, integrated into its e-commerce platform, and challenges banks with more agile, cost-effective services, pushing traditional institutions to digitise or collaborate. Nubank began as a credit card and now operates as a fintech and digital bank.

Conclusion

Big tech's rise in financial services has redefined global banking. These players provide efficient, personalised services that sidestep traditional models. In emerging markets especially, they offer inclusive alternatives to underserved populations. For banks, survival increasingly depends on digital transformation, strategic partnerships, and regulatory adaptation. Many banks now operate on cloud platforms provided by big tech players.