In 1997, Amazon’s vision was: “to be the leading online retailer of information-based products and services, with an initial focus on books.” This soon expanded to “be earth’s most customer-centric company; to build a place where people can come to find and discover anything they might want to buy online.” Today, Amazon’s vision is simply: “We seek to be Earth’s most customer-centric company”. In a day and age where financial products are increasingly moving away from physical branches to new digital experiences, it’s not a stretch to believe Amazon could quickly make moves into financial services. For many years, banks have been trumpeting the horn that large tech companies are starting to encroach into the financial space and it looks like we’re starting to see the first few big steps.

Amazon is reportedly looking for a banking partner to launch some sort of checking account product, with the key word being “banking partner”, rather than say a banking charter or license. Over the past years, Amazon has entered the banking market through a series of partnerships, primarily focused around supporting Amazon’s core business. But what's next for Amazon for financial services? Let's take a look at what Amazon has done already and where it could go.

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