From Wells Fargo reporting significant new account growth and airing its Active Cash ad during the World Cup final, to JetBlue partnering with ClarityPay for BNPL, Andrew Davidson breaks down the latest news in the financial services industry. He also discusses Samsung and Barclays’ launch of the Samsung Galaxy Card and big announcements from Seen, Snap Finance’s Credit Card Brand.
Want to discover more of Andrew’s cutting-edge insights on financial products, marketing strategies, and industry innovations? Follow him on LinkedIn, or listen to him as the host of Mintel’s Little Conversation podcast.
Here are the 5 things you need to know:
1. Wells Fargo Reports Significant New Account Growth
Wells Fargo reported 46% growth in new credit card accounts in Q2 2026 vs Q2 a year ago. The total was 662K new credit card accounts for the quarter.
For years, the bank operated under a regulatory asset cap, and growth was capped. Now the cap is gone, but CEO Charlie Scharf was blunt about the trade-off. Higher account volume now means lower near-term profitability, since new cards carry high upfront costs in marketing, promotional rates, and onboarding.
Wells Fargo could hit higher profits today by slowing growth. They’re choosing not to.
Source:Â Wells Fargo Q2 2026 Earnings Call
💡 Prioritizing growth over profit
- Looking good. Most of these new card accounts are coming through the branch network or wellsfargo.com, not third-party affiliates. That means lower acquisition costs and higher quality accounts, since these are mostly existing customers rather than new prospects. Right now Wells Fargo likes what it sees and wants to continue.
- Staying on top of it. The growth vs profit trade-off is a quarterly decision according to Wells Fargo. The signal for the market is growth and an increasingly powerful credit card competitor but Wells Fargo is watching closely and is ready to hit the brake if the data turns.
2. Wells Fargo Airs Active Cash Ad During the World Cup Final
Wells Fargo put Active Cash in front of the biggest soccer audience the U.S. has ever seen.
Fox’s final Nielsen numbers for Sunday’s Spain-Argentina final: 38.937 million average viewers, peaking at 51.685 million as Spain scored the extra-time winner. That’s the most-watched English-language soccer telecast in U.S. history. Telemundo added a preliminary 22.6 million more, putting the combined U.S. audience north of 60 million. 🤯
đź’ł I watched an Active Cash ad run in NY during halftime, right in the middle of that audience.
Source:Â Comperemedia Omni [06/01/2026 – 07/19/2026] as of 07/20/2026
đź’ˇCapitalizing on a World Cup moment
- World Cup Winner: Wells Fargo? Bank of America bet big on the World Cup as official bank sponsor, and I’m sure the bet paid off. But Wells Fargo showed up too, with its “Scarves” Active Cash spot running throughout the tournament. Wells Fargo isn’t a World Cup sponsor, but it gets sponsor-level visibility by virtue of being a major Visa issuer. I posted above how Wells Fargo is prioritizing growth after it reported 662K new accounts in Q2, up 46% vs. YAG. Q3 will likely get a boost from this campaign, and I’ll be interested to see whether Wells Fargo is comfortable with the acceleration.
- Are World Cup ads the new Super Bowl ads? The Super Bowl draws roughly 120 million U.S. viewers most years, more than double Sunday’s combined final audience so it still has a way to go. But if American interest in soccer keeps climbing at this rate, the ad industry conversation around World Cup ads could start to look a lot like the one we have every February about Super Bowl ads. Wells Fargo’s heavy rotation throughout this tournament may be an early signal of that shift.
3. JetBlue Partners with ClarityPay for BNPL
JetBlue has partnered with startup ClarityPay to add BNPL as a payments option.
- Financing EMBEDDED IN THE JOURNEY where customers preview personalized installment options while they shop for flights
- 0% intro APR up to 12 months
- Typical terms are 6 weeks to 48 months from 0% to 36%
- “Later this year, JetBlue and ClarityPay expect to introduce additional TrueBlue integrations, including the ability to earn incremental points when booking with ClarityPay”
Separately, Klarna and Southwest recently announced a new partnership as more companies jump into the space.
Source:Â ClarityPay
đź’ˇBNPL coup!
- Clarity who? JetBlue chose ClarityPay over established names like pioneer Flex Pay (formerly Uplift) or Klarna. That’s a real coup for a company this young, and a sign JetBlue wanted something custom-built rather than off-the-shelf. ClarityPay’s CEO previously worked at Amex and Continental Airlines, giving him a rare vantage point from both sides of the loyalty equation.
- Industry first claim. Media covered this as a first to tie BNPL to loyalty, but Qantas has done it in Australia since 2022, via Zip. The real claim here isn’t “first in the industry”; it’s closer to the release’s own wording, “first-of-its-kind pay later program that unites embedded financing with an airline’s loyalty and personalization strategies,” which leans more on the personalized preview than the points. The planned additional TrueBlue integrations could be the real innovation from the consumer POV.
- Fueling travel spend when costs are rising. Consumers are spending on travel despite rising costs. About 21% of US BNPL users used it for travel in the past year, and it spanned generations (not just young consumers). Additionally, 18% of ALL consumers say they’d be interested in using it for travel. As fares climb and carriers keep reporting resilient demand despite it, BNPL has become a structural part of how travel gets paid for going forward.
4. Samsung and Barclays Launch the Samsung Galaxy Card
Samsung Electronics America and Barclays US have launched the new Samsung Galaxy Card on the Visa network.
- No annual fee
- 5% at Samsung, including preordering a Galaxy device
- 3% cash rewards on Samsung Wallet purchases
- 2% cash rewards on streaming, 1% cash rewards on everything else
- $200 bonus cash rewards after spending $2,000 in the first 90 days
- 20% off Samsung VIP Advantage membership
- Samsung Knox “defense-grade” security platform
- Early access applications opened July 21; general public applications opened July 22 when the new Galaxy Z series phones were unveiled at Unpacked
đź’ˇThe potential is clear, and Apple paved the way
- Did Samsung out-Apple the Apple Card? Apple Card launched in 2019 on a simple thesis: a card built into the device ecosystem. Samsung has theoretically matched that architecture and beat it on paper. Apple Card pays 3% on Apple purchases and 2% with Apple Pay. Samsung Galaxy Card pays 5% on Samsung purchases and 3% with Samsung Wallet, plus 2% on streaming. As an Apple Card holder, I know it’s all about the experience, so while the cashback rates might be better, it remains to be seen whether Samsung can match Apple’s frictionless experience. Stacking these two side by side is interesting, but the choice isn’t between Apple Card and Samsung Galaxy Card, which brings me to my next point.
- The opportunity is the UPSIDE. Samsung Wallet’s US penetration hovered around 10% in 2024 (Apple Pay was at 25%, Google Pay at 19%). That’s a foothold, with room to grow given Samsung’s device reach. Mintel data shows 43% of US smartphone owners have a Samsung device vs. 40% for Apple. The wallet lag isn’t a device problem; it’s a habit problem. Samsung Galaxy Card is another link in Samsung’s push to keep customers inside its ecosystem, betting a financial incentive can convert phones already in pockets into active Samsung Wallet users.
5. Big Announcements From Seen, Snap Finance’s Credit Card Brand
Seen was established “with the goal to bridge the gap between underserved consumers and traditional banking systems.”
Here is a breakdown of the announcement:
- Hit 250K credit card accounts since launching in November 2023.
- NEW Seen Credit Account: No credit check and runs on a $1,500 credit line tied to a $60 annual plan, financed at 0% APR. Payments are $5 per month, and it reports to the bureaus as a revolving trade line. The only thing you can buy is ebooks from the Seen Store (NOT available in all states).
- NEW Seen Secured Mastercard. Works the traditional way where deposit becomes your limit, up to $1,000. It carries a 35.99% APR and a $25 annual fee, with 1% cash back on payments.
- App recognized by the FinTech Breakthrough Awards as Financial Access Mobile App of the Year.
Source:Â Seen Finance
đź’ˇSeen builds out its strategy
- Stairway to credit. Snap Finance built Seen with two unsecured cards spanning subprime/near-prime with credit limits from $1,000 to $3,000. Now, nearly three years in, they’ve added two new products to the lineup: a no-credit-check trade line and a deposit-backed card positioned as a path to an unsecured card for customers who show responsible use. The company is building a stairway to credit, step by step, and has built products earlier in the credit journey to make sure that their unsecured products are on solid ground.
- Direct mail driver. At Comperemedia, we’ve captured millions of Seen acquisition offers since the November 2023 launch that have generated those 250K new accounts. That’s the acquisition engine running in the background. The real acquisition play here isn’t any single product. It’s the promise of the climb. Seen should be selling the stairway itself, not just the next rung.
