Green Dot sees opportunity in gig economy, SMB

Two trends emerging as opportunities for banking-as-a-service (BaaS) are the growth of the gig economy and small businesses, and Green Dot, the fintech and holding company that powers services for Uber, Walmart, Amazon Flex and Intuit, is getting in on the action.  Green Dot is currently focusing on those BaaS opportunities, Amit Parikh, executive vice president of BaaS at Green Dot, tells Bank Automation News in this episode of “The Buzz” podcast.   “It's projected that 50% of the U.S. workforce will earn a 1099 income by 2028,” says Parikh. “That's 90 million workers.” There are also opportunities for BaaS in the small- and mid-size business space, which includes close to 50% of the gross domestic product in the U.S., he notes. “This space where a small business owner spends more than five hours a week worrying about money, there's so much opportunity to make it easier for everybody to be able to move money,” he tells BAN. “There's a long way, in my opinion, of continuing to make the experience easier and easier for our consumer.” Parikh also discusses Green Dot’s core shift to Temenos Banking Cloud, where the company is providing BaaS products, and the role microservices play in its business strategy.