Inside Chime’s Plan to Become Even More Bank-Like
Chime sketches out a future in which it will expand beyond its current demographic focus with a broader set of products that make it look more and more like a bank. But it still insists it's a technology company.
By Steve Cocheo, Senior Executive Editor at The Financial Brand
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After much anticipation and speculation, Chime Financial filed the paperwork for its initial public offering with the Securities and Exchange Commission on May 13. The document — SEC form S-1 — runs hundreds of pages, but with some digging the reader can find intriguing competitive intelligence about a fintech that could wind up becoming an even bigger competitive threat to traditional banking institutions.
A recurring theme in the IPO pitch is that traditional banks, through focusing on higher-net-worth customers and pricing services specifically to profit from other customer categories, have failed many Americans.
How so? According to the fintech, traditional banks are burdened by the need to pay for a still-formidable physical delivery system, which Chime has never had and seems (based on the filing) to have no plans for. The heavily digital fintech does provide access to ATMs, both shared and proprietary, and the ability to deposit cash into Chime accounts at Walgreens and CVS pharmacies and at Walmarts and 7-Elevens.
While Chime frequently compares itself to banks in its document, it doesn’t accept that label itself — and there isn’t a whiff of the company wanting a charter at any time, even as the Trump administration attitudes on charters appear to be loosening.
“Chime is a technology company, not a bank,” according to the document. The fintech partners with FDIC-insured The Bancorp Bank, N.A., and Stride Bank, N.A., as the banking engines behind the growing family of services that Chime provides customers that it refers to as members.
Chime considers its key market — at least, up until now — to be American households with annual income of $100,000 or less, which the company says represent 75% of U.S. households.
Chime, founded in 2012, came about when Chris Britt, CEO and co-founder, considered that many people in his home town of blue-collar Mount Vernon, N.Y., in the New York City metro area, weren’t being served appropriately by traditional banks.
At yearend, Chime was still running a loss. But based on the document, it has big plans for the capital the IPO will raise. The main source of income for Chime is a share of interchange fees on its credit and debit card usage. (The credit card is an interest-free secured credit building product.)
At present the plan is to continue to emphasize that revenue source, which drives Chime’s focus on increasing member usage of its payment cards. The document states that 72% of Chime revenue came from payments in the first quarter (76% for 2024). Most of the rest comes from fees such as for accessing out-of-network ATMs, voluntary tips for its SpotMe fee-free overdraft services, and fees for MyPay instant transfers. MyPay allows members to access up to $500 of their paycheck in advance.
Filling its shelves with more products, and drawing in more consumers to use them, is a key part of Chime’s game plan.
“In a market crowded with fintech single point solutions, we are building long-lasting and deep, multi-product relationships to advance our members’ financial journeys,” according to the company.
1. Chime Wants to Expand its Customer Base Beyond Those Earning Less Than $100,000
Chime’s filing paints a picture of a company that has succeeded in reaching a piece of its target audience, people earning under $100,000, many of whom live paycheck-to-paycheck, with a huge amount of growth to go. (We’ll come to those numbers later.) That market is estimated to comprise 196 million people.
The company wants to tackle the next demographic layer: the 227 million Americans earning up to $200,000 each year.
“Given nearly half of Americans earning more than $100,000 annually are estimated to live paycheck to paycheck, many of these Americans’ financial priorities overlap with those of our current target audience,” the document says. “However, they are also looking for solutions that provide broader access to credit, investing, insurance, and saving on expenses.”
Read more: Wealth Management Is Transforming. Which Banks and Challengers Will Come Out on Top?
2. Chime Hopes to Introduce Additional Products Beyond Its Original Niche
The filing dwells in places on the strength of the company’s technology, especially in accommodating rapid new product development.
“As we broaden our platform and address more complex financial challenges for our members, we will also be well-positioned to address the financial needs of a wider audience,” according to the document.
The company likes to describe its operation as a “flywheel.” This includes mechanisms to drive new membership through member referrals, which it says has been its heaviest driver of signups of active members since 2022.
Chime has expanded past the basic accounts it began with, which in general are designed for the paycheck-to-paycheck segment. The filing says that the company wants to introduce additional products, including installment loans, unsecured credit cards, longer-term savings accounts, retirement accounts, investment accounts, wealth management, and insurance.
“As we contemplate future products, we expect to continue our asset-light framework by continuing to keep a minimal balance sheet and to continue to maintain our free or low-cost pricing philosophy,” the document states.
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3. Chime’s Growth Drives Membership as Well as Product Use
The company now has 8.6 million “active members.” “Active” is broadly defined as a member who has initiated a money movement transaction with a Chime product within the last calendar month. In March 2025, active Chime members used an average of 3.3 company products. The measurement of average revenue per active member, a number Chime monitors closely, came to $251 in the same period, up from $210 in 2022.
As of the end of March, Chime says, 67% of the active members consider Chime to be their primary financial provider. To put that in perspective, in the first quarter, the company says that active members performed an average of 54 transactions a month. Of those, three quarters were making purchases with Chime debit and credit cards. Of those, 70% were for non-discretionary expenses such as food and fuel.
Chime believes it has infiltrated its $100,000 and below market by less than 3%, indicating potential for much more growth even if it doesn’t reach for the $200,000 group.
Read more: How Ally Bank Built a Customer-First Digital Experience
4. Chime is Embracing a Hybrid Human/GenAI Approach to Marketing Content
A key part of the company’s approach to digital marketing relies of search engine optimization and targeted paid media.
The SEO effort uses the company’s AI-powered Chime Content GPT. The document describes that as GenAI that looks at its most successful blogs, editorial articles and videos. Those form the basis of new content, “in partnership with our internal editorial team and certified financial writers.”
“We believe our content generation strategy has put Chime in a strong position compared to traditional banks in organic search results for the key financial categories that resonate most with everyday Americans,” the document says.
For those readers who like to see what other players are spending on marketing, Chime spent $519.8 million in 2024 on sales and marketing, up nearly 15% from 2023.
