SAN FRANCISCO–Uber, which for many years was held up at credit union conferences as one of the biggest threats to financial disruption, has now announced it is dialing back its financial services plans.
In an email to employees, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said Uber will "deprioritize" several of its finance-related projects, which included credit cards, a digital wallet and instant payments for drivers, according to Bloomberg News.
As part of that change in priorities, Uber's financial services head Peter Hazlehurst is stepping down as the company focuses on rides and food delivery.
Credit unions were often told what Uber had really transformed wasn’t the concept of transportation, but instead payments, as it removed the money exchange process typically associated with taxi rides.
The withdrawal from financial services comes as Uber cut approximately a quarter of its workforce in June, with ride volume down approximately 70% due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Uber Money Intro’d in 2019
In October of 2019, Uber announced its financial product line Uber Money. As CUToday.info has reported, that product line included services for both consumers and employed drivers. Uber Money employees will now report to Uber’s vice president of technology, Peeyush Nahar.
Uber relaunched its Barclays-backed credit card, which offered consumers 5% in “Uber Cash” and offered employed drivers “Instant Pay,” meaning drivers could get paid after each ride.
For U.S. drivers, their debit account and card already provided through Green Dot was updated. This saw it offer cash back on gas starting at 3% and going up to 6% for “Uber Pro” drivers.