TikTok is becoming your bank and traditional finance only has itself to blame

Visa and TikTok are jointly bringing a debit card for creators, the first of its kind. The Creator Card is aimed at the growing number of people in the UK who earn a living making content online.

On the surface, it solves a simple problem. In practice, it marks another step in social media’s quiet push into territory that banks have long owned.

The card is solving a problem that has been a headache for content creators since long. As Visa’s research found, 86% of the creator-owned businesses are self-funded. 49% of UK content creators don’t even receive payments on time. And the creators who earn their bread through TikTok Live through virtual gifts have no option for a dedicated business account. They have no choice but to mix the revenue with personal finances.

What’s more frustrating is that the amount they earn arrives in chunks without any fixed schedule, and there are delays before earnings actually clear.

This is not Visa’s first move in the creator space. Last November, the company announced it was exploring a tie-up with Karat, a firm that provides financial services specifically for creators, to build a pilot program around managing creative businesses.

Around the same time, Visa published research showing 88% of creators expect their income to grow in the coming year. Shortly after, payments platform Lumanu integrated Visa’s global network to offer real-time payments to creators and contractors.

“Creators shouldn’t have to chase invoices or wonder when they’ll be paid,” said Lumanu CEO Tony Tran. “Together with Visa, we’re showing brands and agencies there’s a better way. One that’s fast, transparent, and built for the way marketing actually works today.”

Social platforms give a way for all in one

There is a wider shift that is reshaping how fintech reaches people. Everyone has communication, shopping, and banking happening through their phones now. This is why platforms now prefer giving consumers direct accessibilty for financial decisions rather than reaching out a bank.

The pattern is already established. Payments come first. Lending follows. TikTok has applied for licenses in Brazil to offer digital wallets and connect users with lending partners.

Its parent company, ByteDance, previously launched Douyin Pay in Asia to support in-app shopping. Meta is developing stablecoin payments to move money across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. In China, WeChat Pay and Alipay went from processing transactions to offering loans, using spending data to assess creditworthiness. PayPal and Block followed the same path in the US.

TikTok Shop is already accelerating this process, letting users buy products without leaving the app. Instagram and Pinterest have built similar shopping features. More than half of US consumers have bought something based on an influencer recommendation, according to PYMNTS Intelligence.

Brazil shows how far this can scale. About 94% of consumers there use digital payments daily, and social media penetration is among the highest in the world. TikTok’s push is a test of how fully a social platform can replace a bank.

The creator economy that all of this is built around is not small

Goldman Sachs valued it at $250 billion in 2022 and projects it could reach $480 billion by 2027. There are over 200 million creators worldwide, according to Linktree. Citi Ventures has called them a significant gap in the financial services market, noting their needs are consistently underserved.

Banks are aware they are losing ground. Research cited by software firm nCino found that 35% of Gen Z consumers and 32% of millennials plan to change their primary bank within six months. Chief economist Taylor Nadauld put the challenge plainly: “There’s a gap opening up between how financial institutions created value for the last generation and how they’ll need to create it for this one. The banks that win are ready to think about value creation differently.”

Don’t just read crypto news. Understand it. Subscribe to our newsletter. It's free.