Synchrony Financial wants its credit, rewards and financing offers shown as shoppers use AI assistants to compare products. Its August OpenAI partnership will include a ChatGPT plugin to search partner discounts and promotional financing.
BofA described Synchrony’s near-term focus as “discoverability”: making its offers appear when shoppers ask AI tools what to buy. The company believes customers may hesitate to let agents control major purchases; it views AI-led deposit transfers as farther off, noting typical deposit accounts are about $50,000. Deposits totaled $82.8 billion, or 83% of financing, at the end of Q2.
Synchrony told BofA it had seen no material credit stress, including in subprime loans, although non-prime spending remained somewhat weaker. Q2 purchase volume rose 8% year over year to $49.8 billion, and loan receivables increased 2% to $102.2 billion. BofA said Q3 purchase volume was tracking near the same 8% growth pace, versus a 6.8% Street expectation. The bank reiterated its Buy rating and $89 target, which implied 24.4% upside from the $71.55 share price in its Sept. 25 report.
