IPO-bound Chime hopes to boost growth by paying higher interest rates

As it gears up to go public, Chime is going all in on new features in an effort to attract more customers. The digital bank is offering customers who agree to have their paychecks directly deposited into a Chime savings or checking account an APY of 3.75%, it tells TechCrunch exclusively. For those who don’t choose to direct deposit, the interest rate of 2% for standard users is still competitive. By comparison, the national average savings account yield is 0.61% APY, according to Bankrate’s survey of institutions as of the week of March 24. While Chime Chief Product Officer Madhu Muthukumar didn’t say it outright, the move appears to be one at least in part aimed at attracting more stickiness among customers. As of last summer, Chime had 7 million customers and $1.5 billion in annualized revenue, according to reporting by Forbes. The company declined to provide updated figures. In December, Chime filed confidential paperwork to go public with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commi ... Read full article.