Sterne Agee's 2015 Predictions For Fintech And Payments Sector

Thomas McCrohan of Sterne Agee published a report on Friday detailing his top 10 predictions within the Payments and Financial Technology sector.

Below are the analyst's predictions:

• eBay Inc's (NASDAQ: EBAY) PayPal will launch an alternative banking product which may include a checking account. To do so, the company may acquire privately owned Movenbank.
• The Republican controlled Congress may lead a movement for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to lose some of its powers.
• Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) will launch its Apple Pay service in Europe.
• Square will be put up for sale.
• Visa Inc's (NYSE: V) Checkout service gains traction as more than 180 financial institutions begin marketing the service to its customers.
• Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) will offer American Express Company (NYSE: AXP) Bluebird accounts to consumers in store.
• Apple will market its Apple Pay service within a major prime time television show during 2015.
• Africa will become even more of a battleground for card networks.
• Singles Day in China will generate double digit (in billions) in sales after totaling $9.3 billion in e-commerce transactions in 2014.
• Transaction database technology will begin to “share the spotlight” with digital currencies like Bitcoin it enables.

McCrohan's top picks in the sector include Buy-rated:

• Large-Cap: Visa with a $295 price target.
• Mid-Cap: Vantiv Inc (NYSE: VNTV) with a $39 price target.
• Small-Cap: Net 1 UEPS Technologies Inc (NASDAQ: UEPS) with an $18 price target.