A new report published by CNBC brings highly speculated news to the attention of the public. The article claims that digital payment giant PayPal has been planning to introduce online stock trading options for their consumers worldwide. The article also cited two anonymous sources that confirmed the news. According to CNBC journalists, this is an attempt of PayPal to take on Robinhood.

Robinhood is a relatively new online mobile application that has introduced stock trading options for its consumers. The article further revealed that PayPal is currently in search of a third-party broker-dealer to make the transition possible. Thus far, PayPal executives are busy conducting meetings with the most promising service providers in the digital stock investment sector.

PayPal Hires Well-known Industry Expert to Make Stock Trading Option Possible

The digital payments leader in the world, PayPal, has recently hired Rich Hagen for running their new department ‘Invest at PayPal.’ The department has come to light only recently. Hagen is known for having extensive experience in the online stock trading industry. He is currently acting as the CEO of the new department.

According to his LinkedIn profile update, he will be working on improving the consumer investment options on the platform. Hagen is the brain behind a widely successful financial organization called Ally Invest. He was also president of another online brokerage TradeKing for many years before accepting his new position at PayPal.

According to Hagen, the decision to introduce an online stock trading feature is part of the development plan by CEO Dan Schulman. The PayPal CEO has been planning to expand the options of the financial services available for the PayPal consumers. Digital investment options are one of the many new features that PayPal is currently working on.

After the news about the new online stock payment options went public, the stocks of PayPal were appreciated by 3.6%. On the other hand, for Robinhood, this news comes with a lot of concerns as the company stocks went down by 6% in the same duration. A few weeks ago, Robinhood published its Q2 financial report that indicates a 41% revenue increase due to the addition of crypto trading options.