Apple, Inc AAPL Expansion into financial services is one of the company’s biggest opportunities, but also its biggest challenge, according to a Bloomberg columnist Markus Gurman said in its weekly “Power On” newsletter.

What happened: Apple’s new fintech initiatives have faced engineering and technical setbacks, leading to slow progress and delays, Gurman said.

He noted that two new features, namely a service similar to “buy now, pay later” and a savings account program tied to the wallet app, have passed the rollout deadline. Two other as yet unannounced fintech initiatives — an iPhone hardware subscription program and an expanded version of the Pay Later program called Apple Pay Monthly Installments — have also slowed, he added.

“It is clear that the financial push has proved more difficult than expected,” Gurman said.

“I believe the delays in all four initiatives are due to technical challenges as well as work on a next-generation financial system that will support them,” he added.

See also: Everything you need to know about Apple stock

Apple takes small steps: Gurman said there have been signs of progress recently. Apple is preparing to release the first version of the “Apple Pay Later” to consumers, he said, citing that the company started testing it with its corporate employees a few weeks ago and retail employees earlier this month.

The columnist noted that Cupertino followed a similar process with the Apple Card in 2019, making it available to retail workers about a month before release. “Apple also informed retail associates that Pay Later loans would require a gentle credit check that would not affect credit scores — in line with other Buy Now, Pay Later services,” he added.

Gurman expects the feature to be released in March or April. The company will likely wait and see how the first version of Pay Later performs before expanding to higher transaction amounts. The service will be dependent on an in-house lending station…