Afterpay and Westpac join forces to roll out bank account products
Buy now pay later scheme Afterpay and big bank Westpac have come together to roll out new deals for customers.
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Buy now pay later juggernaut Afterpay has joined forces with banking giant Westpac to offer daily transaction accounts.
The move revealed today will enable Afterpay to provide its customers with white-labelled banking products delivered by Westpac.
The new deals will begin in the June quarter of 2021.
In Australia, Afterpay has 3.3 million active customers while rival buy now pay later scheme Zip Co has 2.1 million customers.
It means Afterpay customers will be able to log into the accounts and set up daily bank accounts and do all their transactions with Afterpay.
Westpac’s chief executive officer Peter King said the joining of the two companies in offering products would “respond to changing customer needs”.
“The platform allows us to combine our banking experience with the innovation of our partners to support new customers experiences,” he said.
While Afterpay’s chief executive officer Anthony Eisen said the new partnership would give customers “greater support and insight to help manage their money”.
“Afterpay is in a unique position to extend and deepen the relationship with our customers and help them to manage their money more seamlessly through savings and budgeting tools,” he said in an issued statement.
“For Afterpay this is clearly just the beginning as we explore this opportunity globally.”
Afterpay enables customers to buy items and pay them off later in four equal fortnightly payments.
If the customer fails to meet the strict repayment criteria they are hit with late payment fees.
The move by Afterpay and Westpac comes as the banks continue to try and take on or join forces with buy now pay later schemes.
Recently National Australia Bank and the Commonwealth Bank both revealed new interest-free credit card offerings in a move to try and snare customers who would otherwise sign up to buy now pay later schemes.
NAB’s StraightUp cards is available now and has no interest, no late payment fees, no currency conversion fees and a card limit of $3000.
It does have a monthly fee of between $10 and $20 depending on the customer’s chosen credit limit, but the fee is refundable if the customer doesn’t use the card within the month and has a zero balance.
While CBA revealed its new Neo card which gives customers up to $3000 of credit, with no interest charges, late payments or foreign currency conversion fees, but customers are charged a monthly fee.
This depends on the card limit of $1000, $2000 or $3000 – the applicable fees are $12, $18 and $22 respectively, but the fee isn’t charged if no purchases are made within the month and the card balance is zero.
The card will be available later this year.
Originally published as Afterpay and Westpac join forces to roll out bank account products