It is looking to expand its range of financial products with the introduction of a banking app
Afterpay, the popular “buy now, pay later” platform, is looking to offer a wider range of financial products as a result of its planned $39 billion merger with Square – including, eventually, mortgages.
In an attempt to diversify its revenue, Afterpay will offer Westpac-backed bank accounts through an app launching in October, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. Afterpay will initially offer transaction and savings accounts.
At its full-year results on Wednesday, Afterpay also indicated that it was considering entering the mortgage market, although it would not write loans itself.
The banking app won’t initially include loans, but an investor presentation on Wednesday included illustrations of how the app may evolve in the future, the Herald reported. One illustration included a simulated screenshot from the app saying, “$800,000: Your first apartment in Bondi is pre-approved.”
Co-chief executive Anthony Eisen was asked about his thinking on mortgages during the presentation. Eisen replied that Afterpay has no plans to manufacture its own traditional banking products, but that the app could potentially act as a “conduit” for other financial products.
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Analysts have previously predicted that Afterpay’s banking app would help the company move into distributing a range of products, including mortgages, the Herald reported. Such an arrangement would generate referral fees for the company.
Eisen told the Herald and The Age that the platform could be used to educate customers and offer them financial services provided by other firms.
“The real key point is that we’ve connected deeply with customers in Australia and globally on this trust point, and we’re not going to change our stripes in that regard,” Eisen said.
