Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) has revealed plans to launch a new Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) service in 2021.

The new offering can be used anywhere debit and credit card payments are accepted.

“Customer needs are evolving and this new BNPL offering is about giving customers more choice around how they choose to pay and when, depending on the option which suits them best,” said Angus Sullivan, CBA’s group executive, retail banking services. “When making a payment, customers will have additional flexibility to use it for their everyday spending for smaller purchases as well as split over four instalments to help smooth payments for bigger purchases.”

He said that “unlike some other BNPL providers” there are no additional feeds to businesses when customers choose to pay with the service.

The bank said that with industry average BNPL costs to businesses at around 4 per cent per transaction, “BNPL fees are costing Australian businesses hundreds of millions of dollars a year.”

CommBank plans to apply “robust criteria” to approve customers based on specific eligibility and credit assessments.

“As the leading digital bank in Australia, we believe we are best placed to offer our customers a prudent and responsible BNPL option based on the trends and insights sourced from real time transaction data over many years,” Mr Sullivan added.

According to the bank, eligible customers will be able to apply for the product where they show evidence of a regular salary deposited into a CBA transaction account which can cover repayment instalments. CommBank’s BNPL will only be available to customers following internal and external credit assessments.

It said that the development of the new service follows recent research showing 76 per cent of Australians who currently use BNPL are interested in using a BNPL service offered by their main bank.

Share Story: