A not-so "swift" response
|
|
Another week, another harrowing tale of the potential harm of buy-now-pay-later (BNPL).
Citizens Advice published a study finding that debt collectors are chasing one-in-10 shoppers after using BNPL and racking up debt they could not service.
While the BBC explored the tale of Jordon, who ended up in precisely that situation, being chased by debt collectors after racking up £200 in BNPL debt and then lost his job.
The Government in February proclaimed it was “acting swiftly” to protect consumers and the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, John Glen (pictured), reiterated that they would be regulating the industry with new rules. However, seven months later and little has changed.
|
BNPL is still heavily marketed and pushed at online checkouts, while shoppers aren’t being checked for affordability or existing debts, and are often unclear about their borrowing.
Nothing about BNPL is intrinsically harmful. It’s clear that the ability to quickly and responsibly split or delay payments for millions of people has been a powerful force for good.
But, for a worrying minority of high-risk and vulnerable customers, BNPL is potentially very harmful.
As we write in the AltFi leader article today: “Hurried regulation in the financial sector—particularly in fintech—is not necessarily a good thing. But leaving it too late can be damaging. For businesses as well as consumers.”
The regulatory grey area of BNPL needs to be addressed and, for policymakers, the pressure is mounting.
|
|
Customers will be able to apply for and split credit facilities of between £2,000 and £30,000 into three monthly chunks almost instantly.
|
|
AltFi's Alternative Lending State Of The Market Report 2021
This year our landmark report examines the impact of Covid-19 on the UK, European and US alternative lending markets, how Government-backed lending schemes have both helped and hindered lenders, and where new technologies like open banking and embedded finance are starting to take off.
Download your free copy now 📃
|
|
AltFi Open Banking 2021 📱
6 October 2021 | 13:00-17:00 UK Time
Virtual Event
AltFi’s Open Banking Forum will delve into four critical open banking topics with a series of afternoon discussions centred around the theme of seizing the $400bn global open banking opportunity.
Register for free now 🎫
|
|
AltFi Lending Forum 2021 💸
4 November 2021 | 10:00-16:00 UK Time
Face-to-Face Event | etc.venues Bishopsgate
Despite a tempestuous period during the pandemic, the alternative finance, fintech lending and digital banking space is more robust than ever. The sector has made it through its first major economic crisis while proving itself as an important part of the broader economy. Exciting lending innovation is also alive and well in the form of open banking, embedded finance, Buy-Now-Pay-Later and digital identity.
Register for free now - Spaces are limited! 🎫
|
|
Where Open Banking and Buy Now, Pay Later meet 🤑
2 September 2021 | On-demand
Bringing together experts from the soon-to-be-regulated Buy Now Pay Later and Open Banking sectors, we took a look at the incoming regulation, its likely effect, and the role that Open Banking can play in maintaining seamless experiences while remaining compliant.
Watch on-demand now 📺
|
|
AltFi Digital Wealth Forum 2021 💰
14 July 2021, On-demand
AltFi’s inaugural Digital Wealth Forum will delve into four key topics with a series of afternoon discussions; all centred around the theme of accelerating change in the wealth management, savings and investment sectors.
Watch on-demand now 📺
|
|
Alternative Lending: What is the State of the Market? 💳
8 July 2021, On-demand
A special webinar to explore the themes of AltFi's Alternative Lending State of the Market Report 2021, including SME lending over the past year, embedded finance, the US lending market and much more.
Watch on-demand now 📺
|
|
The AltFi Festival of Finance 2021 🎪
22-24 June 2021, On-demand
Explore the second AltFi Festival of Finance across 35+ sessions exploring the post-pandemic fintech world through open banking, alternative lending, embedded finance, DeFi and much, much more.
Watch on-demand now 📺
|
|
Want more webinars? Check out AltFi's webinar archive here.
|
|
|
|
By Aisling Finn on Monday 06 September 2021
Users can deposit up to £30,000 into the new account, which offers 0.70 per cent interest and is FSCS protected.
By Aisling Finn on Monday 06 September 2021
O’Connor was a founding member of Mastercard Asia Pacific and currently holds a number of board positions in Africa-centric companies.
By Aisling Finn on Monday 06 September 2021
Mariko Beising will guide TrueLayer as it looks to manage and define new and existing partnerships.
By Daniel Lanyon on Monday 06 September 2021
Stuart Gregory joins from Wise (formerly TransferWise), where he was managing director of Wise Business and Wise Platform.
By AltFi on Monday 06 September 2021
High octane growth in the sector is impressive but clarity is needed as to how, when or if new regulation is coming.
By Karol Leszczynski on Monday 06 September 2021
Transferring key resources to a virtual sphere is having a moment these days. But will we ever look back, asks Karol Leszczynski, factoring product manager at Comarch Financial Services.
By Oliver Smith on Friday 03 September 2021
Zero commission share trading is also coming to the US by the end of 2021.
By Aisling Finn on Friday 03 September 2021
Participants will need to build open banking solutions focused on using this new form of recurring payments.
By Daniel Lanyon on Friday 03 September 2021
Citizens Advice says it fears for many people BNPL can be a slippery slope into debt.
By Aisling Finn on Thursday 02 September 2021
Customers will be able to apply for and split credit facilities of between £2,000 and £30,000 into three monthly chunks almost instantly.
By Oliver Smith on Thursday 02 September 2021
After moving to the London Stock Exchange’s main market in July.
By Aisling Finn on Thursday 02 September 2021
eCommerce-based SMEs can apply for finance from £1,000 to £50,000 as of today.
By Aisling Finn on Thursday 02 September 2021
The alternative lender is also on track to hit £500m lent out to SMEs.
By Oliver Smith on Thursday 02 September 2021
Now users can sell case investments to each other within strict parameters.
By Oliver Smith on Thursday 02 September 2021
The former Doqit Technologies exec is aiming to double the size of Liberis’s engineering team.
By Oliver Smith on Wednesday 01 September 2021
Now you can switch energy and broadband, check your credit score and apply for a loan, all from Zopa’s app.
By Aisling Finn on Wednesday 01 September 2021
Sweden is the home of Ikea, ABBA and now, by the looks of it, buy-now-pay-later.
By Aisling Finn on Wednesday 01 September 2021
The digital bank is also rolling out a new feature to allow customers to add IBANs from multiple European countries to their accounts all in its app.
By Oliver Smith on Wednesday 01 September 2021
Helping the advisor community access lending for small business clients.
By Daniel Lanyon on Wednesday 01 September 2021
BNPL provider Laybuy launches app-exclusive shopping giving customers access to hundreds of brands – including Amazon, eBay, ASOS and Nike.
By Daniel Lanyon on Tuesday 31 August 2021
The crypto investment start-up also saw backing by investment outfit High-Tech Gründerfonds, as well as a number of other tech angel investors.
By Oliver Smith on Tuesday 31 August 2021
Appointments come ahead of an anticipated £10m funding round.
By Aisling Finn on Tuesday 31 August 2021
PayPal has allegedly already held talks with several industry partners as it looks to explore investment opportunities for its US customers.
By Nick Raper on Tuesday 31 August 2021
Open banking-based payments have not yet emerged as a truly competitive alternative to mainstream methods such as credit cards but change might be starting, writes Nick Raper, Director at Nuapay UK
By Oliver Smith on Tuesday 31 August 2021
Great to see some familiar names on the list.
By Aisling Finn on Tuesday 31 August 2021
The third instalment of our deep dive into fun and quirky fintech app features you should probably know about.
By Daniel Lanyon on Tuesday 31 August 2021
Customers of Amazon in the US will soon have the option to embrace 'buy now, pay later' services via a new partnership with Affirm.
|
|
From all at AltFi,
Have a great week!
Please get in touch with any questions, comments or feedback:
|
|
Too many emails? 😅
If you'd like to stop ALL our newsletters 😢
|
|
Copyright © 2021 AltFi, all rights reserved.
You are receiving this email as a subscriber to AltFi's newsletters.
|
|
|
|