Zip welcomes BNPL industry regulatory reform

Buy-now-pay-later pioneer Zip have welcomed today’s announcement with regard to regulatory reform for the BNPL sector.

Zip’s Co-Founder and Global Chief Operating Officer Peter Gray said, “Zip has been a vocal advocate of fit-for-purpose regulation for our industry since 2019 and we support the decision to further strengthen the BNPL regulatory framework proposed by Treasury as Option 2.

“For Zip, Option 2 means ‘business as usual’ as we have had an Australian Credit Licence (ACL) since inception (2013) and our Zip Money product is fully regulated under the NCCPA – we operate our Zip Pay product in a similar fashion.

“We are already conducting identity, credit and affordability checks on our customers, and have done since inception in 2013, and would already be compliant with any new requirements. As a result, we have very good visibility over a customer’s financial circumstances prior to signing them up. We generate less than 1% of our revenue from late fees and 0.2% of our customers are in hardship.

“With BNPL now well and truly established and some 7 million Australians adopting better and simpler ways to pay, this will provide clarity and consistency across the sector, deliver confidence to stakeholders and build on the already very high levels of trust we have with our customers.

“We look forward to further engaging with Treasury and Government on next steps, knowing that Option 2 provides a sensible balance between consumer protection and minimum standards, whilst also promoting competition and innovation.”