Visa BNPL offering to launch to ANZ customers

Visa’s buy now, pay later (BNPL) product will soon be available for customers of major bank Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited (ANZ) following a new partnership between the two finance giants and the Melbourne-based fintech Quest Payment Solutions (Quest). 

The BNPL product, which is expected to be available to ANZ customers in 2022, will be enable Australians with an existing ANZ credit card to make purchases in-store and online through interest-free instalments. 

Merchants who utilise Quest-integrated point of sale software will also be provided access – with ANZ stating that it expects more merchant terminal operators will eventually join the rollout. 

Like other BNPL products across the globe, Visa Instalments will allow consumers to repay their debts over instalments without being charged interest if they pay their instalments off on time. 

Visa’s offering was first launched as a pilot in 2019 and has since been introduced to the US, Canada, Malaysia and Russia.

Speaking of the announcement, ANZ’s head of cards and personal lending Mike Shurlin said that the major bank was “always on the lookout for products and services that add genuine value to our customers”, and that the ability for consumers to make instalment payments was a “key feature that many of them want". 

“We want to provide our customers with flexibility in how they manage their purchases, which is why we are pleased to work with Visa on launching this new feature.

 “We know many of our customers will use this option for certain purchases while choosing a standard credit card transaction for other items. Having that choice with no need for additional steps means they have a simple and secure feature through their existing card," he said.

Mr Shurlin continued: "We have worked with Visa on a number of customer solutions in the past, including a wide range of mobile payments and loyalty solutions, and we share the same focus: making payments simple, flexible and secure for our customers. We look forward to working with Visa to bring this exciting new payment option to our customers."

Visa's group country manager for Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific, Julian Potter, said: “There is overwhelming demand in Australia for BNPL financing through consumers' existing, trusted financial institution.

"We're proud to work with our long-standing partner, ANZ on the first rollout of Visa Instalments that has been built from the ground up – at the network level – to be deployed in-store and across e-commerce channels without the need for consumers or businesses to do anything new. 

“Now Australians' credit cards can buy now, pay later, too."

Quest’s head of SME and alternative payments Luke Fuller said that the fintech was “delighted to be working closely with Visa” to offer instalment payments through its products. 

“In making this available through our omnichannel payment gateway solutions, retailers will be able to offer instalment payment options to their customers both online and in-store," Mr Fuller added.

Growing BNPL Australian presence

The announcement of the ANZ-Visa-Quest partnership is the latest in a series of BNPL arrangements being rolled out by banks. 

Earlier this month, Mastercard confirmed that its BNPL offering, named Mastercard Installments, would be made available to both lenders and fintechs. 

Citibank's new BNPL offering Spot. is expected to launch this month and Suncorp Bank also recently declared that it would be releasing a Visa-backed BNPL offering, named PayLater.

The Commonwealth Bank of Australia in August launched its BNPL offering StepPay earlier this year, while Westpac’s New Zealand arm also confirmed it had entered into a joint venture agreement with BNPL provider humm group in July to release a product named bundll to the country.

One of the largest players in the BNPL market, Afterpay, also recntly announced that it had entered into a scheme implementation deed with Silicon Valley-based digital payments company Square Inc.

Expected to close “in the first quarter of calendar year 2022”, subject to shareholder, regulatory and court approvals, the deal would see ASX-listed company be fully acquired by the San Francisco payments fintech in a deal worth approximately $39 billion.

It will be the largest acquisition deal in waiting and one of the largest acquisition deals in Australian history.

[Related: Mastercard extends BNPL offering to lenders]