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The Monday Roundup: what we are watching this week | September 26th

By Gaia Lamperti

September 26, 2022

  • Australia
  • Banks
  • Bitcoin
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Monday

The Monday Roundup sets the scene for the week’s biggest news stories, industry deals, and upcoming events. For Prime subscribers only.

BNPL worldwide

Amazon and Affirm are extending their BNPL partnership to Canada, following the rollout of the service in the US last year. Canadian customers who select Affirm as a payment option during checkout on Amazon.ca will go through a quick, soft credit check that won’t impact their credit score but will determine available payment options for each customer. If approved, eligible customers will be able to split their purchases of $50 or more into monthly payments. “We’re always looking to enhance the paying experience for our customers, including how and when they can pay for their orders,” says David Williams, VP, Amazon Payment Products.

One in seven users of credit from BNPL providers in Australia, such as Afterpay or Zip, had more than 20 loans last year, according to new data from consumer group Choice. The survey also found that consumers were using BNPL services to cover essential bills, with one in six using short-term loans to cover supermarket purchases and 14% to pay for power. BNPL has boomed in popularity in Australia but most of the companies offering it have struggled to turn a profit and the sector faces a looming regulatory crackdown over concerns about consumer debts.

What they say about crypto…

Digital assets continue to act as risk assets, falling as global interest rates rise, Bank of America said in a research report Friday. Still, positive signs of recovery have been referred to stablecoin inflows, especially last week when they jumped to $490 million, 58% higher than the previous week, the report said, as “real world use cases like payments/remittances are adopted and real-world data providers like decentralized oracle networks increase functionality.”

JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon compared cryptocurrencies to Ponzi schemes, in a testimony to Congress earlier this week. He himself a “major skeptic on crypto tokens” and elaborated that cryptocurrency, such as Bitcoin, had been used frequently for “illicit purposes” and are “decentralised Ponzi schemes, and the notion that it is good for anybody is unbelievable.” The JPMorgan executive has criticised cryptocurrency before, for example in an interview with CNBC, calling Bitcoin a “terrible store of value.”

Where is the buzz

The UK’s FinTech industry may lose its competitive edge as a result of new government reforms, said think London-based tank Parliament Street warning that the latest UK regulations have ‘suffocated’ London’s FintTech growth. The report is in contrast to recent studies that have shown the UK fintech market to be the second most dynamic globally, surpassed only by the US in terms of sheer volume and start-up innovations.

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