Westpac NZ teams with BNPL player

Westpac NZ’s venture capital firm Red Bird Ventures has entered the agreement to roll out humm’s product bundll to the New Zealand consumer finance market.

The arrangement will allow Red Bird the option to take an equity stake in bundll New Zealand.

The new partnership is the first contract under humm group’s global agreement with Mastercard, allowing the bundll product to be offered across the Mastercard network.

While all New Zealanders will have access to bundll, Westpac NZ customers will be offered preferential benefits.

Humm group chief executive Rebecca James commented the arrangement will allow Westpac the benefits of having a buy now, pay later (BNPL) offering, “without having to build the product”.

“This is our first deal under our strategic agreement with Mastercard, and we are actively in discussions with a number of banks, loyalty programs and financial institutions about similar potential partnerships around the globe,” Ms James said.

Mastercard and humm signed the global agreement in November 2020, teaming up to take bundll into new regions.

Richard Wormald, division president at Mastercard Australasia, stated a scheme-based solution is “ideal for banks who do not want the effort and risks associated with a closed loop model”.

“With bundll, humm group [has] developed a unique solution that easily allows banks, loyalty programs or larger retailers to offer a solution to their customers, without needing to undertake any IT development,” Mr Wormald said.

“We are excited about the potential this has globally.”

Bundll will be available to New Zealand consumers from August.

Westpac recently reversed out of its intentions to sell its New Zealand arm, deciding to retain ownership in June.

Meanwhile, it sold its New Zealand life insurance business for $373 million, after offloading its Aussie general insurer for $725 million.