The Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) share price could be on the move today after signing a partnership with banking giant Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC).
What has been announced?
This morning Afterpay revealed that it has entered into a collaboration agreement to facilitate the introduction of Afterpay savings accounts and cash flow tools for customers in Australia.
According to the release, the new money management services will be facilitated by Westpac's new digital bank-as-a-service platform.
The partnership will allow Afterpay to provide Westpac transaction and savings accounts and other cashflow management tools to its 3.3 million customers in Australia from the second quarter of 2021.
Afterpay expects the service to empower customers to have greater control over their budget, with an efficient and seamless digital user experience.
The company also notes that the collaboration brings efficiency benefits to its existing activities from a risk management and processing cost perspective. In addition, it has the potential to facilitate new revenue streams over time, without needing to develop traditional banking or credit products.
"Global opportunity."
Afterpay's CEO, Anthony Eisen, commented: "We believe Australians deserve greater support and insight to help manage their money. Together with the power of our retail platform, the latest banking technology from 10x, and the support of Westpac, we will begin by offering cashflow management in a simple way."
"Afterpay is in a unique position to extend and deepen the relationship with our customers and help them to manage their money more seamlessly through savings and budgeting tools. For Afterpay, this is clearly just the beginning as we explore this opportunity globally," he said.
This positive sentiment was echoed by Westpac's CEO, Peter King.
He said: "We are very pleased to be able to offer our digital bank-as-a-service platform to one of Australia's most prolific fintech innovations, Afterpay. This collaboration reflects our strategy to meet the changing needs of customers and demonstrates our desire to partner with differentiated business models that provide alternative ways for consumers to spend and manage their finances."
"We look forward to launching our platform in Q2 with Afterpay and will continue to work together to identify ways in which our partnership can add further value to consumers," he added.
In other news.
This isn't the only industry news this morning. Rival Zip Co Ltd (ASX: Z1P) has just announced plans to launch a "Tap & Zip" option on Visa terminals.
It notes that just 13% of stores in Australia are able to accept buy now, pay later options. Management feels Tap & Zip addresses this significant and untapped customer need.
