In morning trade the Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) share price is pushing higher again.
At the time of writing, the payments company's shares are up 2% to $149.43 and closing in on a new record high.
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Why is the Afterpay share price pushing higher?
Investors have been buying the company's shares for a couple of reasons on Wednesday.
One is another very strong night of trade on Wall Street's Nasdaq index. The technology-focused index jumped 1.6% higher overnight after investor sentiment improved as GameStop trading started to fizzle out.
Also giving its shares a lift was the release of an update on its UK-based Clearpay business. This was in response to the Woolard Review proposal, which is aiming to bring the buy now pay later (BNPL) industry under Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) oversight with proportionate regulation.
What did Afterpay announce?
According to the release, Clearpay has welcomed the publication of the Woolard Review. It notes that the report acknowledges the varied nature of the market and that the UK BNPL industry needs proportionate regulation to protect consumers going forward.
Clearpay stated that it has always supported fit for purpose regulation that recognises the diversity of the industry and the desire from consumers for flexible payment options that don't trap them in with long term debt.
Clearpay's EVP of Public Policy, Damian Kassabgi, commented: "We welcome today's recommendations and look forward to working with the FCA, the government and stakeholders to build on the consumer protections we already provide to create the applicable regulation for the sector."
"It has always been Clearpay's view that consumers will be best served by products designed with strong safeguards and appropriate industry regulation with oversight from the FCA. We are pleased that many of the suggestions we put forward in our submission to the Woolard review have been acknowledged and that the review has recognised the diverse nature of the industry," he added.
Afterpay has faced this sort of review previously in Australia and came out on top. Investors will no doubt be optimistic it will be a similar story in the UK.
