It's been an exhausting year keeping up with the Afterpay Ltd (ASX: APT) share price, especially through its sharp pullbacks between February and May.
But overall FY21 was a good year for Afterpay, with shares rising by 92%. Most of those gains came between July last year and January 2021.
With FY21 done and dusted, let's take a look at what the company has planned for FY22.
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What Afterpay is up to in FY22
Launch of Afterpay Money app
Back in February reporting season, the buy now, pay later (BNPL) pioneer revealed a new stand-alone app to help Australians manage their money.
The app will compete with household banking and neobank apps, offering classic features such as deposit and savings accounts. In addition, the app can link with an existing Afterpay account, bringing savings and BNPL information into one spot.
According to Afterpay's third-quarter results, the company has a "skeleton app in production with functioning deposit and savings accounts, with … prototype testing continuing with customers ahead of launch".
The company said its new app is expected to launch in the first half of FY22.
European expansion
On 16 March, the Afterpay share price increased 3.12% to $111.71 after a successful launch across France, Spain, and Italy through its subsidiary, Clearpay.
Following its initial launch into southern Europe, the company said: "Clearpay is on track to launch in Germany during H1 FY22."
Afterpay believes this will bolster its ecommerce market in Europe to more than 300 billion euros (A$494 billion).
Asia expansion
Expansion into Asia came into the conversation when Chinese internet giant Tencent acquired a 5% stake in Afterpay back in May 2020.
That announcement on 4 May witnessed a 30.3% surge in the Afterpay share price to $38.00.
At the time, Afterpay co-founders Anthony Eisen and Nick Molnar said this of the move. "To be able to tap into Tencent's vast experience and network is valuable, as is the potential to collaborate in areas such as technology, geographic expansion and future payment options on the Afterpay platform."
Afterpay has since established a base in Singapore to drive its development for the South-East Asian market. But besides the mention that its Asian base was an "early-stage investment" back in its half-year results, we haven't received an update since.
What happened to a potential US listing?
Afterpay's third-quarter results said the company was working with advisors to investigate prospects of a US listing. According to Afterpay, there was no timeline set for a board decision.
At the time of writing today, the Afterpay share price is $119.30 — up 0.96% on yesterday's close.
