The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) share price is heading south today despite the company's latest investment.
At the time of writing, CBA shares are treading 0.38% lower to $93.74 apiece. It's worth noting that the bank's shares have lost around 7% in the past month.
CBA teams up with fintech Paypa Plane
In an announcement today, Australia's largest bank advised that it has acquired a 20% stake in Brisbane-based fintech Paypa Plane.
Founded in 2018, Paypa Plane is a digital payments provider that helps businesses request and receive digital payments from customers.
Paypa Plane uses PayTo, a new payments platform-based product to allow businesses to make real-time direct debit payments to customers.
CBA's investment is intended to create a digital link between a business and a payer, giving more control and transparency. This means it can provide significant cost savings and cash-flow assurance to businesses, as well as in-built compliance and customer care.
CBA group executive business banking Mike Vacy-Lyle commented:
Our partnership will accelerate CBA's delivery of PayTo for our business customers and over time, open up other new capabilities to revolutionise the payments experience for businesses and consumers.
The New Payments Platform is a significant initiative for Australia's digital economy and has already brought the benefits of real-time payments to consumers and businesses. Today's announcement is part of our continued investment in our payments ecosystems, and the NPP, to bring the best payments experiences to our customers.
We want to help our business customers offer quality payment experiences that delight their customers, maximise their ability to get paid, and spend less time on administration and collections…
About the CBA share price
Over the past 12 months, the CBA share price has nudged up more than 5% in value. However, year to date, the company's shares are down more than 7% amid weak investor sentiment.
On valuation grounds, CBA is the second-largest company on the ASX with a market capitalisation of approximately $159 billion.
