Afterpay Readies Money App Roll Out

Australian buy now pay later (BNPL) startup Afterpay is piloting a new money and lifestyle app that will offer users a savings account and debit card. The test run is initially rolling out to the firm’s Australia staff, with plans to go live to the public in October.

Afterpay Co-CEOs Anthony Eisen and Nick Molnar said in a press release that the Money by Afterpay app is intended to make money management for its customers “simple, frictionless and stress-free” while also upholding its company “commitment” to championing “responsible spending.”

The savings account and debit card solution was developed on the Westpac Bank infrastructure following a partnership developed in October 2020. This is the first product the two entities are launching together.

 “To bring a money app to life in 10 months demonstrates that we can quickly move at pace to get well ahead of customer expectations and bring both cutting-edge features and true ‘surprise and delight’ to the experience,” Eisen and Molnar said.

The app gives people a way to check their BNPL balance, installments, spending account and savings. Customers can earn an interest rate of 1 percent p.a. on up to 15 different savings accounts, the company said. 

Afterpay Executive Vice President of New Platforms Lee Hatton said that the app was developed to help Gen Z and Millennials “spend, save, and play.” 

Hatton added that the company has plans to regularly offer “new and unique” tools and solutions to their customers and “quickly act on feedback in near real-time.”

The money app offers one daily account with a physical debit card, digital wallet features, and real-time payments and transfers. The company logged over 1,400 hours of customer research that showed that a large number of Gen Z and Millennial customers “don’t trust their own money behaviors.” 

Afterpay’s partnership with Westpac introduced the BNPL tool to Westpac’s new banking-as-a-service (BaaS). The collaboration also gave Afterpay the opportunity to offer its user base checking and savings accounts using Westpac’s infrastructure.