Cape Debuts 'Recession Fighting' Credit Card

Cape, a new Australian FinTech made up of professionals in finance, is debuting its new “recession fighting” credit card, powered by open banking and intended to allow access to new functions like buy now, pay later (BNPL), according to a report from AltFi.

The card will let companies manage their finances through live file management and make revenue-based repayments, too.

The new card is expected to be launched in 2021 and is targeted toward small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), AltFi writes.

Cape is made up of a team of veterans of other FinTechs, including former Funding Options managing director Ryan Edwards-Pritchard, former 11:FS senior product manager Edo Omoniyi, and Steve Martin, previously of OutFund and Funding Circle.

Edwards-Pritchard, CEO for Cape, said the new card was intended to help bolster businesses hurting because of the current landscape. Many SMEs, he said, will fail because of a lack of access to working capital or other support in the current economy, which will lead to those companies’ “ambition, energy & creativity extinguished, along with reduced consumer choice and countless jobs,” AltFi wrote.

“We know already from our work in the FinTech and digital sectors that businesses are facing hurdles when it comes to accessing credit having been locked out of business lending, equity investments or simply are nervous about external finance in the current climate," he said, according to AltFi.

BNPL payment structures have emerged as a popular new mode of purchasing things, as people have had to tighten their belts against the pandemic's economic effects. Common plans offer four-installment payments as ways to buy items.

According to recent numbers from PYMNTS’ September Buy Now, Pay Later Tracker® in conjunction with AfterPay, online spending with U.S. retailers spiked 44 percent year-over-year in the second quarter. BNPL services, according to the findings, boosted SMBs through greater flexibility and helping businesses to make sure they kept sales going in some way or other.