The Humm Group Ltd (ASX: HUM) share price is on watch after announcing a deal with Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC).
Humm and Westpac’s buy now pay later deal
Humm said that it has entered into a joint venture with Red Bird Ventures. Red bird is a subsidiary of Westpac’s New Zealand arm.
The deal will bring buy now pay later (BNPL) product ‘bundll’ to the New Zealand consumer finance market. Red bird will have the option to take an equity stake in bundll New Zealand.
Humm said that bundll will be the exclusive BNPL product promoted to New Zealanders by Westpac NZ.
The company said that this partnership is the first contract under its strategic global agreement with Mastercard Inc (NYSE: MA) and will make bundll available to all New Zealanders, with preferential benefits offered to Westpac NZ customers.
Bundll buy now pay later
Humm said that using the Mastercard network bundll allows customers to BNPL with no minimum spend, the first of its kind of New Zealand. Bundll combines purchases into instalments in a digital app.
Management said that Australian bundll users made more than one million transactions in the third quarter of FY21.
Bundll will be available to costumers in New Zealand from August 2021.
Management comments
Hummgroup Chief Executive Officer Rebecca James said: “We are delighted to be partnering with Westpac NZ to bring bundll to New Zealanders… This is our first deal under our strategic agreement with Mastercard and we are actively in discussions with a number of banks, loyalty programs and financial institutions about similar potential partnerships around the globe.”
Westpac NZ Head of Digital Ventures Lewis Billinghurst said: “As a leader in the New Zealand banking sector, we’re always looking for new and innovative ways to help people manage their finances and spend with confidence. Our customers are thinking differently about cash and credit: they want more options, flexibility and transparency. Hummgroup’s truly innovative product bundll will help them achieve this.”
Summary thoughts on Humm and the share price
The Humm share price is down by over 2% at the time of writing, however other BNPL shares are also down with Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) reportedly working on ‘Apple Pay later‘.
It’ll be interesting to see if this turns out to be a lucrative move for Humm, it does seem to be a move in the right direction towards its global strategy with Mastercard.
The BNPL space is very competitive and with competition constantly increasing, time will tell if they can all make a profit or if we see only a few large players thriving into the future.
I’m not an investor in BNPL shares, there are other ASX growth shares that I have my eye on instead.
