Australia’s Federal Government has warned of incoming regulations for the multi-billion dollar ‘buy now, pay later’ (BNPL) industry.
BNPL services, which includes Afterpay and Zip, have quickly become one of the most popular ways to buy goods and services, particularly amongst young Australian consumers.
It is estimated that there are approximately 20 BNPL services available in the Australian market.
Earlier this week, Financial Services Minister Stephen Jones said the sector could soon face similar oversight measures as credit cards.
“We want innovation, we want people to have access to these great products but we want to ensure that there’s proper guardrails in place,” Jones said on Today.
“There is a small percentage of the market where people are getting into hot water. We don’t want to see people in the same situation they were in the bad old days of the credit market where they might have had five, six, seven, or eight credit cards.”
Jones suggested the main measure the government hopes to implement would be credit background checks for users.
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