A big-four Australian bank is pouring millions into a Sydney-based fintech in order to link its customer base with fast-growing digital payment and credit services.
Westpac is investing A$40 million into Zipmoney, a fintech firm taking on the credit card industry with interest-free loans for online consumers, according to a statement.
This makes a whopping A$300 million that Zipmoney has raised, after it clinched A$260 million in financing from National Australian Bank just months ago.
The fintech will get access to Westpac's customer network and its traditional banking expertise. The fintech also uses big data to facilitate fraud detection and real-time credit decisions via proprietary technology.
Taking on Visa, Mastercard
Zipmoney, which is listed, says it has 665,000 users and more than A$300 million in transaction volume, and wants to become as well-known as Visa or Mastercard. The Westpac investment includes another A$8 million in performance options.
«Banks are coming to understand that partnering with fintechs will be one of the few ways they will be able to reach next generation of consumers and keep pace with disruptive technological and behavioural change,» Zipmoney co-founder Larry Diamond told «The Australian».
U.S. investment bank Morgan Stanley advised Zipmoney, with Arnold Bloch Leibler acting as a legal advisor.
