If anybody needs some bedtime reading. The sleeping issue here for Australia might be that the RBA might decide that BNPL players will have to conform with all regulations applying to credit cards etc once BNPL is at a large enough scale. All of the banks jumping in should add scale. I'm sure the banks will be complaining loudly and pulling strings if they are "being penalised for doing the right thing".
https://www.rba.gov.au/publications...lopments-in-the-buy-now-pay-later-market.htmlSummaryThe BNPL market in Australia has been growing rapidly, with strong consumer and merchant adoption, and the range of available services is increasing. While the development of new payment services such as BNPL has the potential to enhance the efficiency of the payments system by providing services that are valuable to end users, stakeholders have observed that merchants are unable to levy a surcharge to recoup the relatively high cost of accepting BNPL payments. Among other things, this has raised issues around the competitive neutrality of payments regulation given that the card schemes are not permitted to impose no-surcharge rules.
The Bank is currently considering the policy issues raised by BNPL providers' no-surcharge rules. While the PSB has not reached any conclusions at this time, its preliminary view is that the BNPL operators in Australia have not yet reached a point where it is clear that the costs arising from a no-surcharge rule outweigh the potential benefits in terms of innovation. Over time, however, a public policy case could emerge for the removal of the no-surcharge rules in at least some BNPL arrangements. Bank staff are continuing to engage with stakeholders on this issue, including on potential criteria for determining the point at which it may be in the public interest for no-surcharge rules to be removed.
