This time last year, the rapid rise of “buy now, pay later” (BNPL) platforms was cause for concern among banks and analysts. Banks noted a generational shift away from credit cards in favour of instalments, while pundits wondered if young consumers — some still of schooling age — could make good on those purchases.
A year later, the pressure has shifted upstream to the platforms themselves. Shopping and rewards platform Shopback acquired BNPL platform Hoolah last November, while fintech company Pace Enterprise mounted the first takeover of a BNPL competitor here by acquiring Rely in March.
As a market and a base of operations, is Singapore too small for BNPL ambitions? Turochas “T” Fuad, founder and CEO of Pace, prefers to adopt a “blue ocean” ideology and maintains that things are looking up.
