Speakers at the Open Banking Expo BNPL Symposium discuss regulation and consolidation

At the inaugural Open Banking Expo Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) Symposium in association with TransUnion, speakers from Biller, Barclays Partner Finance, TransUnion and Zip discussed what shape incoming regulation might take and why consolidation may be on the cards.

The Symposium was opened by Shail Deep, chief product officer at TransUnion in the UK, who talked about how TransUnion became the first UK credit reference agency to accept BNPL data into UK consumer credit reports.

TransUnion UK’s Shail Deep

Shail Deep said: “It was an honour to open the BNPL Symposium this year and share how we at TransUnion are pioneering change in the credit ecosystem, to support the growing BNPL market, which remains the hottest trend in lending today.

“The BNPL sector is evolving, and TransUnion is at the forefront of changes within BNPL credit reporting that will create transparency and enable responsible lending. We’re really excited about how this additional data on this new proposition can provide better insights on consumer credit behaviours, helping lenders to make comprehensive creditworthiness assessments and hence stay ahead of the curve when it comes to serving and protecting consumers.”

Delegates at the half-day Symposium, held on 12 July in London, heard from Steve Wishart, director of fintech at TransUnion in the UK, Antony Stephen, CEO of Barclays Partner Finance, Ruth Spratt, UK country manager at Zip and Biller’s head of UK Ryan Glancy in a panel session titled ‘The $4 trillion big idea’.

The panellists agreed that regulation of the UK BNPL market is required to protect consumers, with Spratt calling for “proportionality” when the government brings in legislation.

Wishart, who also believes regulation of the sector is needed, referred to recent analysis conducted by TransUnion  showing that UK users of BNPL are not just Gen Z, but that they represent a range of demographics [i].

During the panel debate, Biller’s Glancy called for some friction in the payments process when it comes to BNPL, to ensure consumers are aware they are entering into a credit agreement before proceeding.

Finally, Stephen predicted that the BNPL sector, which is forecast to be valued at $4 trillion by 2030, will likely go through a period of consolidation.

[i] TransUnion Consumer Credit 2022, based on research conducted among 2,000 UK consumers, aged 18 and over, January 2022.