Australia’s Afterpay, Westpac End 2-Year Partnership

Australian payments company Afterpay has ended its partnership with Westpac Banking after Afterpay canceled a smartphone app it was running with the bank.

Afterpay will instead focus on integrating its products with those of new owner Block — formerly Square — meaning it will close “Money,” the personal finance app it began running with Westpac last year, Reuters reported Friday (Aug. 26).

Westpac — also based in Australia — first teamed up with Afterpay in 2020 to offer its Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) platform to Afterpay customers.

Read more: Afterpay Teams With Westpac to Offer Banking Services

The decision to part ways cuts off Westpac from Afterpay’s base of younger customers who tend to enjoy smartphone-friendly financial products, Reuters reported.

It also clears the way for Block to start selling its Cash App service, which allows people to send money to each other, in Australia. In the United States and Britain, where Cash App operates, Block generates profit by collecting fees from people sending each other bitcoin, the report stated.

“Our decision to move in this new direction is due to our exciting next chapter with Block, particularly as we think about Cash App opportunities here in Australia,” said Lee Hatton, head of the decomissioned app Money by Afterpay, in the report.

A spokesperson for Afterpay told Reuters the company would halt new user signups immediately before shutting down the app Oct. 10.

A Westpac spokesperson told Reuters the company is “proud of being first to market in Australia with our digital Banking-as-a-Service business” and of the work it has done with Afterpay.

Earlier this week, Square completed its integration with Clearpay — as Afterpay is known in Britain — a move that offers buy now, pay later (BNPL) functionality to online and eCommerce merchants. The integration makes the U.K. the first market where the company has launched BNPL across all platforms at once.

See more: Square Carves Out Piece of UK BNPL Space With Clearpay