Five buy now, pay later players on track to be accredited in April

They will get to display a trustmark showing compliance with code of conduct

- Chor Khieng

Five providers of buy now, pay later (BNPL) services are on track to get accredited and will be able to display from April 1 Trustmark which shows that they have been assessed to be in compliance with the BNPL Code of Conduct.

The five are Atome, SeaMoney, Grab, LatitudePay and Abnk.ai, said Mr Shadab Taiyabi, president of the Singapore FinTech Association (SFA), in response to queries from The Straits Times.

BNPL allows consumers to make purchases and spread their payments over a few months without having to incur interest on the outstanding amount.

The SFA had announced in November 2023 that six players Ablr, Atome, Grab, LatitudePay, SeaMoney and ShopBack were on track for accreditation.

There has been a small shake-up in the industry here since. ShopBack and Ablr pulled out, while a new company, Abnk.ai, joined the group seeking accreditation.

ShopBack said in early March that it will discontinue its Pay Later service in Singapore and Malaysia.

Ablr told ST that it "will be replaced by another company", which ST understands to be Abnk.ai.

Fintech firm Abnk.ai chief executive Ian Ow has confirmed that his company is in the process of obtaining the industry trustmark.

In August 2023, Pace, an up-and-coming BNPL fintech firm, went into voluntary liquidation after it was unable to continue business operations because of its liabilities.

Mr Tristan Chiappini, vice president for the Asia-Pacific region at PPRO, said it is "very normal" for players to come and go in the payments business.

PPRO provides digital payments infrastructure that facilitates cross-border digital payments transactions.

"Who is to say that ShopBack won't bring back BNPL in a year's time," he said.