Briefs: Zip invests in Indian BNPL, Velocity Global Wallet fee alert, and more

Zip Co has acquired a minority interest in Indian buy now pay later company ZestMoney, which it says is one of the largest and fastest growing BNPL providers in India. It has 11 million customers and 10,000 online merchants. Zip did not disclose its shareholding but said it invested US$50 million and has negotiated terms to increase its shareholding over time.

Consumer group Choice has advised consumers with Velocity Global Wallet accounts to check changes to the travel money card’s terms and conditions, warning that its inactivity fees have risen sharply. Velocity put the product in runoff last November and notified account holders that they must spend their balances or request a funds transfer by the end of October. Choice said that in April the inactivity fee (no transactions for 30 days) went up from 50 basis points a month to 1.5 per cent a week.

Westpac has terminated its agreement with Kina Securities for the sale of Westpac’s Pacific businesses, a week after Papua New Guinea’s Independent Consumer and Competition Commission denied authorisation for the A$420 million deal. The ICCC cited “likely effects on competition”, saying the PNG banking market was already highly concentrated. Westpac said in a statement yesterday that it will continue to run the businesses while assessing other exit opportunities.