Chinese giants Tencent and Ant Financial have found value in the buy now pay later industry with the companies buying stakes in some of the leading firms; Tencent bought a 5 percent stake in AfterPay and Ant Financial bought a minority stake in Klarna; “Afterpay’s blending of payments and lending was an approach that stood out,” said James Mitchell, Tencent’s Chief Strategy Officer, to the FT. “Afterpay’s service aligns so well with consumer trends we see developing globally”, he added; buy now pay later has been one of the bright spots within the fintech market since the crisis began; companies are essentially taking on an unsecured consumer loan which could end up putting them at risk if the crisis lasts longer than expected and unemployment keeps rising. Financial Times
