By Stuart Condie
SYDNEY–The Australian Securities and Investments Commission said its order for Humm Group to temporarily stop signing up new buy-now-pay-later customers is part of a wider review of the sector by regulators.
The interim order is part of a review of so-called target-market determinations issued by BNPL providers, ASIC said in an email on Friday.
These determinations, required by the securities regulator, specify the conditions and restrictions on consumer products and note who is likely to acquire them.
Humm is actively engaging with ASIC to address concerns, ASIC said.
Australia’s federal government this week said that buy-now-pay-later services, which surged in popularity in the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic as online shopping grew in popularity, will be regulated in the same way as traditional credit providers in an attempt to address worries that some consumers are taking on too much debt.
Humm previously said it welcomed the regulation.
Humm’s shares were down 8.2% at A$0.39. Shares of fellow installment-payment providers Zip Co., Latitude Group and Splitit Payments were down between 1.8% and 6.25.
Write to Stuart Condie at stuart.condie@wsj.com
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