• Standard Bank will provide buy-now-pay-later fintech Float with an $11 million revolving credit facility.
• The facility will be used to further Float’s reach as it looks continue the growth it has enjoyed thus far.
• Float offers the ability for customers to use their existing credit facilities to buy products now and pay them off in installments.

As you’ve surfed through the digital storefronts of local retailers you may have encountered the name Float. If you haven’t you may start to see it more often soon. Standard Bank has announced that it has provided Float with an $11 million revolving credit facility to assist in the rollout of the fintech’s credit card-based buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) platform.

This platform allows buyers to make use of their existing credit card to make purchases and repay in a series of instalments.

BNPL supporting stores and brands include Cape Union Mart, Acer, Baby n More, iStore, and many many more.

“Partnering with Standard Bank is a major milestone for our business and is a huge vote of confidence in our model, its value to the payments ecosystem, and the future prospects of our team and business. The support from Standard Bank comes at a time when we’re approaching an inflection point in our growth and will be pivotal in fueling our business as we scale,” Float’s founder and chief executive officer Alex Forsyth-Thompson said in a statement.

Float works with an existing Visa or Mastercard credit card and instalments can run for as many as 24 months. The fintech claims it charges no additional interest or fees and buyers don’t need to take out an additional line of credit. Importantly, it doesn’t run credit checks which is good news for those watching their credit profile. Not running a credit check is a risky move from where we’re sitting but as purchases are made using your available credit limit, we suppose the risk there is minimal.

“South African credit consumers reward merchants that offer them flexible and responsible payment options with their business and their loyalty. Float gives them exactly that and the result has been a drastic increase in conversion rates and, based on a recent case study across hundreds of our merchants, a 134% increase in our merchant’s average order values. We have new merchants and partnerships in the pipeline and this funding ensures that we can continue to scale for the next few years,” Forsyth-Thompson adds.

This looks like a good investment on Standard Bank’s part and while it is just providing a credit facility, the bank could eventually welcome Float into its fold. The fact that the fintech has seen transaction volumes increase 400 percent since 2021 is rather attractive.

With this in mind, expect to see Float branding on more online and brick and mortar stores as the fintech chases rapid expansion via BNPL.