• Opy, the US subsidiary of an Australian BNPL platform Openpay, has signed an agreement with leading financial services corporation American Express to provide BNPL solutions to American Express cardmembers and merchant partners.

• This marks American Express’s first third-party BNPL agreement and allows cardmembers in the US to fund purchases using Opy’s BNPL product. The solution will initially be rolled out to 40 American Express merchants in the healthcare and automotive sectors, focusing on higher-value purchases up to USD 20,000 with payment plans up to 24 months. The companies plan to collaborate on product development further by leveraging Openpay’s B2C and B2B platforms.

<ul><li> Analyst Quicktake: Openpay has been aggressive in its pursuit of the US market since October. It secured USD 271 million for its US expansion and partnered with Cross River Bank to fund its BNPL loans. For incumbents like American Express, tie-ups with disruptors are a common mode of operation and this announcement follows Stripe’s recent strategic partnership with leading disruptor Klarna.</ul>