Anthony Thomson named UK chair of Australian buy now, pay later firm Zip

After an incredible run co-founding three disruptive financial businesses, Anthony Thomson has now entered the buy now, pay later (BNPL) sector after being named chair of Australian firm Zip’s UK arm.

Zip has been growing incredibly aggressively, launching in the UK in February, then in May acquiring European buy now, pay later provider Twisto and investing $50m in Indian BNPL rival ZestMoney last month.

Thomson’s arrival on the fintech’s UK board comes after his own Australian neobank 86 400 was acquired by NAB in February for £160m as the digital banking sector faced an income squeeze from Australia’s rock-bottom interest rates.

“Zip was created to give consumers an easier and more flexible way of buying the things they both want and need,” said Thomson on his appointment.

“Consumer credit can be complex and opaque, things that Zip has been specifically built to avoid. The UK BNPL market is at a very early stage, so to join the board at this time, at an important moment for the industry, is very exciting.”

Interestingly while Zip is established in Australia and counts over 7.3m customers across 13 markets, Thomson is only chair of Zip’s UK entity where the brand is relatively new.