Debt Management Around The World: BNPL
Buy Now Pay Later
Around the world there has been a drastic uptake in buy now, pay later services.
As a result, governments, regulators and courts have struggled to keep up. Let’s look at what has recently happened with regard to BNPL services in the UK and the Netherlands.
The UK
Firms offering BNPL financing will become part of the regulated financial services sector in the U.K. from July 15.
Compliance teams at providers are scrambling to ensure they are ready to introduce a bunch of new rules, including conducting creditworthiness assessments. They are having to quickly adapt systems and change data processes before the coming deadline.
Affected businesses will include BNLP providers such as Klarna, Zilch and Clearpay, as well as many major retailers that currently offer customers the chance to pay via these firms’ products – including Amazon, the major airlines, Nike and eBay.
The U.K.’s Financial Conduct Authority said that the BNPL market (also known as Deferred Payment Credit) was worth over £13bn in 2024 and over 10.9 million U.K. adults used BNPL between May 2023 and May 2024.
Holland
New regulations affecting BNPL providers and platforms will come into effect in the Netherlands by November 2026 in a rather significant revamping of the country’s e-ecommerce landscape.
The Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets (AFM) decided that the BNPL sector and major e-commerce platforms will come under its supervision in November, due to the implementation of Europe’s revised Consumer Credit Directive (CCD2).
So, starting in November, Dutch courts considering BNPL related matters (and other types of credit) will be required to check if the lender (e.g. BNPL provider) should have refused to grant the credit based on the consumer’s financial capacity as a result of their affordability assessment.
BNPL service providers also need to remember that there are other laws that apply to them. For example, recently, a big financial service provider (from Sweden) who operates in Holland providing BNPL services sent reminders to consumers about debts but at the time they were not registered as debt collectors. This got them into big trouble.
Debt Review Awards 2026
The Annual Debt Review Awards, which are part of the larger International Debt Management Awards, will be livestreamed from Cape Town, South Africa, on Friday, the 16th of October 2026.
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