Revolut to pilot buy now pay later in Ireland

The popular fintech app, which has over 1.9m Irish users, has chosen Ireland as the first country to test its Pay Later product.

Irish Revolut customers will be able to avail of a new 'buy now, pay later' credit service from the online bank beginning this week.

The popular fintech app, which has over 1.9m Irish users, has chosen Ireland as the first country to test its Pay Later product, which it hopes to roll out across Europe later this year.

It will enable consumers to spread the cost of purchases up to €499 across three monthly payment installments. The app will charge a fee of 1.65% per purchase.

Depending on how the product performs here, Revolut will start looking to Poland and Romania as the next potential markets for Pay Later.

The 'buy now, pay later' sector has been expanding rapidly, with the market in Europe set to grow to €793bn over the next five years.

While traditional retailers such as Littlewoods, soon to rebrand as 'Very', have been offering delayed payment services for years, one of the most popular cross-store companies popping up in recent times has been Klarna.

The Swedish company launched in Ireland last year and attracted over 500,000 customers in its first six months. As of March, Klarna was working with 800 merchants across the country to offer interest-free split purchases - but consumers can use the service at any online store through the app.