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The new product will launch in July,though the exact date has not yet been announced. NAB customers who have been approved after completing a “simple repayment assessment” will be able to access up to $1000,and split repayments across four fortnights.

NAB Now Pay Later doesn’t appear to be a revenue-raising initiative for the bank:there are no interest or late fees,and merchants pay the same fees they would pay to accept a credit card.

“I think about it more as a medium- to long-term way of engaging our customers,to choose NAB and choose to do more with NAB and stay with NAB,” Slade said.

Afterpay andZip’s profits and share price have taken a hit amidmounting bad debts that are due to customers beingunlikely to repay the money and the average transaction per customer beingtoo low to justify chasing.

But Slade believes the bank’s oversight of their customers’ finances will allow it to side-step the problem.

“Through the data they share with us,we can assess whether NAB Now Pay Later is suitable for them,” she said.

NAB is the last of the big four banks to introduce some version of a BNPL feature:CBA was the first,launching StepPay in August last year. In early November,Afterpay launched its Money app that integrates Westpac’s banking services.

Last October,ANZ announced that it had teamed up with Visa for a BNPL service that officially launched this year.

CBA,NAB and Westpac also have their own version of zero-interest credit cards,called Neo,StraightUp,and Flex respectively.

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