Westpac bank seeks health insurance profile with InLoop stake
Australia's Westpac bank has purchased a 10% stake in digital payment company InLoop, the parent of the soon-to-be launched LanternPay healthcare and insurance platform. The deal gives the bank a profile within the health insurance market and expands its commitment to cashless transactions, it said in a statement. LanternPay, which will be rolled out later in the year, allows users to manage payments for healthcare services and gives providers a guarantee that their services will be paid for. Westpac and InLoop entered the third-party insurance and accident rehabilitation market for the first time earlier this year in a deal with the Victorian Transport Accident Commission.

Westpac backs new entrant into the health insurance payments market

15 March 2017



Westpac Banking Corporation (Westpac) today announced a strategic investment in the parent company of LanternPay, a new payments platform focused on bringing the healthcare and insurance sectors onto the cloud, supporting the cashless economy.



The equity investment involves Westpac acquiring a 10% shareholding in LanternPay’s parent Inloop Pty Limited (InLoop)[1]. This continues Westpac’s long standing distribution partnership with InLoop[2].



LanternPay is a scalable, cloud-based payments platform, designed for use in consumer directed care programmes such as the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), home care services, and third-party insurance and rehabilitation schemes.



Expected to go live later this year, LanternPay allows consumers to take control of their insurance budgets, and through real time authorisation gives care service providers certainty that they will be paid for the care they deliver. Government and scheme operators are also able to monitor and regulate frequency and type of spending, and will benefit from rich data insights.



Commenting on the investment, Westpac Institutional Bank Chief Executive, Lyn Cobley said: “Westpac’s innovation with LanternPay will address more than $90 billion of healthcare spending across Australia and digitise the payment experience across multiple schemes and tens of thousands of providers nationwide.



“Many of today’s payment processes in these types of schemes remain manual and paper based so they are slow, inefficient, and create cash flow problems for service providers. As a result, they are ripe for disruption,” she said.

In January 2017, Westpac and InLoop executed a contract with the Victorian Transport Accident Commission (TAC) to deliver LanternPay as a new payments experience to their clients and the service provider community. This represents LanternPay’s first entrance into the third party insurance and accident rehabilitation market and is expected to go live later this year.



Commenting on the TAC contract, Ms Cobley added: “I like to think of LanternPay as a digital wallet for consumer directed care. Allowing people to exercise choice and control over how they use their funds is the future of care in Australia, and LanternPay puts people at the centre of this movement.”



Geoff Austen, Managing Director of InLoop Pty Limited, commented: “we are pleased to have cemented our partnership with Westpac through their equity investment in InLoop and strategic investment in LanternPay. Under this model, Westpac will provide the national reach, implementation capacity, and execution to complement InLoop’s agile development and proven track record of payments innovation.”



Following Westpac’s investment, Rob Jarrett, Senior Head of Strategy at Westpac Institutional Bank, has been appointed to the Board of Directors of InLoop Pty Limited. He joins Glen Butler, Division Director of Macquarie Capital, who represents InLoop’s other significant institutional investor.

About InLoop Pty Limited

InLoop is an Australian fintech success focused on providing innovative transaction solutions in closed loop and tri-party payment environments. The business has developed well known payment platforms such as Flexischools. The business services over 500,000 customers and process more than 15m transactions per year. The Group is passionate about delivering solutions which will empower consumer choice in government funded care and support schemes.



About Westpac

Westpac Banking Corporation (Westpac) was founded in 1817 and was the first bank established in Australia. Today, Westpac employs approximately 40,000 people and provides a broad range of banking and financial services, including consumer, business and institutional banking and wealth management services. Westpac's operations comprise five primary customer-facing business divisions operating under multiple brands serving around 13 million customers. Westpac has branches, affiliates and controlled entities throughout Australia, New Zealand, Asia and the Pacific region, and maintains branches and offices in some of the key financial centres around the world.



About Westpac Institutional Bank

Westpac Institutional Bank (WIB) delivers a broad range of financial services to commercial, corporate, institutional and government customers with connections to Australia and New Zealand.

WIB operates through dedicated industry relationship and specialist product teams with expert knowledge in transactional banking, financial and debt capital markets, specialised capital, and alternative investment solutions. Customers are supported through branches and subsidiaries located in Australia, New Zealand, Asia, the United States and the United Kingdom.



Westpac Institutional Bank, a division of Westpac Banking Corporation ABN 33 007 457 141 AFSL 233714

[1] The investment is a direct investment by Westpac Banking Corporation rather than via Westpac’s Venture Capital arm Reinventure.

[2] Formerly The Scotney Group P/L