Westpac bank has sold its stake in the Australian buy-now-pay-later firm Zip. After purchasing the stake in Zip in 2017, the bank invested $40 million. In 2019, the bank invested an additional $8.9 million during Zip's capital raising of $42.8 million, according to a report in Finextra.

The sale follows the bank's new relationship with Afterpay, which became the first fintech on Westpac's new banking-as-a-service platform.

"We are continuing to explore opportunities with Zip, including working to integrate their buy-now-pay-later functionality into our mobile banking apps across Westpac and our regional bank brands. This would expand our offering to customers and broaden the customers Zip can reach," Gary Thursby, chief information officer, Westpac, said in the report. "We are also working with Zip on other opportunities for consumer, business, and corporate customers that we believe could be mutually beneficial, while continuing to develop our banking relationship with Zip."