Shares of Australian buy now, pay later firm Zip Co (ASX:ZIP) fell as much as 50.5% on Friday to A$1.025, their worst intraday loss ever. They later pared losses to trade down 29.6% at A$1.46. The stock is down nearly 57% this year. Zip said an external fraud incident in the US temporarily disrupted transaction volumes and customer growth in its fiscal first quarter. The fraud involved coordinated creation of new accounts to run unpaid transactions, and added $7.2 million to cash operating expenses. Total transaction volume rose 18% year-on-year to A$4.6 billion ($3.23 billion) in the three months to September 30. Total income rose 17% to A$376.1 million. Net bad debts written off rose to $49.5 million from $39.3 million in the prior quarter. Zip has notified authorities and lodged an insurance claim.

Zip Co Limited (ASX: ZIP) plans to launch Zip Cash, a same-day cash loan product for eligible US customers, it announced on October 13, 2026. The product extends Zip's instalment payments beyond checkout. More than 100,000 customers have joined the waitlist, including over 40,000 in the first 72 hours. Eligible customers may borrow up to $500, with funds deposited into their bank account as soon as the same business day. Each loan could carry a flat origination fee, disclosed before acceptance. There is no hard credit inquiry and no compounding fees. Zip Cash will first launch to select customers in eligible states during the 2026 holiday season, with wider availability to follow. "Not every expense occurs at checkout," said Joe Heck, US chief executive officer of Zip.

Zip US has partnered with Google Cloud to build an AI-Native Product Factory using Gemini Enterprise, aiming to transform how the company develops financial products. The factory will connect research, design, engineering, risk, legal, compliance, and customer experience teams through a shared agentic environment, enabling parallel work rather than sequential handoffs. The initiative represents a shift from using AI to augment work to reimagining the entire product-development lifecycle. Zip's AI assistant, Zia, will also be powered by Gemini Enterprise, evolving from a support tool to an agentic experience embedded in products. "The next competitive advantage in consumer finance will come from the ability to turn insights into trusted products faster than conventional operating models allow," said Joe Heck, CEO of Zip US.