Affirm Shares Soar 19% On BNPL Offering For Amazon Business

Shares of payments provider Affirm (AFRM) jumped more than 19% after expanding its partnership with Amazon (AMZN) to offer buy now, pay later (BNPL) services to the e-commerce giant's business-to-business (B2B) clients.

Thousands of small business users on Amazon Business—most of them sole proprietors—stand to benefit from expanded payment options that include paying off their purchases via equal installments over three to 48 months.

While most BNPL payment options don't charge interest, customers on Amazon's B2B platform will be charged an annual percentage rate (APR) between 10% and 36% depending on perceived credit risk, Affirm's Chief Revenue Officer Wayne Pommen said in an interview with CNBC.

At a time of rising borrowing costs, this could be a viable alternative to traditional payment options like credit cards—on which interest rates have soared to records recently, reaching a median of 24.12% across all credit cards.

Amazon's partnership with Affirm stretches back more than two years, when the e-commerce giant first introduced the financial firm's BNPL services on its website, offering it to customers who spent $50 or more on a purchase.

Earlier this year, Amazon also added Affirm as a BNPL payment option on Amazon Pay

Affirm shares have more than doubled so far this year/