AUSTRALIA | Westpac Banking Corporation's proposed acquisition of HealthPoint has not been opposed by the ACCC.
HealthPoint is an app that facilitates healthcare providers to process real-time private health insurance claims at the point of sale through partnerships with banking and other channel partners.
Westpac is a tiny supplier of banking payment services to health service providers and cannot process real-time private health insurance claims at the point of sale.
The ACCC scrutinised the proposed acquisition to assess if Westpac would have the ability or incentive to obstruct competing banking and channel partners' use of the HealthPoint app.
The only competition for HealthPoint is HICAPS, which is exclusively owned by NAB, the largest supplier of private health insurance point-of-sale claiming services.
According to ACCC Commissioner Stephen Ridgeway, most market participants were not concerned by the proposed acquisition as HICAPS is the largest supplier of private health insurance claiming and settlement services.
"As owner of HealthPoint, Westpac is likely to have an incentive to work with existing banking and channel partners to maintain and grow health services provider volumes to compete with HICAPS," said Ridgeway.
The ACCC carefully examined the arrangements between HealthPoint, Westpac, banking and channel partners, and private health insurers, concluding that this acquisition would not substantially reduce competition.
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