Australian Payments Plus has formed a strategic partnership with retailer Coles to develop a bespoke digital wallet based on the AP+ Beem technology. The idea is to enable payments using QR codes. Last year, Woolworths announced that it would introduce QR code payment facilities in its stores. The appeal of QR codes is that they allow more data to be encoded in a transaction, allowing them to be linked to loyalty, identity and reconciliation applications. Beem was launched in 2018 and has 1.7 million registered users. Former banker Karina Kwan has joined the board of HSBC Bank Australia. Kwan had careers at Citi, where she was chief financial officer for Australia and New Zealand, and Commonwealth Bank before taking on board positions. She has also been an adjunct professor of finance at the University of Sydney Business School for the past seven years. NAB has issued A$1.25 billion of subordinated medium term notes, made up of $950 million of fixed rate notes (converting to floating rate in 2028) and $300 million of floating rate notes. The notes mature in 2033. The fixed rate is 6.16 per cent, with coupons paid twice a year. The floating rate margin is 217 basis points over the bank bill rate.