Phos, the fintech behind the first-ever software-only Point of Sale (SoftPoS), and Stanchion Payment Solutions, a global specialist in payments systems and integration, have today announced a partnership to enable payment processors and banks to accelerate  the time to market of innovative contactless payments acceptance solutions for European merchants.

Phos and Stanchion will collaborate to help banks and payments companies empower merchants to meet customers’ demands for a wide range of secure, frictionless payment options, including contactless payments straight from a mobile device. Stanchion brings its proven systems integration and digital payments technology to the partnership. 

Phos brings its innovative SoftPoS technology, which enables simple contactless payment acceptance for any merchant with an NFC-enabled Android device.

At a time when social distancing measures are prevalent and amid heightened safety and hygiene concerns, the phos solution directly addresses the increased reluctance of consumers to handle cards and cash. The technology is cheaper and simpler than alternative payment solutions, which often require additional hardware or come with long settlement times or high fees, and allows a merchant to instantly accept contactless payments on their own mobile device. 

The partnership will support businesses in countries across Europe, including the UK, Poland, Romania, France, Italy, Spain and Portugal as they reopen and recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing economic uncertainty. Data from phos shows that over 33m businesses across Europe are still reliant on cash, owing to barriers such as the hidden costs and security issues related to many digital options. The SoftPoS solution can provide a safe and sustainable alternative to cash and allow merchants to digitalise effectively, offer more payment options to their customers and fundamentally grow their businesses.

Through Stanchion’s existing relationships with banks and payments institutions across the region, hundreds of thousands of European merchants will be able to take advantage of the phos SoftPOS solution, either in application form or as an SDK. 

Upon registering and once accepted, merchants can download phos from the Google Play store and enable all of their Android devices to accept payments from contactless cards or other NFC-enabled devices such as smartphones, smartwatches or wristbands. Additional payment options will be added to the solution in the coming months, including Pin-On-Mobile.

Deon van Biljon, group product director at Stanchion, said: “We’re seeing a rising demand among  merchants for contactless payments as consumers increasingly demand frictionless, cashless and cardless options for everyday transactions. We are delighted to partner with phos to deliver a simple and flexible software POS and contactless payments solution – in line with our strategy to help banks and payments processing companies to accelerate time to market with digital payments innovations.”  

Brad Hyett, CEO of phos, added: “Our partnership with Stanchion brings next-gen payment technology to payments companies and banks that wish to grow their merchant base and increase retention. It offers them a simple solution for contactless payments acceptance that can easily be deployed at scale as part of their wider digital payments framework. We look forward to collaborating closely with Stanchion to exceed merchants’ and payment processors’ expectations when it comes to innovative and engaging payments experiences.”