CashFlows today announced it will help to break down barriers to payment innovation by offering BIN sponsorship services through the ground-breaking Open Payments Cloud (OPC).

New and smaller programmes have always posed a fundamental challenge within the industry whereby low card volumes present commercial challenges and creates a barrier to entry.

OPC’s unique platform enables developers, entrepreneurs and new Programme Managers to bring new payment programmes to life by enabling them to connect with the fintech services they need such as BIN sponsorship, processing and KYC through a single platform. The partnership will significantly reduce the barriers to market entry including implementation cost, development time and minimum commitments.

Through its BIN (bank identification number) sponsorship services, CashFlows will enable these new payment innovators to issue prepaid cards and process payments through major global payment schemes like Visa and Mastercard.

OPC is providing services to a burgeoning market. Prepaid is set to top $500 billion globally in annual sales revenue by 2020 and $131 billion in Europe respectively, according to research by Mastercard. Growth is strongest in Europe where prepaid is increasing at 18 percent year-on-year compared to 5-7 percent for consumer credit and debit.

This is a market that OPC’s platform will allow its customers to exploit, initially servicing the commercial card programmes before addressing the consumer need. 

Jonathan Bennett, Chief Commercial Officer, CashFlows, said: “OPC is addressing a real need in the market. It is continuing the trend of innovation in prepaid, enabling smaller programmes that previously wouldn’t have got off the ground due to economies of scale to launch. CashFlows is pleased to be a key partner of OPC and look forward to a highly productive working relationship.”

Paul Love Twelves, General Manager, Open Payments Cloud, said: “We’re delighted to be working with CashFlows and to welcome them onboard as a founding partner. It is an experienced provider of BIN sponsorship services and we value its expertise and support. There’s a great cultural fit between the two organisations and are both committed to empowering the next generation of payment innovation.”