Worldline [Euronext: WLN], the European leader in the payments and transactional services industry, launches Round Up feature through its rail ticketing app redspottedhanky. Round up supports charities as they recover from the impact of the pandemic and decreased fundraising revenues.

Today we have launched the ability to round up in Redspottedhanky. Round up allows customers to donate to charity every time they buy a rail ticket through redspottedhanky. The first charity to benefit will be the Railway Children (https://www.railwaychildren.org.uk/) who work fight to support street children across the world. Like many charities, the Railway Children has been impacted by a drop in donations from the public over the last 18 months as key fundraising events have been postponed. At Worldline, we have seen an increase in card payments which will naturally lead to a decrease in cash circulation; it makes sense to combine these two factors to provide new revenue streams for charities.

Redspottedhanky is the first retailer of UK rail tickets to allow customers the choice to give back and to help build back better as the world comes out of the COVID pandemic. When purchasing through the app, customers can choose to round up to the nearest pound before paying, it really couldn’t be simpler to change the lives of others for the better.

Recently Worldline announced the launch of its TRUST 2025 Programme, the start of a whole new chapter in its CSR strategy. Its CSR approach, fully integrated into the Group’s overall strategy, is built around five major challenges — established through a materiality analysis—in the following areas: business, employees, ethics, value chain & environment. Within this framework, 19 specific and measurable objectives to be achieved by 2025have been set. One of these objectives is focused on enabling to collect money for charities through its solutions, with the ambition to collect over €500m  during the next five years.

Redspottedhanky will have a charity of the Month that will receive the funds from donations. Our first ambition is these vital funds raised will directly support the societal and environmental recovery from the COVID pandemic.

In addition, Redspottedhanky now offers Flexi-Seasons and Split-Tickets allowing customers to tailor their journeys and save up to 61% on rail tickets with simple payment through cards, Paypal, Applepay and G-Pay. Customers will receive E-Tickets straight to their mobile device with no need to collect from stations.

Redspottedhanky is fully supportive of the ‘Book with Confidence’ policy launched by the rail industry. With approval from the Department for Transport, all Redspottedhanky customers will be able to change or refund their booked journey fee free should their circumstances change. Redspottedhanky does not charge any Booking Fees so we hope the savings customers make on their rail tickets without having to pay a Booking Fee will allow them to round up to help those less fortunate.

James Bain, CEO Worldline UK & I "Round up is a UK first in the rail industry which we are proud to bring to our existing customers and hopefully our new customers. Helping people recover from the Pandemic must be our top priorities in addition to preventing further damage to our planet. Our children are our future and we are delighted to play a small part in supporting the Railway Children in their fight to ensure that no child should have to live on the street".