Tide, the UK’s leading business financial platform[1] has today announced it will expand its platform further, introducing Tide Payment Acceptance later in 2021. The product will initially be available in the UK and later rolled out to Tide’s new Indian business.

Tide Payment Acceptance will enable Tide members to accept payments from customers online, on the go or at their business premises, via card terminals. Tide Payment Acceptance will support members in increasing sales (through greater payment acceptance), improving cash flow (through quick access to funds) and removing the risks and costs associated with cash or bank transfers. Tide will focus on making the payment acceptance product simple and straightforward, with a transparent fee structure.

Adding Payment Acceptance is another major milestone in building out Tide’s business financial platform for micro and small businesses. Bundling payment acceptance into the business current account will give Tide members faster access to their funds and can make use of the advanced connectivity between Tide products and services. Integrations between payment acceptance, automated accounting and cash flow analytics, for example, means previously complex tasks and data analytics will be much more simple and efficient. 

The UK market for card acceptance amongst micro and small businesses is large, and growing. Over 1.2 million businesses* within these segments are already using card acceptance tools, with a huge number migrating away from cash acceptance, largely due to the pandemic - the volume of ATM withdrawals was 40% lower in October 2020 compared to the previous year.** Tide Payment Acceptance will support those transitioning away from cash with a simple and cost-effective service.

Tide has appointed Mark Hazzard as VP of Financial Services, to lead the development and launch of Tide Payment Acceptance. Mark has extensive experience in the merchant acquiring and payment acceptance space, having been involved in delivering Worldpay’s merchant acquiring platform and leading a programme to launch Tyl by Natwest. Following the launch of Tide Payment Acceptance, Mark will also be responsible for integrating products such as business insurance into the platform.

Oliver Prill, Tide CEO said: “I am delighted to have Mark on board to deliver Tide Payment Acceptance. His experience in the field is second to none and he is already making huge steps towards creating a simple and efficient product for our members in the UK and India.

Introducing Tide Payment Acceptance is a big step for Tide and takes us even closer to our vision of giving small business owners everything they need to manage their business banking and admin under one roof. Creating smart and simple connections between the products and services needed to run a business is what we are passionate about and what makes Tide unique - this is a very exciting addition to the platform.”

Mark Hazzard, VP of Financial Services at Tide said: “Payment acceptance has long been a complex and costly process for micro and small businesses. I am extremely excited by the prospect of bringing the service into the Tide platform and leveraging the full range of Tide products and platform capabilities. Combining payment acceptance with other services such as the current account, invoicing, lending and accountancy tools will enable Tide members to automate their financial tasks and have a holistic view of their business performance, demonstrating a significant time saving.”

Payment Acceptance is a BCR commitment for ClearBank and Tide. Tide will partner with a third party merchant acquirer to offer the service.

*Data sourced from Payment Systems Regulator Interim Report, September 2020. - https://www.psr.org.uk/media/ovrdtg2r/psr-card-acquiring-market-review-interim-report-september-2020.pdf

**Data sourced from Bank of England, ‘Cash in the time of Covid’ -  https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/quarterly-bulletin/2020/2020-q4/cash-in-the-time-of-covid