Zūm Rails, the company merging open banking and instant payments so businesses can use any payment rails they want from a single platform, today announced it is utilizing embedded finance capabilities from Fiserv, a leading global provider of payments and financial technology, to enable payments and financial services for U.S. businesses. With Fiserv as the primary transaction processor for Zūm Rails’ payments gateway, businesses ranging from large enterprises to small and midsize businesses (SMBs) can facilitate accounts payable and receivable transactions, merchant onboarding, reporting, reconciliation, and fraud management without relying on a bank or other third-party provider. Early adopters of the solution include real estate platform Homebase, the property management software Passive, and more.

Today, payments and banking services are expanding beyond traditional banks and financial institutions, and companies across industries are eager to embed financial and payment options directly into their platforms. The high barrier to entry, however, has kept many from trying, especially considering that every new capability has historically required working with multiple providers to build entirely new integrations from scratch. For companies that transcend these barriers, embedded finance not only lets them tap into what is currently a $84 billion market opportunity, but offers a competitive advantage over traditional methods with less-desirable and inflexible user experiences.

Through its relationship with Fiserv, Zūm Rails will provide U.S. businesses and merchants with everything they need to accept and distribute transactions—all from a single solution. Zūm Rails' payments gateway demystifies and accelerates the integration of new capabilities such as open banking and instant payments directly into companies' platforms so they can power payments securely, in seconds or less. By bringing these capabilities together in one place, companies can enhance user experiences and gain better insights into transaction data.

Combining Zum Rails’ payments gateway with the Fiserv payment facilitator model additionally gives businesses the ability to move funds through every major U.S. payment network, including Visa and Mastercard, the Automated Clearing House (ACH), FedNow, WEB Debit, and PayPal.  

“As companies look for new ways to own and strengthen their relationships with customers, there’s growing energy around embedding financial services directly within a software platform,” said Sunil Sachdev, Head of Embedded Finance, Fiserv. “By making capabilities from our merchant acceptance, banking, and card issuing businesses available to clients and partners through a curated set of APIs, we are helping these clients expand their service models, build deeper relationships with merchants, and significantly expanding the revenue potential associated with each relationship.”

As Zūm Rails continues to scale across the U.S., it will bring additional embedded finance capabilities to the businesses using its platform. This includes the addition of Zūm Rails’ forthcoming Banking-as-a-Service offering, which will enable companies to issue their own debit cards for direct spending. 

“We launched Zūm Rails with the goal of providing open banking and instant payments services at a time when it was difficult for businesses to do both. As businesses’ needs have evolved, so has our work to enable them to execute on any digital payments, financing or other capabilities that they need to deliver on their customers’ expectations,” said Miles Schwartz, co-founder, Zūm Rails. “Our growing partnership with Fiserv is critical to expanding our capabilities—especially as we continue scaling our work in the U.S.” 

In addition to the U.S., Zūm Rails will expand its offerings throughout North America. This includes leveraging Zūm Rails' Canadian roots to bring its existing integration with Fiserv to Canada, as well as developing entirely new joint offerings specifically for the Canadian market.