Transact Payments Limited (TPL), provider of European BIN sponsorship and modular payment, debit, credit and prepaid services, reports 380% growth in settlement volumes (EUR €) from 2017/18 to 2020/21 across its expanding client base. Figures from the 12 months up to April 2021 alone highlight a leap of 75% in transactions settled.

The payments and card solutions business, which prides itself on its bespoke service and extensive industry experience, says its most recent growth has been accelerated due to its agility in responding to client requirements during the Covid pandemic, as well as its proactive groundwork in readiness for the technological and regulatory implications of Brexit.

The company has tripled its number of live programmes in the 4-year period, becoming the card issuer for programmes including Berlin-based Moss’s credit card for start-ups and SMEs; the innovative instalment-based credit card from Tymit; and the Payac debit card for Irish credit unions.

Kriya Patel, CEO of TPL says: “It’s a great feeling to exceed our targets, especially in the wake of such challenging external factors. Sadly, we have witnessed fintechs who did not adequately plan for Brexit now struggling to catch up, as well as others who chose speed over thoroughness in a bid to grab their share of a surge in contactless payments due to the pandemic.”

“Although speed to market is obviously a principal requirement for many of our clients, I believe that fintechs should actually be wary of an issuer with speed as a main selling point. At TPL we take care to connect our clients with partners who align to their strategic vision and ethos. Our experienced team consider every regulatory and technological detail across many jurisdictions, providing a future-proof solution without any nasty surprises later on. This means that the end result is the ideal combination of compliance and innovation – and our recent growth figures are a reflection of this unique approach.”

Payac CEO, Seamus Newcombe, explains why this makes TPL exceptionally suited for its debit card solution as part of a suite of current account services for Irish credit unions: “In our experience, traditional banking service providers are more focused on the financial outcomes first, then on finding technologies that fit those outcomes. TPL were the right fit for us: they helped create a solution which integrated our member’s individual systems seamlessly with those of partners like Mastercard. And TPL took great care to ensure full regulatory compliance at every stage of the process.”

As the Covid pandemic has expedited the growth of contactless transactions globally, as well as increased the demand from businesses and consumers for instant buy now pay later (BNPL) solutions, there are many jostling for a piece of the action. But Patel cautions that these new opportunities also bring with them new technological developments and new regulation - which all need to be planned for to bring a new idea successfully and sustainably to market. He believes TPL’s future-proofing approach will help its client maximise on market movements.

“As the regulators catch up with an unprecedented boom in BNPL usage during the pandemic for example, fintechs looking to innovate in this space will need to factor current and future regulatory requirements into their strategy,” Patel explains. “At TPL we aim to simplify this process for our clients by solving those challenges.”

TPL is also seeing increasing activity among fintechs looking to offer more creative and intelligent corporate borrowing solutions. The company expects to see further new innovation in products that amalgamate the best principles of both credit cards and BNPL.