As more businesses across Scotland take the first steps on the road to recovery and prepare to open their doors on July 15th as part of Scottish Government’s route map, research from newly launched ‘Tyl’ has demonstrated the scale of the acceleration towards contactless payments.

More than two thirds, (69%) of businesses registering for the Royal Bank of Scotland’s Tyl payment service since the start of UK lockdown are adopting card payments for the first time. This compares to 53% for the rest of the UK.

The shifting preference for payment options which minimises human contact and ensures social distancing looks set to continue as a fundamental shift in the way we do business and make payments in the wake of coronavirus. This is driven both by consumers, mindful of their own exposure to the virus and by business, keen to meet these needs and adopt the new staff and colleague safety precautions required as part of government guidelines for re-opening.

The figures also suggest a quickening in the rate of businesses now accepting card payments. Prior to April 1^st, just 26% of Tyl customers in Scotland were new to card payments, compared with this most recent 69% post lockdown.

The findings correlate with the rise in e-commerce during the pandemic as well as global trends that show a 190% increase in online searches for the term ‘contactless payment systems’ over the last three months, based on data from Google.

The Scottish Government’s route map will see the hospitality sector, museums, libraries and hairdressers fully open from July 15^th. Hairdressing salons, bars and restaurants, along with dentists and mechanics are sectors the team at Tyl are seeing contacting them and coming on board in numbers as the businesses anticipate the rise in people looking to pay for services through contactless methods.

Tyl has been developed in partnership with SMEs across the UK to enable them to adopt social distancing guidelines, transition to contactless payments, and provide them with the benefit of increased flexibility in how they receive payment, whether through contactless, online or over the phone. Tyl also offers next-day settlement for users, ensuring money is in their bank account the next business day, which has been a crucial factor in assisting businesses with cash flow during the coronavirus pandemic.

In addition, the bank has also waived terminal fees for Tyl until the end of 2020, ensuring the option to receive contactless payment is open to as many businesses as possible during the current crisis.

Whilst the consumer and business trend towards contactless and card payments continues, the Royal Bank continues to support its personal and business customers with cash requirements, as supporters of UK Finance’s Access to Cash Initiative.

The bank has become the first in the UK to offer fee-free secure cash home delivery to vulnerable customers, as well as keeping over 95% of the branch network open throughout the pandemic, and backing ATM operator LINK’s 12-month pledge to maintain free-to-use ATMs. 

Mike Elliff, CEO, Tyl said:

“The ability to accept card and contactless payment is proving to be a vital tool as businesses across the UK continue to reopen and recover post lockdown. Meeting customer and staff safety concerns and government guidelines coupled with the rise in e-commerce has presented themselves as key challenges for business during the pandemic and the current trends look here to stay.

“The introduction of Tyl to customers across the UK is a key part of our commitment to supporting business during this time. We hope that through next day settlement, 24 hour onboarding and smart data-led insights, Tyl can provide businesses with the tools they need to help them manage and grow their business and be on the front foot as we look towards the future.”

Eddie Glackin, owner of Abbot Street Laundry, said:

“Before the coronavirus pandemic, we were a cash-only business. We always felt that the costs involved in implementing a card payment system outweighed the number of customers asking to pay by card – which was minimal.

“The business was forced to close for six weeks during lockdown and upon reopening, we immediately noticed a change in consumer preferences. More and more of our customers were requesting a card payment option and we knew it was something we needed to adopt.

“It was important for us to go with a payment provider that we trusted and Royal Bank of Scotland’s reputation gave us a sense of security. Tyl’s pledge to waive our customer fees until the end of the year allowed us to make the decision quickly, keeping our customers happy as the business begins to recover.”

The UK saw a steep jump in eCommerce sales in June 2020 — up 20 percent compared to June last year, the largest increase since the beginning of the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions, according to an analysis of hundreds of millions of transactions by global payments software company ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ:ACIW). In May UK online sales had increased six percent compared to the same period in 2019. Consumer purchases were driven by DIY and homeware goods, furniture, outdoor equipment and sporting goods. 

The UK figures are in line with a worldwide trend - global eCommerce sales rose 28 percent in June 2020 compared to June 2019, again the largest year-on-year (YoY) increase in sales since lockdown restrictions began in March. In the US, consumer eCommerce purchases were up 25 percent in June, consistent with the May 2020 increase of 25 percent.

“Despite the easing of lockdown restrictions and the reopening of shops in the UK, eCommerce growth remains strong, suggesting a behavioural shift among consumers young and old is underway. Many Brits who have traditionally preferred shopping at brick and mortar stores are finding online shopping to be the new norm,” said Amanda Mickleburgh, director merchant retail, ACI Worldwide.

Non-fraud chargebacks continued to see a steep increase (27%) in April*—particularly in the airline industry as consumers looked to secure refunds for unused airline tickets. Sectors continuing to experience a dramatic decline in purchase volume include travel (down 29%) and ticketing (down 94%), whereas the volume of purchases remains strong for gaming (up 70%) and retail (up 68%).

“As the pandemic led to wide-ranging restrictions and work-from-home arrangements, many call centers and package processing facilities were unable to operate normally, leading to a backlog of returns and shipment delays, which drove up non-fraud chargebacks. Many merchants facing these challenges in fulfilment were able to offer consumers credit or alternative options such as points or gift cards to offset the inconvenience. And, the major card brands have made temporary changes to chargeback programs because of COVID-19,” Mickleburgh added. 

Key Findings:

eCommerce purchasing trends:

• Driven by the gaming, DIY and digital sectors, global purchase volume increased by 15 percent from January to June 2020 compared to the same period in 2019, whereas the average ticket price fell (from $116 in 2019 to $87 in 2020).
• For the month of June 2020, purchase volume increased 31 percent compared to the same month in 2019, whereas purchase value decreased by 3 percent.
• Purchase volume increased in all regions, with the EMEA region having the highest increase:
  • EMEA up 39 percent
  • U.S. up 35 percent
  • APAC up 25 percent

Fraud trends:

• For the period from January to June 2020, fraud attempts increased by 4.7 percent in value, while they decreased by 3.2 percent in volume.
• However, for the month of June 2020, fraud attempts were 3.7 percent by value (a 0.2 percent increase compared to the same month last year) reflecting a continued month-over-month downward trend after having reached a high of 5.8 percent in March 2020.
• Fraud average ticket price increase from $161 in 2019 to $174 in 2020 — double the average ticket price for genuine purchases in 2020 ($87).

*As chargebacks take approximately 45 days to process, the most current complete data is from April 2020.

Onguard, the FinTech company dedicated to redefining the order-to-cash payment process, has announced the appointment of Andy Bass as New Business Development Manager as the company continues its UK expansion and exploits new opportunities in the region. 

With more than 20 years’ experience within the IT industry in the UK and Europe, Andy has held a number of senior roles including as the UK CEO of a major multinational, where he was charged with improving the company’s cash conversion cycle through direction and focus on reducing the monthly DSO position of the company.

More recently he has held sales positions at a variety of SaaS-based businesses operating in the accounts payable (AP) and accounts receivable (AR) automation and incentive payments space. Andy’s appointment will strengthen Onguard’s position as it expands its presence in the UK following a period of continued growth in the region and increased demand for automated order-to-cash solutions from UK businesses.

Martin de Heus, VP of Sales, Onguard, commented: “The UK is already an important market for Onguard, and Andy brings added passion and experience to a growing UK team, as well as unique customer and sales experience. There has recently been a noticeable increase in interest from UK companies of all sizes seeking to fully automate their order-to-cash process from cash collection and allocation, to billings and risk management, and we are well placed to fulfill those needs.”

Andy Bass, New Business Development Manager, Onguard, added: “Onguard is the clear leader in the order-to-cash space and has the ambition to invest in its business and people to take its customers to the next level of AR automation, which makes it an exciting company to join. The recent acquisition by business transformation powerhouse Visma is a clear vote of confidence in Onguard’s business model and I look forward to sharing in the success of the business.”

MYPINPAD, the global leader in secure personal authentication solutions is the first company in the world to achieve Payment Card Industry (PCI) Security Standards Council (SSC) certification for its Android software-based Contactless Payments on Commercial off-the-shelf (CPoC) solution, enabling contactless payments on smart devices. As the first solution globally certified to accept contactless payments on these devices without requiring additional hardware, this significant step accelerates unparalleled possibilities in customer experience innovation for merchants and other businesses in the payments chain.

Accreditation for MYPINPAD’s contactless payment solution follows the company’s recent PCI SSC SPoC certification for its software only PIN Entry solution for iOS and Android (PIN on mobile), also a global first. The combined capability of tap and PIN on smart mobile devices means a 100 percent software-based payments future. It enables all merchants globally to democratise payments with integrated, scalable digital customer experiences, replacing traditional POS terminals with smart mobile devices.

This announcement is fantastic news for face to face retailers and service providers, creating access to a lower cost, highly secure PCI certified contactless solution. This is especially timely with contactless limits around the world being raised in response to COVID-19, which has seen cash usage reduced by half. With long-term effects of the pandemic uncertain, MYPINPAD is taking steps to help future proof retailers by creating a face-to-face payment system that is more flexible, safer, and available to businesses of all sizes. 

MYPINPAD’s goal is to help drive mobile device acceptance exponentially from 100 million currently to over 400 million by 2024.

CEO of MYPINPAD, Colin Greene, commented: “With each new accreditation we get closer to the true democratisation of payment acceptance. This ultimately means more secure digital payment experiences for merchants and consumers worldwide. That’s why we are delighted to be the first company in the world to have achieved PCI certification for our contactless solution, especially after our recent announcement of being the first to achieve PCI accreditation for our PIN-entry software only solution on IOS and Android. By increasing access to lower cost, highly secure and innovative globally certified payment solutions for the industry and our partners, we promote both growth and financial inclusion.”

Blake Rosenthal, Executive Vice President of Acceptance Solutions at Mastercard, adds; “Consumers and merchants are looking for fast, safe, and secure checkout experiences,”  “MYPINPAD’s PCI accreditation is a key milestone to the growth, diversification, and scale of contactless payment solutions, increasing speed at checkout and reducing operational costs by eliminating all hardware accessories.”

MYPINPAD’s solution is easily integrated into third party applications and delivered ‘As-a-Service’. It reduces cost across the entire face-to-face payment ecosystem by meeting PCI security standards through software updates alone. This relieves pain-points like the cost of traditional payment and POS hardware for smaller retailers, while serving larger retailers by significantly reducing maintenance, replacement costs of aging hardware-centric POS systems and improving CX with trusted and familiar devices.

Visit www.mypinpad.com to discover more about this transformational technology. 

Digital banking software provider, Backbase, has today announced the launch of its new offices in Sydney and Melbourne. With the expansion, Backbase is well positioned to cater to the evolving digital banking landscape in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ). The new ANZ office follows the launch of its Asia Pacific (APAC) headquarters in Singapore^[1], highlighting Backbase’s commitment to help banks and financial institutions to digitally transform their businesses.

According to the Fintech and Digital Banking 2025 report^[2] by Backbase and IDC, digital banking in APAC is set to accelerate in the next five years. The region is also expected to see 100 new financial institutions by 2025, ushered in by liberalization of several markets and issuance of new banking licenses.

While the ‘Big Four’ banks are expected to retain their stronghold in ANZ, small and mid-sized banks as well as digital challengers will be competing for a larger share of the pie. The region will also see an acceleration of investment in digital banking in pursuit of efficiencies and new revenue sources to offset shrinking revenues, with 35% of IT budgets among Tier 1 and Tier 2 banks to be spent on new technologies.

With a comprehensive digital banking platform and deep industry expertise, Backbase will enable banks in ANZ to transform and keep pace with customer expectations as more turn to digital services for their banking needs. The decision to establish offices in Sydney and Melbourne comes as Backbase ramps up local support for new business signed this year.

CEO for Backbase, Jouk Pleiter said, “We’re excited to be expanding our presence in ANZ, helping banks and financial institutions in the region accelerate their journey to become digital-first. Digital-first is key to cope with the challenging conditions and take advantage of the emerging opportunities. With accelerating customer adoption of digital and regulated open banking, the future landscape presents significant opportunities for banks with the capabilities to adapt, offering holistic financial solutions and personalizing at scale.”    

In a sign of its capability to help banks accelerate their transformations, Backbase recently topped Celent’s Modern Digital Banking Channel Platform global vendor assessment^[3]. Backbase topped all four categories of Xcelent Functionality, Xcelent Technology, Customer Base, and Depth of Service. The result follows similar recognition from Forrester and Ovum and reinforces Backbase as the leader in the global digital banking channel platforms vendor landscape.

“We’re honoured to be recognized by Celent, which underlines our strength and relentless focus on innovation, as well as our leading position in digital banking. The award wins, together with our new ANZ offices, are testament to our success in transforming businesses with state-of-the-art digital banking solutions”, said Jouk Pleiter.

CRIF, a global company providing credit bureau, business information and credit solutions, and SIA, a leading European hi-tech company in payment services and infrastructures controlled by CDP Equity, have signed a strategic partnership agreement to offer advanced Open Banking services and applications in Italy and Europe. 

The objective of the agreement is to accelerate the innovation process of banks, corporates and fintechs in the new digital scenario resulting also from the innovations introduced to the market by PSD2, and in particular access to customer current account data - subject to authorization - and payment orders made by qualified third parties.

More specifically, the agreement between CRIF and SIA provides for the integration of their respective digital offerings and will cover end-to-end management of the user experience, taking full advantage of the opportunities offered by Open Banking, as well as the possibility to manage customers' personal finances through advanced Personal and Business Finance Management (PFM and BFM) solutions.

For example, it will be possible to make a purchase, both on traditional and digital channels, through the Payment Initiation Service (PIS), i.e. by starting the payment transaction from the current account chosen by the customer, in addition to other instruments currently used like credit cards and digital wallets.

It will also make it easier for individuals and businesses to take out a loan through a fully digital experience, thanks to a more complete and updated data set that will make access to credit simpler.

CRIF and SIA, in addition to providing the Italian and European markets with an ecosystem of value-added services accessible from a single marketplace and through APIs, also aim to develop new use cases and collaboration models among financial institutions, corporates and fintechs.

"We are delighted to announce this partnership with a global player such as SIA. The complementarity of our two companies represents a great value that we intend to deliver to our respective customers and their end customers. We are aware that the acceleration on the market caused by innovation will allow us to improve over time our integrated offer in order to reach the next levels with increasingly innovative and high-performing digital solutions," commented Carlo Gherardi, CEO of CRIF. 

"The reliability of SIA's infrastructures and transactional services in the payments sector and the quality of CRIF's information services, features already valued and recognized in Italy and abroad, represent an excellent combination that allows us to compete in Europe, confirming our leadership in innovation and supporting the financial market in the development of new operating models offered by Open Banking," said Nicola Cordone, CEO of SIA.

Responding to the urgent need for financial institutions globally to comply with the European Commission’s (EC’s) updated Shareholder Rights Directive (SRD II) by the September 3, 2020, deadline, Broadridge Financial Solutions, Inc. (NYSE:BR), a global Fintech leader, has announced a record number of new signings for its multiple-industry, award-winning SRD II solution.  Broadridge is now onboarding these new clients, which are based both within and outside of Europe and include both retail- and institutional-focused firms to its production-ready SRD II solution for global proxy voting and shareholder disclosure.

In addition to supporting its existing client base of over 60 global and local custodian firms for SRD II, Broadridge has received unprecedented international demand since the EC reconfirmed the September deadline, signing new clients across markets in Europe and North America, including multiple tier-one banks, brokers and wealth managers.

“We are witnessing strong demand, and we are market-ready with our end-to-end solution across the shareholder communications chain,” said Demi Derem, the Broadridge executive who is spearheading global SRD efforts. “It is crucial for firms to move ahead with a strong solution with proven viability for all in-scope markets – from the straightforward to the most complex – while simultaneously meeting stringent European client data standards.”

Since the inception of SRD II, Broadridge has proactively engaged with industry authorities and market participants throughout the investor communications lifecycle, culminating in its enhanced Global Proxy solution that includes same-day event capture and distribution, same-day proxy vote processing and vote confirmations, advanced multi-channel retail functionality and European client data storage.  It has also launched the Shareholder Disclosure Hub, an industry-wide digital solution, utilizing the latest API- and blockchain-based technologies to address SRD II’s new shareholder disclosure requirements.

“SRD II heralds a major step forward for corporate governance standards in Europe, bringing greater transparency and efficiency to investor communications, and driving higher standards of stewardship and improved levels of investor engagement,” said Markus Kaum, founding partner at Governance & Values, a European company focused on corporate governance and shareholder engagement services. “While some intermediaries, such as global custodians, are fully aware of their new obligations under SRD II and duly prepared, for many other firms in the banking, brokerage and wealth industries the provision of services, such as proxy voting and shareholder disclosure, are new and, with September 2020 fast approaching, they cannot afford to delay.”

The scope of SRD II is global, impacting any financial intermediary holding or servicing European equities, irrespective of where the firm is located.

FSS (Financial Software and Systems), a global leader in payment products and payment processor, announced its e-Commerce Payment Gateway has been enhanced to support leading payment wallets -- Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Google Pay --for online, in-app and mobile purchases. The addition of new digital instruments is designed to help merchants meet evolving needs of customers for new ways to pay and to boost online sales. 

Mobile retail commerce sales by 2023, according to industry reports, would account for an approximate 52% of total online sales. The recent enhancements help acquirers take advantage of this trend and boost conversions at checkout via delivery of effortless payment experiences. Customers merely select their preferred Wallet at checkout, enter a biometric imprint or PIN, and the payment is done. There are no input-intensive forms to fill in or fumbling for a plastic card to enter the account number, card expiration, and security code.

Commenting on the enhanced capabilities, N Sathish, Dy Chief Product Officer FSS said: “The support for added payment instruments is timely as more merchants and consumers are adopting online payments due to the C-19 induced lockdown in most countries. The enhancements are in line with our objective to globally expand our white-label Payment Gateway footprint by bringing relevant innovations that delivers satisfactory, fulfilling payment experiences.” 

“We are thankful for the support from Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Google Pay to help us bring safe, simple, and widely popular payment acceptance modes to the market.” added Sathish.

For acquirers, setting up wallets for payment acceptance is a seamless process and takes a few minutes. The wallets can be integrated directly onto the merchant’s mobile website using a SDK or their desktop website. Whilst existing merchants have to opt-in for activation, with just a few lines of code, new merchants can quickly integrate the Wallet into their checkout process, allowing customers to transact in a familiar way at their favorite merchants. Alternately acquirers can use a white-labeled, out-of-the-box checkout hosted on the FSS Payment Gateway for wallet payment acceptance, benefitting smaller merchants who lack technical expertise. 

In addition to the Pays, the Gateway supports a breadth of alternate payment mechanisms including MADA (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s payment scheme), OmanNet (network for processing debit cards in Oman) Amazon Pay, Unified Payment Interface (India’s Instant payments scheme) to boost conversions at checkout. 

FSS Payment Gateway supports 70 merchant acquiring institutions globally and processes 1 Billion transaction annually. Acquirers can deploy FSS Payment Gateway in-premise or opt for an “As-a Service” model, wherein FSS hosts the service on FSSNeT (FSS private cloud) and assumes responsibility for set-up, security, regulatory compliance, maintenance, and regular product updates.