Commerzbank has chosen Nets, part of the European PayTech Nexi Group, to develop a streamlined and scalable solution for processing credit, debit, and prepaid cards which will be managed by Nets going forward.

Torsten Hagen Jørgensen, Head of Issuing Solutions in Nexi Group, says: "Across the Nexi Group, we have gained extensive experience along the entire value chain of digital payments for years. Being trusted by Commerzbank to offer our modular, flexible, and customer-focused services is a key milestone for our issuing solutions business in Germany.”

The DACH region is an important potential growth area for Nexi, and the ambition is to continue to consistently expand its market presence also offering innovative issuing end-to-end services with modularity, short time-to-market and scaling at its core.

AutoRek, a reconciliation and finance automation fintech, today releases the findings of its global payments survey. The survey looked to understand the current issues facing payments firms today, future trends, as well as their perceptions on regulation, compliance and payments reconciliation.

Most notably, the survey found that 63% of payments firms believe their regulatory burden will increase over the next two years. This is especially prominent in the US, with almost half (47%) of US respondents acknowledging that compliance expenditure will increase. Meanwhile, in the UK, only 29% of firms anticipate spending will increase – especially as UK firms spend considerably more (£325,000 on average) compared to the US (£304,101 on average) to ensure compliance.

With rising consumer demands for real-time payments, the entire payments industry has been forced to quickly adapt to meet this growing need. The survey found that while most global payments firms will be ready for real-time payments in the next 12 months, there are still stark differences in readiness between the UK and US. US payments firms are more confident in their ability to accommodate real-time payments, with 70% noting that they are already prepared, compared to only 50% in the UK.

While the payments industry has been much quicker to adopt technology than their banking counterparts, 65% continuing to use spreadsheets for critical financial control processes. Two-thirds (67%) of US survey respondents reported being overly reliant on spreadsheets compared to only half of UK respondents.

Manual processes lead to inefficiencies, with nearly a third (29%) of US firms noting that their back-office costs grow in direct proportion with growth in payment volumes. This is in direct contrast to UK firms who reported that their back-office costs grow at a slower rate than payments volumes, which is fuelled by greater adoption of back-office automation.

Gordon McHarg, CEO at AutoRek, commented on the findings of the report: “While we anticipate the payments sector will double its revenue by the end of the decade, the current recession means payments firms will likely be facing their biggest challenge to date. Keeping operating costs low while new regulations come into play will be crucial, and firms need to continue innovating and adapting to rid themselves of inefficiencies and keep ahead of any negative economic impacts.”

Nick Botha, Payments Lead at AutoRek, added: “Our payments report has demonstrated clear differences between UK and US regulatory landscapes, strategic priorities, and future outlooks. 2022 has been a turbulent year for payments on both sides of the pond, but the variety of payment methods and volumes are still expected to increase in the near future – a positive sign. We hope this report highlights challenges and areas of opportunities for the global payments industry.”

Additional findings from the report include:

• 42% of UK-based respondents expect their number of cross-border payments to decrease, compared to 28% of US firms
• 14% of payments firms are unprofitable and 33% are only breaking even. US firms are more likely to be profitable than those across the pond
• The key focuses of regulatory scrutiny include: customer protection, operational resilience, crypto payments, and data protection. 64% of respondents believe that the US will adopt a similar approach to the UK’s Safeguarding Rules
• More than half (60%) of firms expect payment methods and volumes to increase in the future

The survey was made up of over 500 mid-level professionals working in payments firms across IT, Finance and Operations in both the UK and US. Click here to download the full report.

Over the Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend, Square and Clearpay sellers saw more than 4.3M transactions across the UK as consumers kicked off the holiday shopping season. For a global look, view our complete Black Friday / Cyber Monday Results. Square and Clearpay’s global Festive Forecast report indicated that nearly 80% of consumers intend to spend the same if not more compared to last year, signalling that sellers should continue to prepare for buyer demand during the holidays. 

The peak minute for shopping in the UK occurred on Friday, November 25, 2022 at 4:26 PM. Cities with the largest volume of sales were London, Edinburgh, Manchester, Leeds, Bristol, Glasgow and Liverpool. As for staffing over the busy shopping weekend, Square found a 51% increase in the number of employees who worked, with more than 6,000 employees working a total of 110.7K hours; the average employee clocked around 18.5 hours.

“The Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend kicks off the biggest shopping season for businesses – but it’s only the beginning,” said Alyssa Henry, Head of Square. “We’re entering a pivotal month for businesses to end the year with strong momentum, especially given recent headwinds. Sellers should leverage multiple revenue streams across online and in-person to ensure a successful holiday season, using software like marketing and loyalty programs to keep their business top of mind and to attract customers.”

Gift cards continue to be a top-selling item during the holidays, with more than 17,742 physical and e-gift cards sold this year. The top industries for gift card sales were food and beverage, beauty and personal care, healthcare and fitness and leisure and entertainment, with sellers using Square Marketing to advertise their offers and drive sales. 

BIC Bank, one of the fastest-growing commercial banks in Cambodia, has successfully migrated its in-house processing centre to Compass Plus Technologies’ award-winning payments platform, TranzAxis. The migration to the new system enables BIC Bank to significantly expand its digital offering, starting with the addition of Mastercard debit cards to its portfolio.

After BIC Bank received its commercial banking license from the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC) in 2018, the bank set its eyes on expanding its business, aiming to build upon the 1,000 debit cards it had at the time to issue 100,000 debit cards within five years. To fuel this growth, BIC Bank needed a reliable and proven solution to meet its current and future requirements.

After scoping out various payments platforms, the bank selected TranzAxis, as the platform had the flexibility and scalability it required and embarked on the project with Compass Plus Technologies to migrate its in-house processing centre. Since then, BIC Bank has established a connection with Mastercard - one of the most popular payment schemes in Cambodia – to enable it to issue Mastercard-branded debit cards, accept them at its ATM and POS terminal networks, and ensure safer online transactions using 3DS authentication. It has also integrated with the local Cambodian Shared Switch (CSS). To ensure the migration went smoothly, Compass Plus Technologies drafted in its regional partner, eCam Solution.

Vithou Pen, Managing Director of eCam Solution Co., Ltd., commented: “It was great to be a part of BIC Bank’s journey and to be able to provide support on such a large migration project, ensuring the project went without any issues and was delivered on time.”

In the future, BIC Bank plans to use TranzAxis to aid its mission to become a Third-Party Processor (TPP) and support smaller banks and financial institutions in the region. The bank is also planning to offer credit cards, which it is currently piloting.

Eat Chetrasorivong, Group Chief Technology Officer at BIC Bank, said: “Our migration to TranzAxis was strategic for us. We needed a system that could not only meet our requirements today, but aid our long-term business expansion plans. We are sure we made the right choice, and are looking forward to working with our partners at Compass Plus Technologies and eCam Solution in the future.”

Igor Simonov, AVP, Business Development and Sales Manager at Compass Plus Technologies, said: “BIC Bank is an ambitious and innovative FI with some great projects in the pipeline. We are delighted to partner with the bank and help them on this vital journey of business expansion in Cambodia.”

Car repairs payment platform www.bumper.co.uk has raised £26.1 million ($30 million) in investment from its Series A extension round, with automotive giants and venture capitals Autotech Ventures, InMotion Ventures (the investment arm of Jaguar Land Rover), ITOCHU and Revo Capital investing in the automotive fintech start-up.

As part of the Series A extension round, a new debt facility was agreed with Secure Trust Bank Commercial Finance worth £20 million ($23 million), with the additional investment coming in the form of equity through Autotech Ventures, InMotion Ventures, ITOCHU and Revo Capital. The extension round ends just over one year after Bumper’s Series A round raised £10.5 million ($12 million) in June 2021, bringing the total investment to £36.6 million ($42 million).

Bumper is a digital payment platform for vehicle repairs and services, enabling owners to pay online, in-store or spread their costs over monthly instalments interest-free. It also delivers an instalment financing solution using proprietary AI-enabled technology to facilitate real-time lending decisions.

Bumper enables over 4,000 partnered dealerships and garages across the UK, Republic of Ireland, Spain and Germany to sell a larger proportion of identified repair work, reducing workshop downtime, with no risks or liabilities, while also boosting customer loyalty.

Having been named the eighth fastest growing fintech in the 2021 FT1000 rankings of Europe’s fastest-growing companies, the new funds will be used to continue the Bumper’s expansion across key European markets, including but not limited to Germany, Spain and the Netherlands.

James Jackson, CEO of www.bumper.co.uk, commented:

“Bumper’s rapid growth trajectory has been incredibly exciting, and the new round of investment from our amazing partners means that we can continue this growth trajectory and pursue our lofty goals to expand further across Europe.

“As the cost-of-living crisis tightens, it’s never been more important to offer affordable and convenient payment options giving driver peace of mind when getting their vehicles repaired.”

John Gribbon, Regional Managing Director of Yorkshire and the North East at Secure Trust Bank, said:

“We first began working with Bumper’s management team nearly three years ago and since then the business has shifted up a gear, developing its technical capability and growing its network of dealerships thereby demonstrating the strength of its business model. Our close relationship with the team and our growing understanding of the business has allowed us to work quickly and flexibly, keeping pace with Bumper’s growing working capital needs. This latest investment round puts the business in pole position for further success.”

Cenk Bayrakdar, Managing Director and Founding Partner at Revo Capital, commented:

“Bumper's impressive growth and history achieving success through its comprehensive fintech solution for car repairs has well-positioned Bumper to accelerate its international growth. James and his team continue to prove Bumper's strength and effectiveness in this space, and we are excited to join them on the next leg of their journey and support Bumper’s R&D initiatives in Türkiye.”

Alexei Andreev, Managing Director at Autotech Ventures, commented:

“We are impressed by the clever finance tools and modern software used by Bumper, and how this technology is becoming essential in today’s economy.  Autotech continues to support the team on its journey to becoming an industry leading BNPL product.”

Mike Smeed, Managing Director at InMotion Ventures, commented:

“Our team continues to be impressed by Bumper’s remarkable growth in the UK, and more recently in Ireland, Spain and Germany. We are delighted to announce our additional investment into the business, and look forward to supporting the team as they expand across Europe”

Trustly, a leading Open Banking provider, today reveals that Open Banking can maximise online returns for retailers this Black Friday Weekend, as in-person shopping remains below pre-pandemic levels.

The findings are set out in a whitepaper, titled “How to maximize your Black Friday sales this year with Open Banking payments”, which is based on an analysis of customer behaviour over Black Friday, Black Friday Weekend and Cyber Monday, collectively referred to as ‘Black Friday Weekend’, 2021.

With retail footfall remaining below pre-pandemic levels on Friday, online stores are playing an increasingly important role for retailers looking to make the most of the holiday season. Having account-to-account payment options in place can help boost returns further still, with Trustly’s report finding that Open Banking solutions can help maximise retailers’ online sales in two ways:

1. By increasing average conversion rates

Trustly identified two peaks in shopping activity on Black Friday, famously the busiest shopping day of the year. These are just before and just after typical working hours when consumers are likely to be commuting and on their mobile phones.

Traditionally, customers are almost twice as likely to convert on desktop (3.7%) as they are on mobile devices (2.2%). However, Trustly’s report has found that consumers using Open Banking are equally likely to convert whether they are shopping via mobile or by desktop (0.3% higher on desktop) due to the checkout process being simple and secure.

2. Reducing average refund and return rates

Additionally, the Open Banking provider found that payments made on Black Friday last year via its account-to-account payment solution resulted in an overall refund rate of just 8.8%. This compares to average refund rates which, according to eMarketer, can be as high as 30%.

Ciaran O’Malley, Vice President of Financial Services & E-commerce at Trustly, comments: 

“The Black Friday Weekend is one of the most important times of the year for retailers and sets the tone for the rest of the holiday season. While many factors contribute to a Black Friday success, our study highlights the fact that reliable and intuitive payments can boost revenue significantly.

“Open Banking payment solutions can support retailers as they respond to the customer behaviours outlined in this report, helping optimise checkout procedures for the highest conversion rate, while also reducing the transaction cost to the retailers themselves.” 

Enfuce, the European card issuing and processing powerhouse, has won the coveted FF Award for Mobile Payments. Recognised for its fully cloud-based Cards as a Service (CaaS) innovation, Enfuce was selected as winner of the category over Fiserv, Giesecke+Devrient, Vesta Corporation and Wallet Factory.

Denise Johansson, Co-CEO and Co-Founder at Enfuce, commented: “We’re delighted that Enfuce’s contribution to the mobile payment revolution has been recognised by the FF Awards. Enfuce was the first in the world to fully move card issuing to the cloud, and with our turnkey service model, packaged BIN sponsoring, and all regulatory compliance taken care of, Enfuce is a one-stop shop for all companies that want to issue virtual cards or offer embedded payments to their customers.”

”Our turnkey mobile app has played a significant role in attracting clients, who know how important it is to offer mobile payments to customers, and to integrate with popular digital wallets such as Google Pay and Apple Pay. But the time, resources, and expertise involved in developing an app is a challenging journey to start from scratch, particularly for companies not experienced with payments. Enfuce’s MyApp is a ready-to-launch card management app, with no coding or integration required as Enfuce handles everything from development to maintenance.

Monika Liikamaa, Co-CEO and Co-Founder of Enfuce, added: “Enfuce winning this prestigious industry award is a perfect example of how we’re removing complexity from processing, and giving companies everything they need to start offering mobile payment services to their customers – quickly, securely and effortlessly. We’re delighted with Enfuce’s success so far, and we know the future is bright as more companies across Europe look for reliable, responsive and revolutionary capabilities.”

Tom Dickinson, Senior Producer at The FF Awards, explained: “With its top industry expertise, comprehensive turnkey card issuing service and commitment to customer service, Enfuce is a deserving winner of Mobile Payments FF Award. With Enfuce, customers can be certain that they have access to underbanked and wider customer bases, backed up by a high-performing processing platform. I look forward to seeing how Enfuce continues to innovate and serve its customers in the future.”

Zimpler, a leading fintech company born in Sweden, announced today their partnership with Elon – one of the biggest merchants in consumer electronics in the Nordic’s – offering B2B payments solutions to Elon’s customers, in Sweden. After going live with its new solution in March, Zimpler became the first provider in the country to offer instant B2B account-to-account payment in real-time.

Zimpler’s B2B payments solution simplifies in- and outgoing payments for merchants, removing the need for invoices, purchase orders, company cards and additional administrative resources and costs. Transactions are instant and directly connected to the merchant’s corporate bank account. The solution also reduces the risk of card fraud and other risks associated with traditional ways of payment. Zimpler’s B2B transactions run through a collaboration with Briqpay, a payments platform that simplifies the B2B payment flows for online sales.

Currently, around 40% of Elon’s sales are B2B. The move to integrate Zimpler’s payment solution is a good indication of the industry’s rising interest in instant account-to-account transactions. It also strengthens Zimpler’s presence in the retail sector, as the company has already partnered with retailers Stick, Upgrit and Inca Tours for its B2B solution and will continue to grow within this segment.

Zimpler’s Director of New Solutions Sales, Fredrik Rubin, says: “A major merchant such as Elon integrating our new solution only months after it went live is a great success for Zimpler, and highlights the fantastic momentum we have for our instant B2B payments. I believe that this way of facilitating B2B transactions is the future and will soon become the norm due to its many benefits over standard payments. I am excited and look forward to our collaboration.”

Jessica Söderlindh, B2B Sales Manager at Elon, says: “B2B payments make a very significant part of Elon’s transactions, and I’m glad that we can now offer our clients a solution that makes them frictionless. Zimpler’s product is a real game-changer for B2B transactions in Sweden, and I’m sure that it will come with several benefits for us, including an improved conversion rate. To make B2B payments as simple as they are for B2C is a clear step in the right direction.”

Ashman, the ambitious new entrant bank serving small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the commercial real estate sector, has successfully gone live on Mambu. Ashman is currently leveraging Mambu’s cloud banking platform to manage its loan offering to build speedy, personalised service for conscientious property businesses and entrepreneurs in the UK.

Ashman successfully secured its restricted banking licence in June 2022. It aims to support SME borrowers and personal savers alike with access to the right lending and know-how to create sustainable properties and practices in a simple, transparent way. Currently, in the mobilisation phase prior to full regulatory approval, its lending services will include bridging loans, buy-to-let mortgages, commercial mortgages and property development finance ranging from £100,000 to £5 million.

Simon Healy, Chief Operations Officer at Ashman said: “Ashman will enable property entrepreneurs to move fast, win fast, be decisive and go after the opportunities they see. We’ll be entirely digital, focus on delivering speed and personalised service to our intermediary partners and clients. We sought a partner with the technical capability and robust cloud infrastructure to meet the needs we have today. Together with the synergy in people, culture and strategy, we were confident that Mambu could support our growth and evolution in the longer term.”

Over the last five years, almost six in 10 (58%) UK SMEs have been unable to secure any or sufficient funding to cover the needs of their business, on at least one occasion, according to a Mambu report. And the vast majority (93%) would consider switching lenders if a competitor offered a better or improved service. With SMEs increasingly looking for lenders with better digital options, alternative lenders are in ascendancy, and traditional players must innovate to keep up. 

Scott Wilson, Regional VP EMEA at Mambu, said: "In these challenging economic times, Ashman aims to offer a new breed of banking to deliver better solutions for customers and create meaningful change in UK real estate - and at pace. From initiation through onboarding, Ashman was up and running with its initial product setup on the Mambu platform in just a few months. Opting for a cloud-native core with Mambu gives them real flexibility and cost-effective scalability. Ashman has a deep understanding of its customers’ needs and we look forward to helping them build a modern digital bank and offer innovative services for a world-class banking experience for property entrepreneurs.”

Ashman is initially focused on providing fast and personalised lending to property businesses and entrepreneurs in the UK, while providing personal savers with competitive rates. The bank was awarded its UK banking licence (Authorised with Restriction or ‘AWR’) in June, the first banking licence awarded this year, which means it has been authorised and regulated to trade with restrictions by the Financial Conduct Authority and Prudential Regulation Authority. The bank is moving towards its launch as quickly as possible, subject to a regulatory timeline and approval.

Currencycloud, the experts simplifying business in a multi-currency world, has partnered with Scottish start-up app Skedadle to provide its users an easy, secure and seamless way to transfer money earned in-app while playing games on public transport.

Skedadle rewards travellers for the time they spend playing on-the-go. They can earn £2 per day simply for playing games on the move. That’s an extra £60 in their pocket each month. This can be done thanks to a disruption in the advertising market, by using algorithms to verify and track the users’ engagement with ads, proven to be higher while playing than in traditional online advertising, which increases product and brand recall for advertisers. Thanks to the partnership with Currencycloud, Skedadle users can use the app on public transport and be reassured that all financial transactions and financial data comply with the highest standards of security and validations.

By connecting to Currencycloud’s API technology, Skedadle has been able to integrate in their app a state-of-the-art payments ecosystem that seamlessly bulk settles the money earned from advertisers into a secure account and then processes withdrawals from users fast. At the same time, Currencycloud also sets the infrastructure that will enable them to grow both geographically in the UK and globally, by providing access to 38 currencies and low cost, fast FX rates.

Says Nick Macandrew, CEO and Founder at Skedadle: “Trust and security are crucial, especially when it comes to people’s money. As we rapidly grow our platform, we need a solution that can keep up with our pace and Currencycloud do just that. Our cutting-edge technology requires a secure, stable, and simple way of managing payments, whilst guaranteeing the best user experience possible.”

Nick Cheetham, Chief Revenue Officer at Currencycloud commented: “Backing bold start-ups from day one has always been part of our DNA. Skedadle’s creation of new revenue streams for travellers and advertisers alike is an exciting business endeavour. We are eager to see how the platform can grow and disrupt the market by integrating our seamless payment capabilities.”