Ingenico ePayments announced that it has teamed up with French recurring payments specialist Slimpay to support a SEPA Direct Debit (SDD) solution the company is developing for online merchants to simply and securely create and manage the e-mandates required to process SDD payments. With the partnership, SlimPay joins a rapidly expanding ecosystem of exciting and innovative FinTech companies that work closely with Ingenico to jointly develop new solutions for online merchants.

Since PSD1 enabled Direct Debit processing in online mode for the entire SEPA-zone in 2014, this payment method has been steadily growing in popularity among consumers. However, for merchants processing SDD online can be challenging, because of the need for an online mandate and e-signatures. This mandate is the proof of the relation between the merchant and his customer, and gives the merchant the explicit approval to debit the account of his customer with the amounts due. Having a valid mandate is an important element to minimize risk of chargebacks when processing SDD transactions. In order to simplify this process for merchants, Ingenico ePayments is developing a new state of the art Mandate Management and e-signature solution using SlimPay’s industry-leading technology.

“With the subscription economy growing faster year over year, providing high and dedicated value added to merchants is crucial for them and for their customers. As a pioneering leader in the recurring payments industry, SlimPay is delighted to partner with an highly regarded and global market leader such as Ingenico. We strongly believe that our innovation-based alliance will be a key asset for merchants to embrace this exciting market evolution.” said Jérôme Traisnel, Chief Executive Officer of Slimpay.

“The ongoing strength of electronic commerce and industry innovation will fuel further growth in electronic payment volumes in Europe. However, SEPA and new EU regulations such as PSD2 are set to exert a considerable influence on the European payments market over the next few years. As such, compliance will be an important issue for merchants who want to take full advantage of the opportunities that the SEPA zone represents,” said Ludovic Houri, vice president, Product at Ingenico ePayments. “To provide our clients with the best possible solutions, we are working closely with innovative FinTech companies such as SlimPay, who have developed industry-leading technology that will enable us to remove friction for our clients and lets them accept SEPA Direct Debit payments with a minimum of fuss.”