Fintech, Finance, Technology, Banking Highlights – 15 August 2018
Onpex moves into banking-as-a-service space
ONPEX a provider of multi-currency IBAN solutions, has launched its cloud-based Banking-as-a-Service.
The platform offers multiple tools such as IBAN issuing, Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) and cross-border payments, as well as multi-currency management. Given the platform’s capabilities, businesses can build, configure and manage their own financial services.
ONPEX recognised a clear gap in the current product offering of traditional banks and other payment service providers (PSPs). These traditional players often lack of API-based IBAN accounts, as well as cash and payment-management capabilities – paramount features that are vital to the scalability and growth of businesses. ONPEX is empowering businesses with its BaaS solution, providing IBAN accounts with multi-currency capability.
The new BaaS platform’s micro-service architecture and cloud-based infrastructure, with its integrated APIs, also allows payment automation with notable benefits to help businesses improve their scalability.
ONPEX not only supports financial institutions such as eMoney and payment institutions, but also non-regulated businesses such as marketplaces or corporates to simplify the management of their funds and payment transactions in an environment that has growing compliance demands. Furthermore, ONPEX’s ability to manage multiple currencies makes it particularly appealing for multinational companies.
BBVA sells more than 10 million units via digital channels
BBVA’s efforts to foster product sales through its digital channels have been well received by customers. Customer adoption of digital channels -and sales across these channels- have seen increasing growth month after month.
In the first six months of 2018, BBVA sold more than 10 million units through digital channels, almost two times the amount in the same period a year earlier. With this latest increase, sales via these channels accounted for 38.6 percent of total sales in the six months through June, compared to 22.4 percent a year earlier and 14.6 percent just two years ago.
Growth has taken place in all of the geographical areas in the Group. In Spain, 42.4 percent of the units sold in the January-June period were through digital channels compared to 24.9 percent a year earlier. In Mexico the figure was 32.7 percent up from 15.5 percent, in Turkey 40.6 percent versus 32.1 percent, in the United States 21.7 percent up from 17.9 percent, and in Latin America 51 percent compared with 22.9 percent a year earlier.
In the presentation of its results to the media, BBVA’s CEO Carlos Torres Vila emphasized the bank’s “strong push to business digitization not only drives sales but is fundamental to cost control.” This “digital push” is driving total revenues while keeping costs down. As a whole, this allows efficiency to continue to improve. In fact, the efficiency ratio stood at 49.2 percent as of June, 82 basis points below the figure for 2017 at constant exchange rates.
Wirecard equips EU duty free shops with Alipay
Wirecard, the digital financial technologies specialist, is now cooperating with Gebr. Heinemann to integrate the most popular Chinese payment methods, among others Alipay, into the central checkout system of the Hamburg-based trading company’s Duty Free and Travel Value Shops at airports.
Heinemann is the market leader in Europe and the only family-owned company among the global players in the duty-free sector. Following the launch in Germany, the solution is to be rolled out at 12 other European airports and then globally.
Raoul Spanger, Executive Director Retail & HR Gebr. Heinemann: “Chinese tourists are becoming an increasingly important target group worldwide. We are pleased to now be able to offer our Chinese guests their domestic mobile payment methods thanks to Wirecard. Through the marketing platforms provided by Alipay, for example, we will be able to provide them with personalized offers for our range of products before they leave.
Christian Reindl, Executive Vice President Sales Consumer Goods at Wirecard: “Chinese consumers now expect retailers worldwide to offer them familiar payment experiences. We are therefore pleased to have won Gebr. Heinemann as a new customer, with whom we are planning to jointly shape the digitization of payment processes.”
