Fintech, Finance, Technology, Banking Highlights – 19 October 2018
Azimo to offer services to SMEs
Azimo, the digital money transfer service, is taking on high street banks with a new service for businesses.
Azimo Business, which launches on October 19, will allow SME owners across the UK and Europe to pay for goods, salaries and investments in 189 countries and territories.
With pricing that will undercut most banks by at least 75%, the service is aimed at entrepreneurs who are sick of high fees and unreliable technology from high street providers. Michael Kent, Azimo’s CEO, said: “In 2018 it’s unacceptable for business owners to have to fiddle around on an unusable banking website to make overseas payments that take days to arrive, and then to be overcharged for the privilege. We are using our award-winning technology and mobile apps to give small businesses the service and pricing that they deserve.”
Azimo Business has been in beta testing since June. “We’ve had lots of fantastic feedback from customers,” said Mr Kent. “We’ve added more countries than we originally planned, we’ve lowered our fees, and we’ve made it much easier to register and get started.” Payments to China and Hong Kong have taken off particularly quickly, as more and more businesses choose suppliers there.
Azimo Business is available via desktop browsers and also on iOS and Android apps. While consumer mobile banking has improved dramatically in recent years, business payments have not followed suit, says Dan Martins, Azimo’s chief product officer:
“Our research shows that business owners are deeply frustrated by their banking apps. The modern entrepreneur isn’t in front of their laptop most of the time. They like to be able to send money in seconds, from the palm of their hand.”
PayU to make Google Pay available in online stores in Europe
Online retailers cooperating with PayU in Europe have been granted access to a new form of payment in their websites as well as in mobile applications.
Payments using Google Pay can be made on all devices (smartphones and computers), regardless of the operating system or browser.
Google Pay (formerly Android Pay) is a simple and fast way to pay with a card, without the need to complete its data every time. Card details are securely stored by Google.
The implementation of Google Pay is another step enhancing the cooperation between PayU and Google. Earlier, while introducing Android Pay to Poland, Google chose PayU as a partner implementing this new solution on the e-commerce market.
– Thanks to Google Pay, users in Poland and Europe no longer need to create accounts in every new application or website. Paying is easy and frictionless, even on the first visit of the buyer, wherever the Google Pay logo is visible – says Florence Diss, Head of EMEA Commerce Partnerships, Google. – We are happy to work with the most innovative payment partners and that thanks to the integration with PayU thousands of websites, in Poland and in Europe, can now provide their users with a fast and secure payment method, which is Google Pay.
Foxquilt Secures Seed Investment Led by Extreme Venture Partners
Foxquilt, a growing insurance financial technology company leveraging big data and AI to change the insurance landscape, announced that the company has successfully raised CAD$1.2 million in a seed round of investment, led by Extreme Venture Partners.
Launched by Mark Morissette and Karim Jamal, industry veterans with deep experience from Real Matters and Aviva, Foxquilt empowers consumers and small businesses with the ability to join groups with similar needs to achieve a discount off their premium, reduce their deductibles and be rewarded at renewal should their claims experience be in line during the past year.
“Today, we join communities to save across a number of industries – so why not Home and Commercial Insurance,” said Mark Morissette, CEO and Founder, Foxquilt. “We were determined to build a sharing platform leveraging AI and behavioural science to help unite like-minded consumers to save money while eliminating the pain of accessing the product. We go downstream to help the customer before they’ve even started their buying journey.With Foxquilt, consumers will be able to easily access the power of their communities to reduce their premiums and deductibles.”
