Navigating payments – how A2A payments will shape the futureWednesday 24 July 2024 11:55 CET | Editor: Estera Sava | InterviewNikogiannis Karantzis, Managing Director and CEO of ISX Financial, addresses the future of payments and how A2A payments come into play. Could you walk us through ISX Financial’s journey and position in the banktech/fintech industry?From its inception as the first instant payments provider with central bank settlement account access in Cyprus and the Balkans in 2018, ISX Financial has continuously evolved, creating a niche in the financial landscape. We are a technology company operating in both the banking and regulatory technology spaces, providing transactional banking services and treasury services, primarily to regulated businesses across the EU and the UK.We developed a banktech ecosystem that directly connects us to the European System of Central Banks through the (Central) Bank of Lithuania, allowing us to offer SEPA instant (Single Euro Payment Area), SEPA Direct Debit, and SEPA SCT transactions. The company is connected to the UK’s Faster Payment Service (FPS) and BACS networks via Pay.UK, as well as the CHAPS network for larger transactions. We support bi-directional global transfers through the SWIFT Alliance network in over 24 currencies, and partner with remittance providers to send in almost every currency.The corporate accounts issued to customers are under our bank institution code in the EU – and our institutional sort code in the UK. Although primarily an issuer of accounts providing instant domestic access, we also exchange and/or move money on behalf of our customers using various international networks. We are also a principal member and acquirer of major card schemes, and a card issuer, having begun the rollout of a Diners Club International Discover Card that supports business customers.However, ISX Financial’s focus is our PaidBy® service, which stands at the forefront of A2A services. PaidBy® capitalises on our integration of Open Banking initiation, instant payments service delivery, central bank access, and technological infrastructure. This combination delivers an end-to-end service that competes in function with online card payments, offering business clients the benefit of instant settlements, refund management, real-time reporting, and API-based settlement notifications. Our commitment extends to identifying and leveraging regulatory frameworks in new jurisdictions and crossing Open Banking-initiated instant payments in further currencies, to substitute card schemes online and deliver cross-border payments instantly.Launched last year, PaidBy® represents Europe’s premier end-to-end A2A solution, challenging and surpassing traditional online card payments and first-generation ‘push only’ providers.What differentiates PaidBy® in the Open Banking/A2A sector?PaidBy® builds upon our proprietary technology stack, offering Open Banking A2A services, initiating payments from online platforms, having increased speed, instant cash flow, and settlement times for beneficiary customers, refund management, real-time reporting, API-based settlement notifications, consumer security, functionality, and efficiency.ISX has designed a complete end-to-end A2A-initiated payment ecosystem able to settle within seconds in the SEPA zone and minutes in the UK via the FPS. Funds clear to fully featured transactional bank accounts issued by ISX Financial to its business customers. As customers’ business accounts are held with us, we have architected a complete API notification service to notify them of money movements across the entire A2A payment journey – from when money is pushed out from the payer’s account to when the money has arrived in their PaidBy® account, differentiating PaidBy® from push initiation only providers. Therefore, PaidBy® customers benefit from a fully automated real-time reconciliation system.How do you envisage the future of payments with A2A payments?We envision payments as seamless and familiar as card transactions yet with significant advantages for both merchants and consumers.We have also enabled customers to manage their refunds through a dashboard feature that limits refunds to the original payer and amount. Our business intelligence data provides information on location, device type, and language, to enhance our customers’ offerings by allowing service customisation.We have started work on our physical point-of-sale system, to allow consumers to use PaidBy® in-store. This will be an iOS- or Android-based app for the retailer and allow for rapid consumer onboarding at the point-of-sale to flykk®, or enable one-off payments as a ‘guest’ making an A2A payment using their account credentials. We aim to shape a future of payments that prioritises speed, security, and cost-effectiveness for businesses of all sizes.This editorial piece was first published in The Paypers' Unlocking the Potential of A2A Payments Report 2024 – Changing the Way We Pay and Get Paid, which taps into the fast, ever-expanding A2A payments industry, being the ultimate source of information for businesses looking to grow their consumer base.About Nikogiannis KarantzisNikogiannis Karantzis is the founder and Managing Director/CEO of ISX. He holds qualifications in engineering (University of Western Australia), law, and business (University of Melbourne). Nikogiannis Karantzis has over 20 years of experience across several sectors including payments, electronic money, online media, AML, defence, and secure communications.About ISX FinancialISX Financial EU PLC is a 'banktech' company that leverages its technology to provide financial services to merchants across the EEA and the UK. The company's combined payments stack and infrastructure provide complete end-to-end transactional banking, A2A payments, FX, remittance, and payment processing capability. ISXMoney's multi-currency IBAN accounts, alongside PaidBy’s instant Open Banking, provide merchants with a tailored payment solution to reach any UK or EEA bank account holders.
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