TIDMFFX
RNS Number : 4155Q
FAIRFX Group PLC
19 February 2019
19 February 2019
FairFX Group plc
("FairFX" or "the Group" or "the Company")
FairFX granted settlement accounts at Bank of England
Gains direct access to Faster Payments Scheme
FairFX, the e-banking and international payments group,
announces that, through its subsidiary Spectrum Payment Services
("SPS"), it has been granted settlement accounts with the Bank of
England and, in turn, has become a Direct Participant of the UK
Faster Payments Scheme ("FPS").
FPS is one the fastest growing UK payment systems and the only
real-time 24/7 service that is in increasing demand from personal
and business customers using both desktop and mobile
applications.
The Company's direct connection to FPS has been enabled by the
New Access Model that extended access to Real Time Gross Settlement
("RTGS") accounts held at the Bank of England, as part of a
wide-ranging effort to inject more competition and innovation into
the UK's payments systems.
FairFX is only the fourth non-Bank to become a directly
connected and directly settling member of FPS.
Furthermore, with access to RTGS accounts, FairFX is now
eligible to join other UK Payment Schemes such as BACS and CHAPS.
Alongside this development, FairFX will own its sort code, which,
in conjunction with its SWIFT membership, means it can now create
IBANs for customers with no other financial institution involved in
the process. This will benefit the Company through enhanced
economics via reduced cost per transaction coupled with enhanced
customer acquisition and retention via instant payments which will
vastly enhance the user experience and satisfaction.
Before granting FairFX access to settlement accounts at the Bank
of England, an extensive audit was performed by the FCA to ensure
that SPS had the necessary technology, security and compliance
processes to be granted this status. Completion of this process and
admission to the Bank of England RTGS accounts therefore represents
a significant endorsement of the FairFX Group.
In 2018, FairFX processed more than 1 million Faster Payment
transactions, which from today the Group will be able to process in
real-time. This will provide tangible benefits to FairFX customers
including instant transfers, improving cash-flow and providing
certainty over payments. In turn, this development is expected to
accelerate customer acquisition and improve retention across the
Group.
Adam Rigler, Head of Banking for FairFX Group and Managing
Director of SPS, said:
"We are delighted to be live with the Bank of England and the
Faster Payments Scheme after a year long project and significant
investment to make this happen. As a directly connected settling
participant we can provide and directly manage instant faster
payments, both in and out of our customers' accounts, 24/7.
"It is essential for payment providers to be able to offer
instant payments in the modern world and we are now at the cutting
edge of this service. The scale of our in-house gateway means that
we are even in a position to offer the service to other payment
providers on a B2B basis, thereby providing yet another revenue
stream for the Group."
Ian Strafford-Taylor, Fairfx Group CEO, added:
"Obtaining direct membership of the Faster Payments Scheme
together with settlement accounts at the Bank of England represents
a major step in the progression of FairFX Group. This development
is in line with the Group's strategy to streamline the payment
supply chain, deliver lower payment processing costs, improve
customer experience and facilitate product iteration.
"The positive attestation from the FCA required as part of this
process demonstrates the strong risk and compliance culture we have
across the Group and positions us well for further expansion of our
product suites. FairFX will continue to improve its efficiency and
scale by removing links in the supply chain and going direct to
payment schemes both in the UK and overseas. Direct access to
payment schemes was traditionally the exclusive preserve of
Clearing Banks, so joining this select group clearly demonstrates
FairFX's credentials as a leading payments provider with bank-grade
capabilities and distances us from other digital finance
competitors."
John Jefferson, General Manager of Faster Payments said:
"We welcome FairFX Group to Faster Payments as our newest Direct
Participant. We now have 29 Direct Participants in total, including
four non-Banks, further highlighting our ongoing success in
simplifying access and levelling the playing field for new
entrants."
This announcement contains inside information.
FairFX Group plc +44 (0) 20 7778
Ian Strafford-Taylor, CEO 9308
Cenkos Securities plc - Nominated Advisor
and Joint Broker
Max Hartley (Nomad) +44 (0) 20 7397
Callum Davidson 8900
Canaccord Genuity Limited - Joint Broker
Bobbie Hilliam +44 (0) 20 7523
David Tyrrell 8150
Yellow Jersey
Charles Goodwin
Joe Burgess +44 (0) 7747 788
Annabel Atkins 221
About Faster Payments:
Faster Payments Scheme Limited (FPSL) is the company that
enables mobile, internet, telephone and standing order payments to
move quickly and securely, almost at the touch of a button, 24
hours a day. At its launch in 2008, Faster Payments was the first
new payments service to be introduced in the UK for more than 20
years. Faster Payments Scheme Limited is a not-for-profit company,
wholly owned and operated by Pay.UK Limited. Participation in the
scheme is open to any financial institution, authorised payment
institution or authorised e-money institution that is able to meet
the necessary technical requirements. From 1 May 2018 the
oversight, systemic risk management and strategic direction of the
running and management of the Faster Payments system has been
conducted by Pay.UK. Further information on Pay.UK is at:
www.wearepay.uk.
About FairFX
FairFX is a leading challenger brand in banking and payments
that disintermediates the incumbent banks with a superior user
experience and low cost operating model. This enables personal and
business customers to make easy, low-cost multi-currency payments
in a broad range of currencies and across a range of FX products
all via one integrated system. The FairFX platform facilitates
payments either direct to Bank Accounts or at 30 million merchants
and over 1 million ATM's in a broad range of countries globally via
Mobile apps, the Internet, SMS, wire transfer and MasterCard/VISA
debit cards.
FairFX provides banking and payment services to both personal
and business customers through four channels: Currency Cards,
Physical Currency, International Payments and Bank Accounts. The
Currency Card and Physical Currency offerings facilitate multiple
overseas payments at points of sale and ATM's whereas the
International Payments channel supports wire transfer foreign
exchange transactions direct to Bank Accounts. For Corporates,
FairFX has a market-leading business-expenses solution based around
its corporate prepaid platform and card that can yield significant
savings on a Corporate's procurement through better controls and
improved transparency and also streamline the procurement process
thus saving administrative costs. Through the recent acquisition of
CardOne, FairFX now has the capability to offer retail and business
Bank Accounts with all the functionality you would expect from a
Bank, namely faster payments, BACs, direct debits, international
payments and a debit card.
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END
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