The Merchant Payments Ecosystem (MPE) Awards, now in their twelfth year, are the only European awards dedicated to recognising the achievements of the top European merchant payments acceptance companies. Winners were announced at a ceremony in Berlin, forming part of the MPE annual conference and exhibition, the biggest of its kind in Europe.

Anders la Cour, Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of financial utility Banking Circle, said: “This win recognises the important role BankingCircle Virtual IBAN is playing in delivering faster, cheaper payments to merchants transacting around the globe. Unlike traditional business to business cross border payments, which can incur high bank charges and payment delays, Banking Circle Virtual IBAN negates the need to have several banking relationships and enables financial institutions to give their customers their own virtual IBANs, improving payments acceptance, settlement times and reconciliation.”

Banking Circle Virtual IBAN offers a multi-currency business solution for customers in their own name and in multiple jurisdictions, allowing them to make and receive payments instantly. More and more Financial Technology businesses and banks are turning to the innovative service to allow them to offer their merchant customers access to international business bank accounts and cross border payments, without the burden of multiple banking relationships, high fees and slow transfer times.

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Companies can develop and flexibly manage their own banking and payment solutions by simple Application-Programming-Interface (API) integration of the ONPEX solution.

ONPEX’ BaaS platform enables banks, PSPs and ISOs to accelerate international expansion and optimise services thanks to the platform’s greater flexibility, far-reaching scalability, and innovative banking and payment capabilities. The total value of global cross-border B2B transactions is expected to reach approximately $218 trillion by 2022. Focusing on this international and growing market, ONPEX has created a BaaS platform to help companies of all sizes and industries reach their full potential and meet ever-increasing demands by sorting and automating their cash flows.

“With FinLab AG, we are pleased to have gained yet another strong investor who will support us with its network and know-how in the upcoming scaling phase,” says Christoph Tutsch, founder and CEO of ONPEX.

As a professional investment firm, FinLab focuses on new, disruptive business models in the fintech sector. To do so, the firm relies on an experienced team of investors alongside its shareholders, who bring a wealth of knowledge to the table, both in the financial services and technology sectors.

Stefan Schütze, Board Member at FinLab, explained the recent investment: “There is a clear gap in the product offering of traditional banks and other payment service providers. These providers often do not have API-based IBAN accounts and no capabilities to automate payments which are critical to the scalability and growth of companies with digital business models. ONPEX has recognised this gap. The business supports companies with its BaaS solution, providing multi-currency IBAN accounts and a flexible account structure. The BaaS platform’s integrated micro-service architecture and cloud-based infrastructure, with its integrated APIs, also enables automation of payment with remarkable benefits that help companies improve their scalability.”

“Besides supporting financial institutions such as e-money and payment institutions, ONPEX also helps non-regulated companies, such as marketplaces and corporates, simplify the management of their funds and payments in environments where compliance requirements are increasing. In addition, ONPEX’ ability to manage multiple currencies within an account is particularly interesting for multinationals. With ONPEX, we are investing in a team that shares this vision and meanwhile has the know-how to realise such a platform technically, legally and to the highest quality standards. We invest in intelligent platform-technologies; in this way, ONPEX is ideally suited for our investment.”

ONPEX is licensed and supervised as a payment institution by the Luxembourg CSSF and operates in accordance with its regulatory, technical, and reporting requirements.

The founder and managing director, Christoph Tutsch, is supported by CFO, Jürgen Schneider, CTO, Germàn Fuentes Capella and the rest of the 39-strong team of experts. With locations in Luxembourg and Munich, ONPEX has also already received numerous awards, including the Fintech Excellence Award.

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Due to launch in July, the programme will initially focus upon UK-based start-ups, providing access to contactless Visa debit and prepaid cards and current accounts complete with IBAN, Faster Payments and Direct Debit functionality. The initiative will expand across Europe soon thereafter.

This ground-breaking initiative will drive innovation and disruption by removing the barriers-to-entry faced by start-ups. The programme will enable businesses to test new concepts in a secure and fully API-configurable environment supported by Contis’ robust Know Your Customer (KYC) protocols and dedicated customer service.

Commenting on the partnership, Flavia Alzetta, Chief Executive Officer of Contis said: “In a world that is being fundamentally reshaped by technology, it is crucial that key parties pull together to remove the friction that stifles disruption across the financial services sector.

“We are delighted to partner with Visa to launch an initiative that will not only foster competition but also create an environment that fuels innovation and has the potential to support the growth of the next generation of financial services providers.”

Bill Gajda, SVP Innovation & Strategic Partnerships, Europe at Visa said: “Our new FinTech fast-track programme will enable early stage start-ups to gain rapid access to the capabilities that lie within Visa’s global network to power their own ideas. We’re pleased to be partnering with Contis to launch this programme.

“At Visa we are open for all players to take advantage of the reach, capabilities and security of our network to grow their businesses. Our commitment is to be the most responsive and supportive network for both emerging payment players and our existing clients and partners.”

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