DNA Payments has also tied up embedded finance provider Liberis, a deal which can be the game-changer in the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) sector, as Liberis will be analysing data from DNA Payments to offer pre-approved funding to over 65,000 of their merchant customers across Europe.

DNA Payments, established in 2018, took its first external funding in 2021 from private equity firm Alchemy Partners. While the company’s losses reportedly grew from 2.6 million pounds in 2020 to 8.9 million pounds in 2021, the start-up expanded its headcount by 313% (198 employees currently) in 2023.

Knowing DNA Payments In Detail

As of June 2023, the start-up is helping over 65,000 merchants across the United Kingdom and Europe with its cutting-edge industry solutions for online, in-store and on-the-go businesses.

American Express, Visa, Mastercard, UnionPay, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, name any biggie of the online payments industry, it has a tie-up with the UK-headquartered venture.

“Our Group includes Optomany, a company that services large corporates and medium-sized businesses; and 123Send, Active Payments, First Payment Merchant Services, Kwalitas, and Card Cutters, who all provide services to SME customers. Our combined Group is one of the largest PaaS and SaaS services providers to multinational acquirers and banks,” the company stated.

“We’re FCA (The UK Financial Conduct Authority) regulated for consumer hire with headquarters in London and operational hubs in Kent, Hull and Oxford, and now serve over 65,000 merchants. That’s around £900,000,000 processed monthly across 100,000 POS terminals worldwide,” it remarked further.

DNA Payments was launched in August 2018 with just three people. In September of that year, the start-up launched its first e-commerce payment solution. In July 2019, it got its first ‘Valued Ecommerce Customer’, followed by the launch of its merchant portal v1. In September 2019, the company acquired CR7 Services and a month later, reached the landmark of having 30,000 customers in the United Kingdom.

In 2020-21, DNA Payments acquired Zash AB, launched its maiden payment link solution, reached the 40,000 customer landmark in the UK, launched ‘Pay by Bank App Payments’, acquired ‘Active Merchant Services’, enabled ‘PayPal E-commerce payments’, introduced Partners’ Dashboard, started its open banking payments mechanism, apart from enabling payment set-ups with two tech biggies, Apple and Google.

The year 2021 also saw DNA Payments launching Verifone and PAX terminals software, apart from launching its integration with ‘BigCommerce’. DNA Payments’ growth journey continued in 2022 as well. It started the year by acquiring UK-based payment solutions provider Kwalitas, followed by the launch of its ‘First Verifone Trinity series POS Terminal’. Also, the start-up acquired ‘Card Cutters’ and ‘First Payment Merchant Services’, apart from reaching 100,000 card terminals and online points of sale.

Apart from partnering up with Mastercard to deliver ‘Click to Pay’, DNA Payments, in 2023, has continued to upgrade its Merchant Portal.

Services Offered By DNA Payments

The start-up, established by Arif Babayev and Nurlan Zhagiparov, provides businesses with online payment solutions through Mobile Card Machines, Portable Card Machines, Countertop Card Machines, Unattended Terminals and Zash Android Epos.

For online transactions between businesses and customers, DNA Payments have solutions like ‘Website Payments’, ‘Virtual Terminal’, ‘No-Code Payment Links’, ‘Recurring Payments’ and ‘Charity Donations’.

How Do These Solutions Work?

The ‘Mobile Card Machines’ accept chip, PIN, contactless and mobile payments with major card providers and popular payment methods, with 24/7 operational availability.

Reliable internet connectivity, long battery life, quick processing speed and printer friendly are the key features of these ‘Mobile Card Machines’, which are suitable for contractors, taxi drivers and delivery service providers.

These ‘Mobile Card Solutions’ can be branded as well by DNA Payments, in order to ensure that the client company’s brand awareness runs throughout its payment system.

Also, the start-up’s portable card machines allow businesses to accept payments anywhere in-store.

These devices are facilitated with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3G and 4G connections, so that they can be connected to the printing machines, in order to ensure quick generation of receipts in a fast-paced working atmosphere like the ones in supermarkets, pubs, eateries and beauty salons. Also, these portable card machines come with the feature of emailing the receipts directly to the customers, in case the latter doesn’t want paper printouts.

The above two solutions are just prime examples of how DNA Payments’ solutions cover the specific transaction-related needs of businesses across sizes. The ‘Unattended Terminal’ is perfect for entities like petrol pumps and ticket vending centres, which encounter long customer queues and lack payment features which are quick, easy and secure.

Through DNA’s merchant portal, businesses can track transactions, authorise refunds and pull sales reports using data analytics, along with accepting payments online without using a website (for this, the businesses can send Payment Links to their customers through email/other online communication methods).

The start-up’s ‘Payment Gateway’ mechanism aids its client businesses to enjoy the benefits of technologies like ‘Automated Routing’ and ‘Secure Tokenisation’, thus making it easy for these entities to accept and process credit and debit card payments online.

“Our Payment Gateway allows for frictionless transactions across multiple sales channels and was developed to work with all major payment providers so it can be implemented easily into your business’s payment process,” DNA Payments stated.

“Only one token is needed for transactions, so you can monitor and get insight without affecting security. Our Payment Gateway facilitates a seamless journey between your sales channels, unifying your platforms and opportunities,” it stated further.

DNA’s ‘Payment Gateway’ has direct integrations with the world’s leading payment systems and processes payments from all merchant sale points.

“Businesses are becoming global, so we’ve developed our Payment Solutions to accept all payment methods worldwide. You’ve got complete control over payment types you choose to receive, all managed using our Merchant Portal,” it stated further.

Also, the company has all-around data security and fraud analytics protocols set in place, while meeting the global cyber security standards.

The Road Ahead

Having an online payment mechanism, based on tools like card terminals and ‘Points of Sale’, is quickly becoming a must for 21st century businesses.

DNA Payments, through strategic partnerships with Mastercard and Liberis, is already on its way to becoming an industry giant in the digital payment sector. From petrol pumps, departmental stores to pubs and eateries, the start-up has established customised online transaction-related solutions for businesses of all sizes.

However, the real challenge for DNA Payments will be to stay future-proof, as online payment mechanisms are evolving at a much faster pace than anyone’s imagination.

The post Start-up of the Week: DNA Payments is changing Europe’s PoS game appeared first on International Finance.

WhatsApp is still awaiting the approval of Brazil’s central bank to get things going.

The company took this step to generate new streams of revenue as Facebook and Instagram are slowly losing their popularity.

Commenting on the subject WhatsApp spokesman said, “We do not consider the launch of person-to-merchant payments in Brazil to be delayed, we continue to work collaboratively with local authorities and potential partners, and don’t comment on the specifics of confidential regulatory or commercial discussions.”

In order to get a green light, WhatsApp will need approval from the central bank, which will then decide if the service is to be approved or not.

There are rumours that Brazil’s central bank wants to boost the adoption of its own instant payment system, known as the Pix. This, however, could be bad news for the Meta.

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Mohamed Assem, Egypt’s Mastercard country manager said in a statement, “We are delighted to join forces with Telda to introduce the first money app in Egypt. This milestone further promotes the digital transformation of the Egyptian economy and allows us to offer consumers a secure, convenient, and seamless experience for their payment transactions from the comfort of their own homes. We at Mastercard recognise our role and responsibility in supporting the Egyptian Government’s efforts towards an all-inclusive digital economy, and we are delighted to further advance this agenda through our partnership.”

The Telda app offers its users multiple features including sending and receiving money. It is also the first in the market to allow a fully digitised card payment experience with just a click of a button and doesn’t require its users to have a bank account. With the help of this app, customers will also be able to move funds in a few simple steps and control their prepaid accounts with money management features that allow them to stay on top of their finances.

Digital payments platforms represent a user-friendly alternative to the traditional brick-and-mortar banking services so that customers don’t have to visit a branch. The business model completely focuses on eliminating cash and promoting a digital paperless transaction.

The post Mastercard and Telda team up to launch a money payment app appeared first on International Finance.

The Diners Club Card was the first credit card to enjoy widespread use, essentially acting as a charge card where the bill will be paid in full at the end of each month. American Express soon followed suit and achieved high adoption rates around the world, serving one million customers at over 85,000 merchants by the mid-1960s. Today, credit cards have become ubiquitous in the western world, with an estimated 364 million open credit card accounts in the US, and 59 million in the UK.

Each credit card contains a number of identifiers, the most obvious one of which is plastered across the front of every card: the 16-digit code. Ever wondered what those numbers actually mean? Each card begins with a single-digit major industry identifier. For example: Five indicates banking or financial company, like MasterCard; four indicates Visa card; one and two indicate airlines; and seven indicates petroleum business.

Then follows a six-digit issuer identifier number that helps confirm the specific issuing institution and whether it is a credit, debit or a premier card.

Next (typically digits 7-15) comes the individual account identifier number—unique to the person and allocated by the card issuer.

The final single digit is known as the checksum. This number is there to verify if the credit card number has been entered correctly. Using the Luhn algorithm, developed by German computer scientist Hans Peter Luhn in 1954, simple mathematics is used to confirm if all the card details match. In a nutshell, it is doubling the value of alternate digits in the credit card number. (So, for example, 4 becomes 8), beginning with the second digit from the right of the 16-digit number. For any number that contains double digits when doubled (i.e. 8 becomes 16) two individual digits should be added together (i.e. 16 becomes 1+6=7). Then by adding all of these single-digit numbers together and if the total from this ends in a zero (i.e. 40, 50, 60, etc.), the account number will be validated.

Still confused? Well, these numbers were never meant to be used by the consumer; they have been embossed on credit cards for decades so the networks can transfer the payments swiftly and correctly. The problem is that in the digital age, the numbers have to be transposed into form after form in order to enable issuers to identify the user online, enabling a fully secure payment.

eMarketer forecasts that in 2019 approximately 1.92 billion people or 63% of internet users will be digital buyers. E-commerce has become the first place that shoppers turn to, whether it is for gaming, travel, technology and much more. But one thing has remained the same: most people rely on numbers on the little plastic card carried in purses and wallets. In addition to the 16-digit card number, the user also requires to enter other details such as CVV and expiration date.

Surely the payments industry should have made life easier by now?

Papering over the cracks

The question is especially pertinent when we consider that Amazon implemented its 1-Click as far back as 1999. Until recently, it was patented (they did OK out of it); and there are other technologies that have been developed to help us manage this process a little easier. Auto-fill technologies, for example, have flooded the market, automatically entering card numbers into forms simply by clicking a photo of the card’s front.

It is also possible to use handy options available on web browsers to save passwords that entered previously: these might be convenient, but they are not completely trusted.

So perhaps, one might think biometrics is the answer. As fingerprint scanning technology becomes a standard feature on many smartphones, one can expect to see greater synchronicity between a shopping experience and a mobile handset, verifying payments via a pocket device.

Biometrics and other new processes will allow faster payments and even instant payments—provided the data is secure and assuming consumers have no issue storing payment details in digital wallets or other media such as mobile banking apps.

Then there is tokenisation. This is where a third party stores the sensitive card information and the cardholder uses a ‘token’ associated with their card to verify the transaction, rather than entering the full card number to make the payment.

But more often than not we find ourselves requiring all the details again when we use a site and this high-level of information required for online transactions could be a contributor to the conversion crisis some retailers are seeing. Research conducted by Experian has found that more than half of online transactions are abandoned prior to checkout. One of the main reasons cited for this high level of abandonment is that too much information is required for new account setup.

A question of fraud

By removing unnecessary steps in the process and making the interface faster and more user-friendly, merchants hope to put more revenue into their balance sheet. The hard part then is to retain the trust of the customer by providing more confidence in the payment process. Payment card fraud accounts for 58% of fraud losses in the UK, according to UK Finance, with 1.4 million of the country’s 1.9 million incidents coming via Card Not Present. (i.e. online) fraud.

Card issuers have had a stranglehold on the payments market for decades which has held back innovation. For example, when security issues arise, the card companies’ response is to patch these vulnerabilities rather than look at solutions that reduce customers’ exposure to fraud.

However, this has changed in recent years and there are now around 150 alternative payment methods in use across the world, with new solutions being introduced all the time; many of which are more user-friendly than card payments.

One solution to making payments more trustworthy is to use a direct bank transfer payment method that allows customers to quickly and easily transfer funds directly from their bank account to the merchant using their standard log-in details.

This solution can be built into the merchant’s website with transactions confirmed via the customer’s bank using their existing standard security protocols, facilitating real-time transactions and a better user experience.

Direct bank transfer virtually eliminates chargeback, repudiation claims and reduces the cost of accepting payments from customers outside the merchant’s home market. Pay-outs are available individually or as batch payments, reducing complexity and internal costs.

Many consumers perceive credit and debit cards to be a secure option for making payments, but the security protocols around cards cannot compare with receiving a one-time PIN on a mobile device.

Otherworldly payments

Customers and merchants are also looking for services that can be used in different countries around the world, whereas cards are often limited to use in the country where they were issued. A consumer would not be able to use a Brazilian credit card to make certain payments in Spain, for instance.

In China, WeChat (owned by social media giant Tencent) and Alipay (ultimately owned by retail behemoth Alibaba), enable customers to make payments within chat apps, using P2P transfers, bank account, credit cards and other payment methods.

In the West, users are more accustomed to Apple Pay, Google’s Android Pay, and Samsung Pay, provided by the international technology titans. They power NFC-enabled payments from mobile devices for in-store purchases and can increasingly be used for in-app purchases. These alternative payments still depend on payment/loyalty cards being registered to the apps, but then, offer more convenient ways to pay for digital (and arguably physical) purchases.

The ubiquity of mobile phones could effectively render the 16-digit number obsolete by storing information securely and enabling the user to wipe sensitive data if the phone is lost or stolen.

So, while the cards are not going to become obsolete any time soon, and with more secure payment options for making payments entering into the market all the time, we predict the number will eventually be up from the 16-digit code.

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