B4B Payments provides smart and flexible payment processing solutions, which enable any size organisation to manage expenses, simplify payroll and offer employee rewards and incentives.
Free advice from B4B Payments – A Banking Circle Group Company’s Chief Commercial Officer Brian Lawlor. Hear what Brian has to say about financial leadership, payment adoption, and industry predictions.
In a recent Payments Journal podcast, Kieran Draper and Tom Jennings, the U.S. and EU/UK CEOs of B4B Payments, and Brian Riley, Co-Head of Payments at Javelin Strategy & Research, spoke about the strategies fintechs employ to ensure their solutions remain both effective and invisible to the user.
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Picture this: a small fintech startup fuelled by bright ideas but weighed down by the mammoth task of building a banking infrastructure from scratch. The clock is ticking, competitors are surging ahead, and every day spent tangled in red tape feels like a missed opportunity.
Now, imagine a solution that sweeps these obstacles aside, laying down a golden pathway straight to the heart of the financial market. That solution is Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS), the game-changing strategy that’s turning fintechs from contenders into champions.
In this blog, we will explore how BaaS offers tangible solutions for high-level decision-makers and technical individuals within the fintech industry. We’ll highlight the five key benefits of BaaS, using some real-world examples to illuminate how BaaS is shaping the future of financial services.
The first benefit of BaaS we’ll consider is its ability to enhance operational speed and efficiency, which is vital for fintechs seeking a competitive edge.
BaaS enables fintechs to leverage pre-existing banking infrastructure, speeding up their time to market. For decision-makers, this means a quicker return on investment and the ability to implement a more agile business strategy.
The integration of BaaS APIs into fintech platforms facilitates faster and more efficient development. APIs serve as the building blocks for digital services, eliminating the need for lower-level infrastructure development.
As an illustration, let’s consider a use case with a Nordic fintech start-up wishing to become a fully licensed entity.
Typically, most small businesses in the Nordics opening a corporate bank account will face lengthy processes and high costs.
The start-up wished to simplify corporate payments for small businesses but had significant challenges due to the highly regulated environment. They were able to achieve their goal by collaborating with a trusted BaaS provider.
The BaaS provider gave the fintech start-up access to its embedded finance services and API integration. This linked the fintech’s financial platform with the BaaS provider’s banking services to offer DKK, SEK, EUR, USD, and GBP accounts. Through these accounts, the BaaS provider has payment services in both local rails and 25+ currencies through SWIFT and NACHA.
The BaaS provider helped the fintech find a speedy route to market. The fintech navigated the complexities of regulations and payment technologies, while ensuring compliance and ethical conduct.
Another major advantage of BaaS is scalability.
Typically, fintechs looking to grow can face the daunting task of expanding their in-house banking infrastructure—this is a complex and costly process. BaaS simplifies this by providing access to scalable banking services that can adapt to a fintech’s growth trajectory.
From a technical standpoint, the modular nature of APIs facilitates scalability. APIs allow services to be expanded or reduced based on demand. As a fintech’s customer base grows, they can easily add more services or scale existing ones. Conversely, if they need to scale down, APIs can be deactivated with minimal disruption to the overall system.
Chime, a neobank that provides consumer banking services, leverages this feature of BaaS to extend its services and cater to its rapidly growing customer base, all without needing to make hefty investments in infrastructure.
Traditionally, a significant portion of a fintech’s resources would be consumed by the task of building and maintaining a banking infrastructure. BaaS changes this equation dramatically. It allows fintechs to delegate the complexities of infrastructure to a third-party provider, thereby freeing up internal resources.
For decision-makers, this strategic shift is transformative. It means that teams can pivot from being bogged down with compliance and infrastructure management to focusing on designing competitive, unique offerings that resonate with their target audience.
The API-centric nature of BaaS is a boon for product development teams. APIs are like the building blocks of the digital world; they enable fintechs to quickly assemble, test, and iterate on new products and features. This environment of rapid prototyping is essential in a sector where being first-to-market can confer a significant competitive advantage.
With BaaS, fintechs are not just innovating on their existing products—they are in a position to expand their product portfolio altogether. Whether it’s adding new payment options, launching investment products, or integrating wealth management services, BaaS provides the tools and services necessary for fintechs to diversify their offerings.
BaaS can have a significant impact on a fintech’s bottom line.
Instead of investing heavily in building and maintaining in-house banking infrastructure, fintechs can leverage BaaS to access necessary banking services.
Navigating the complex world of financial regulations can be a costly affair. Compliance requires dedicated personnel, continuous monitoring, and frequent updates to systems to align with changing regulations.
BaaS providers, being specialists in the banking domain, manage these compliance aspects as part of their core services. For fintechs, this means that the burden—and cost—of regulatory compliance is significantly reduced. They can operate with the assurance that their BaaS partner is keeping them on the right side of the law, without the need to invest heavily in compliance teams and tools.
Improving the customer experience is a strategic priority for any fintech, and BaaS can play a pivotal role in achieving this.
BaaS allows fintechs to integrate financial services seamlessly into their own platforms, creating intuitive and convenient services for their customers.
BaaS providers invest heavily in security protocols and compliance, and by partnering with them, fintechs can assure their customers that their data is in safe hands. This trust is fundamental to customer retention and is a significant aspect of the overall customer experience.
BaaS’s streamlined approach extends to operational efficiency, which has direct implications for customer satisfaction. By leveraging pre-built banking services, fintechs can execute transactions and process requests at a much faster rate. This means quicker loan approvals, instant account updates, and real-time payment processing – key factors that contribute to a positive customer experience.
Raisin UK offers its customers a savings marketplace without having to develop the underlying banking infrastructure. Instead, they leverage BaaS APIs to open accounts, collect deposits, and interact with other banks.
Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) offers powerful benefits to fintechs, driving speed, efficiency, scalability, innovation, cost reduction, and an enhanced customer experience. It empowers decision-makers to enact strategic business advantages and fosters a fertile environment for technical individuals to innovate.
The integration of BaaS APIs provides an array of new possibilities in product development, operational efficiency, and customer engagement.
BaaS is more than just a technical solution—it’s a strategic business model that helps fintechs to compete in the financial landscape. With the continued growth of the digital economy, the role of BaaS in the fintech industry is set to be a defining factor in shaping the future of finance.
Being nominated for the prestigious PayTech Awards in four categories is not just an achievement for B4B Payments but a validation of our relentless pursuit of excellence and innovation. Let’s delve into how B4B Payments transform financial services through ground-breaking initiatives.
Building Strong Partnerships: B4B and Banking Circle
With 18 years of experience in fintech, B4B Payments understands the importance of staying ahead of the curve. By partnering with Banking Circle, they have entered the Banking as a Service (BaaS) market, broadening their service offerings. This collaboration enables them to assist clients globally with payments, foreign exchange, and additional financial services.
Innovative Business Cards: Quick Rewards and Refunds
B4B Payments collaborated with Blackhawk Network to manage a major refund program for a top tech brand. Our rapid reward and disbursement programs ensured international customers got refunds within ten days, boosting customer satisfaction.
Solving Travel Industry Challenges: Secure Payments for Tours
B4B Payments’ Innovative payment system is a game-changer for travel companies like Education First (EF) and Acacia Africa. They ditched cash for B4B Prepaid Mastercard cards, making payments safer and tracking expenses easier for tour guides.
Making a Difference: Supporting Those in Need
Expanding into Banking as a Service, B4B Payments keeps social impact in mind. We work with charities like Human Appeal to aid vulnerable groups, ensuring they can manage their funds effectively.
In conclusion, with our transformative initiatives and unwavering commitment to making a positive impact, B4B is shaping the future of finance and striving towards a more inclusive and equitable world for all.
MPC Interviews the Head of Channels & Strategic Partnerships, Lori Breitzke, of B4B Payments.
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Paula Roberts, payments expert at B4B Payments, discusses the potential benefits of digital transformation of payments in the waste industry.
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B4B has a long history of supporting charities that align with social and financial inclusion values. These organisations use B4B’s proprietary technology and prepaid Mastercard card solution to manage and distribute funds in challenging circumstances. However, these organisations are more than just clients, and B4B goes beyond standard commercial relationships to support these important causes.
In 2016, B4B was approached by Human Appeal, a non-profit organisation working globally to strengthen humanity’s fight against poverty, social injustice and natural disasters.
The organisation aims to invest in real, effective solutions by providing immediate relief and establishing self-sustaining development programmes.
One of the main challenges facing Human Appeal was managing the process of buying emergency supplies such as food, blankets, and other urgently needed essentials. These purchases would need to be made by field agents who were face-to-face with victims and their often-desperate circumstances.
The B4B team saw that their expense management solution using prepaid cards was the perfect solution for Human Appeal.
The expense cards provide an alternative to cash when paying for essentials like food, shelter, or medical care. They also give team leaders access to a portal so disbursed funds can be tracked and spending monitored. In emergencies, funds can be topped up remotely, no matter where the cards may be.
As a Sharia-compliant financial organisation, B4B and Human Appeal are growing together, allowing funds from Zakat to be spent compliantly and where most needed. Being Sharia-compliant means the aid dispatched fulfils the principles of the Islamic faith and adheres to Sharia law.
Human Appeal manages its prepaid card portfolio through an intuitive, easy-to-use platform and app that enables staff to send representatives recurring or one-off payments instantly.
For the representatives in the field, the process is simple and convenient. They receive their B4B card and complete financial visibility through the app, enabling them to monitor and manage their funds in one place. Balances can be checked, and transactions can be reviewed at a glance. Features such as real-time SMS notifications help representatives keep track of their spending and balances.
In 2023, the two organisations were able to support each other’s growth into the US market, which is strategically vital for both organisations.
As part of the planning and setting up of its new centre in California, Human Appeal extended its UK relationship to include the services of B4B’s operation in the US in March 2023. This extension of the relationship enabled Human Appeal to issue B4B Visa cards to its US-based team.
The next step in the growth of the partnership is to integrate Human Appeal’s German and Irish entities with B4B’s expense programme. For these entities, B4B has once again offered to adhere to its lower rates offered for humanitarian organisations.
“Human Appeal has worked with B4B for many years and have found them an ideal partner to work with to support our charitable work. We have found B4B responsive to our needs and have extended the partnership to our sister organisation in the US. We look forward to working with B4B in the future and growing our collaboration.” – Asif Nazar, Head of Finance, Human Appeal.
The B4B Payments solution is designed to be as straightforward and innovative as possible. For charities, its prepaid cards offer a practical solution, enabling Human Appeal to distribute funds to their aid workers instantly and eliminating the risk that comes with carrying cash.
Humanitarian causes are close to the heart of the B4B team, and they are pleased to be able to offer Human Appeal preferential commercial terms for a service that has become an essential part of its growing global operations.
Photo of Tim Robson & Edwina Wilkins, B4B Payments, with Asif Nazar & Misbah Shikdar (Head of Finance & Finance Manager) at Human Appeal’s Manchester HQ (2023).
The Nordic region, known for its tech-savvy population and stable financial systems, is becoming a prime breeding ground for ambitious fintech startups. With high mobile payment adoption, a focus on sustainability, and robust regulatory frameworks, the stage is set for exciting innovations and collaborations.
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The show’s host, Rogier Rouppe van der Voort, explores Brian’s expertise in BaaS and how this breakthrough model is enabling companies to extend their services to provide customers and generate new revenue.
BaaS breaks the mould for the delivery of banking services. It gives non-financial institutions the ability to offer core banking services such as card issuance, payment acceptance and FX service. Thanks to BaaS, a business can launch its own banking services without having to go through the lengthy and costly process of attaining its own licence. They also avoid the need to build their own complex infrastructure for the delivery of those services.
Swedish startup Juni, which was listed as 2021’s fastest-growing fintech startup in Europe, is one of B4B’s most recent high-profile BaaS success stories.
‘BaaS has grown rapidly in recent years,’ explained Brian, ‘which has naturally attracted some new service providers into the market. With BaaS, organisations can quickly integrate banking functionalities into their existing products or services, eliminating the need for extensive development and regulatory hurdles.
‘BaaS is pushing innovation by allowing for the creation of tailored financial solutions that boost customer loyalty and engagement. Ultimately, it empowers businesses to scale efficiently, adapt to evolving market demands, and enter new markets with ease.’
The PCN podcast episode featuring Brian Lawlor is live, and you can catch it on all major platforms like Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
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In a world where companies struggle to offer incentives that truly satisfy their employees and traditional benefits often miss the mark, a significant change is happening. Performance Bonus solves the pains of incentive and rewards scheme administration and delivery whilst also increasing companies’ Return On Investment(ROI).
Teaming up with B4B Payments since 2019, Performance Bonus specialises in delivering BONUS rewards through prepaid Visa / Mastercard products. These cards, accepted globally in over 30 million locations, comply with the UK’s taxation requirements.
David Burton, CEO of Performance Bonus Ltd, states, “Partnering with B4B Payments has created exactly the ‘win-win’ result we intended. For Performance Bonus, it has broadened our offering, already winning new clients, and for B4B Payments, it has opened up a ‘turn-key’ solution through us into the incentives and rewards market”.
To date, Performance Bonus has successfully administered over £20 million in rewards through various programs, including Business (B2B) promotions, in-house sales incentives, and staff recognition initiatives.
Experts in leveraging accessible digital channels, Performance Bonus ensures effective communication and delivery of incentive programs. This extends to embedding the reward payment solution into clients’ Intranets/Apps or their BONUSme Microsoft Azure Hosted application.
Clients can either outsource their complete programme fulfilment through Performance Bonus or have direct access and control of their brand solutions using their systems and support as required.
The Performance Bonus success story includes helping a lead client dominate the motor finance incentive space for over a decade. This was achieved through a bespoke incentive solution that evolved to reward salespeople based on customer satisfaction and NPS score achievement via a branded prepaid card solution.
To achieve Performance Bonus’ potential, they found B4B’s flexibility, capability and approach enabled them to
David Burton continued, “We had experienced a couple of ‘false starts’ with other possible partners, but the ‘can do’ attitude at B4B has made the creation of our joint offering a real pleasure to be involved with”.
Together, Performance Bonus and B4B Payments have built the strategic asset that Performance Bonus sought by adding compliant prepaid capabilities alongside their performance measurement and rewards administration offerings.
Tim Robson, Account Director at B4B Payments, expresses optimism for the future, stating, “It’s really good to see the incentive and reward products we have created together working so well, and with much of the market turmoil of the last few years hopefully now behind us, we wish Performance Bonus every success in our partnership moving forward”.
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