Next-gen global issuing and processing platform sees favorable conditions in digital first, commercial, crypto and credit segments
i2c Inc., a leading provider of digital payment and banking technology, today disclosed what it sees as key opportunities for growth in the UK and European markets, highlighting digital first, B2B commercial payments, cryptocurrency and credit as high-demand areas in which it is favorably positioned to compete.
“The payments world is evolving very rapidly, especially in the commercial banking sector. We’re launching new features and functionalities every 2 weeks, and have partnered with over 60 banks worldwide”
“In the past 18 months, we’ve seen increased opportunities as well as validation and acceptance of our offering in initiatives where these criteria and related use cases play heavily to customers’ requirements,” said Jonathan Vaux, general manager for UK and EU at i2c. He also noted that the driving forces appear to be a combination of continued bank digitization, a surge in payments and financial innovation in the commercial space, heightened competition among crypto players to achieve faster innovation cycles and market expansion, and broad interest in reconstructing credit as an embedded feature.
According to the company, its platform features distinct characteristics that UK and European partners find compelling as they assess certain use case conditions, for example, span of product and geographies.
Among these elements is i2c’s membership in Mastercard’s Fintech Express Program, which allows the region’s issuers to tap into the speed and security of Mastercard’s global network.
“During a time of accelerated digital shift, consumers are seeking digital financial services. We are pleased to welcome i2c to our Fintech Express program. It will enable their customers easy access to the Mastercard platform, which hosts key products and programs in one place,” said Jason Lane, Executive Vice President, Market Development, Europe, Mastercard.
Vaux also shared that the current pace of innovation and level of competition in digital first, commercial payments and cryptocurrency is affecting issuers in similar ways, be they UK or European mid-tier banks moving to instant issuance, fintechs addressing unmet needs in the commercial market, or corporates enabling their own modern payment capabilities.
“In Europe we initially saw a high demand from fintechs, such as neo-banks, to leverage pre-existing prepaid platforms and capabilities to get digital offerings to market locally and as quickly as possible,” Vaux said. “However, as the market has matured, we are now seeing increasing demand for extension into new capabilities, whether that be credit, debit, commercial or crypto, a much greater need to support global expansion, and much higher expectations of configurability to support tailored propositions that meet the needs of emerging segments.”
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Among those partnering with i2c in Europe to transform the payments landscape, is UK-based EedenBull, a leading fintech specializing in B2B commercial payments technology.
“The payments world is evolving very rapidly, especially in the commercial banking sector. We’re launching new features and functionalities every 2 weeks, and have partnered with over 60 banks worldwide,” shared Nicki Bull Bisgaard, CEO of EedenBull. Adding, “i2c’s platform has provided the flexibility, reliability, and security we needed to expand into a truly global company and continues to enable our impact across the B2B space.”
According to i2c, the region which has been at the cutting-edge of initiatives such as open banking and fintech, is now seeing increasing sophistication in client requirements and expectations of their processing partnerships. To this end, the company said it had deepened its alliances with global partners, such as the Fintech Express partnership with Mastercard, as well as its local partnerships with BIN sponsors and clients in the UK and Europe.
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