Open banking/instant payments company Züm Rails partners with Fiserv.
The partnership, announced Thursday (October 3), will see Züm leverage Fiserv’s built-in financial capabilities to enable payments and financial services for U.S. businesses.
“Payment and banking services are now expanding beyond traditional banks and financial institutions, and companies across industries are eager to incorporate financial and payment options directly into their platforms,” the companies said in a news release. mentioned in.
“But the high barrier to entry has kept many from giving it a shot, especially given that until now every new feature required working with multiple providers and building an entirely new integration from scratch. .”
The announcement follows reports in May that the two companies were working on embedded financial solutions for U.S. businesses.
According to the companies, the partnership between Züm and Fiserv provides businesses and merchants with a single solution that allows them to easily integrate features such as open banking and instant payments directly into their platforms, enabling them to make payments quickly and securely. It is said that it will become.
This combination allows businesses to move funds through major U.S. payment networks, including Visa and Mastercard, Automated Clearing House (ACH), FedNow, WEB Debit, and PayPal.
“By making merchant reception, banking, and card issuing business capabilities available to our clients and partners through a carefully selected set of APIs, we are enabling these clients to expand their service models and create deeper relationships with merchants. We help them build and significantly expand their associated revenue potential, depending on each relationship,” said Sunil Sachdev, Head of Embedded Finance at Fiserv.
The partnership comes as embedded finance/embedded lending continues to grow in popularity among both consumers and microbusinesses and small and medium-sized enterprises (MSBs) around the world, according to recent PYMNTS Intelligence data.
The study found that in six major markets around the world, 15% of citizens and 18% of MSBs had recently used this lending sector, with levels of adoption varying by country. For example, research shows that 17% of US consumers have used embedded financing, as have 37% of Indian MSBs.
“However, users widely experience friction that detracts from the experience,” PYMNTS writes. “The biggest problem area is the application process, and many consumers and MSBs have recently taken advantage of this loan reporting issue. Lenders who address these issues will be able to attract and retain more customers. It will be.”