Visa and the French bank Natixis have reached an agreement to create an alliance with which to provide services related to payments to European startups.
The objective is to offer services focused on both the issuance of cards and the adoption of the necessary regulations and procedures.
At the moment they already have agreements with some French startups and now the objective is to expand it across Europe, with Spain being one of the key markets.
An alliance to offer payment services to fintech
Visa and the French bank Natixis have created an alliance to offer payment services to fintech. The goal is to adapt payment solutions to startups while supporting them in the field of regulation, explains Fabrice Denèle. Who is senior vice president of strategy and alliances at Natixis Payments.
Startups are usually focused on a very clear business that seeks to improve the user experience in a specific subject. While they do not have to be experts in regulation regarding payments and know the details of regulatory compliance, says the manager. Who points out that At that point Natixis Payments would enter with Visa.
Natixis Payments is the payment division of the investment bank Natixis, 70% of which is owned by the French banking giant BCPE.
The strategy is to find a 50% balance
So far, the main business in the field of payments of the division came from the services they provided through the BCPE network. Now, the strategy is to find a 50% balance between this part and the direct business, which currently means between 30% and 40% by the year 2020.
The goal is to build payment solutions for Europe because in the current framework startups are not limited to a single country. For this reason, they have now come to Spain where they will go to the MWC of Barcelona to present their solution among the companies that meet at the 4Y4N. The part of the fair dedicated to innovation and emerging companies.
Among the services are the issuance of credit, debit or prepaid cards, as well as other solutions to help emerging companies in e-commerce or compliance with regulations.
Denèle points out that among the key countries for this project besides France and the Benelux area. There would be Southern European countries such as Spain, Portugal and Italy.
In this sense, Andrea Fiorentino, director of products for the South of Europe of Visa, indicates that the existence of the European passport allows to offer Visa solutions of payment that adapt to the European markets without need to request individual authorizations in each one of them.
Partnerships between startups and banks
At a time when there is talk of how the great technology companies are increasingly entering the field of financial services, alliances between startups and banks are becoming a constant.
Denèle points out that this is a natural movement because banks have to evolve and adapt to changes in the environment. The sector will not be the same now as in 20 years, so the bank also has to transform the way it sells and distributes it.
“We need to innovate,” says Fiorentino, who points out that both French and Spanish markets are characterized by this.
Natixis Payments has a stake in some startups such as Dalenys, which offers payment solutions for electronic commerce. The entity acquired just over 50% of this company in June 2017. An acquisition that added to the one made the previous year when it acquired Plug and Pay
An ambition to become leaders in the payment industry of Europe
At the time of the purchase of Dalenys, in a statement the entity noted that this announcement was the confirmation of the strategic ambition of Natixis to become one of the leaders of the payment industry in Europe, especially in the field of services to shops.
At that time, Natixis estimated the volume of transactions carried out by online sellers in a fast growing market at 500,000 million.
Regarding the services provided, Denèle points out that they already have an agreement with the social payment fintech Le Pot Commune, a company that serves to make gifts in a group, or with another fintech focused on offering a wallet to make payments in French campuses or shops in the area.
Also published on Medium.