LONDON (Alliance News) - Payment service provider FairFX Group PLC said Tuesday its subsidiary, Spectrum Payment Services, has been granted settlement accounts by the Bank of England, making it a direct participant of the UK Faster Payments Scheme.
FPS is a payment system introduced to reduce the payment time between customer accounts made from different banks. The initiative was set up to reduce the time from three working days on the old system to a few seconds.
FairFx was allowed to join the system through the Bank of England's New Access Model, which was introduced to "inject more competition and innovation" into UK payments systems.
"Obtaining direct membership of the Faster Payments Scheme together with settlement accounts at the Bank of England represents a major step in the progression of FairFX Group. This development is in line with the group's strategy to streamline the payment supply chain, deliver lower payment processing costs, improve customer experience and facilitate product iteration," said Chief Executive Ian Stafford-Taylor.
The company said it is only the fourth non-bank to be directly connected and a direct member of FPS. This allows FairFX to have it own sort code and can now create international bank account numbers for clients - meaning FairFX will not need to use any other financial institution for its clients to transfer money.
FairFX said this will result in reduced cost per transaction and increased customer retention - on the basis of a "vastly enhanced" user experience.
The Bank of England carried out an "extensive audit" of the company's subsidiary before granting it the settlement.
FairFX processed more than 1 million FPS transaction in 2018, which from now on will be processed in real-tme.
Stafford-Taylor added: "The positive attestation from the Financial Conduct Authority required as part of this process demonstrates the strong risk and compliance culture we have across the group and positions us well for further expansion of our product suites. FairFX will continue to improve its efficiency and scale by removing links in the supply chain and going direct to payment schemes both in the UK and overseas. Direct access to payment schemes was traditionally the exclusive preserve of clearing banks, so joining this select group clearly demonstrates FairFX's credentials as a leading payments provider with bank-grade capabilities and distances us from other digital finance competitors."
Shares in FairFX were down 1.1% Tuesday at 89.00 pence each.