“With every customer receiving their own virtual IBAN and access to the real-time European payment rails, SEPA Instant, we can ensure that funds are moving when, how and to whom they’re supposed to.”
eToro has partnered with Banking-as-a-Service infrastructure provider OpenPayd to power eToro Money accounts throughout Europe.
The social investment platform is thus looking to provide its European customers with a simplified, near-instantaneous payments experience through eToro Money.
eToro Money connects with an existing eToro investment account so that users can manage their funds in one place, and easily transfer them to and from their eToro investment account—including making instant withdrawals and deposits.
eToro taps OpenPayd for Euro virtual IBANs and SEPA Instant rails
eToro will now be able to issue Euro virtual IBANs (International Bank Account Numbers), unique to each of its customers, and provide eToro users with access to SEPA Instant rails for the first time.
The proposition is currently live in 12 countries and is being rolled out across Europe. As a result, eToro’s customers can now make deposits and withdrawals from their eToro Money accounts, quickly and securely.
Kreeson Thathiah, Director of Payments at eToro, commented: “This partnership is an example of embedded finance in action; it’s a significant evolution in how we build innovative financial services. Working with OpenPayd – who’s platform and team has accommodated all of our needs – has been a pleasure. With every customer receiving their own virtual IBAN and access to the real-time European payment rails, SEPA Instant, we can ensure that funds are moving when, how and to whom they’re supposed to.”
Iana Dimitrova, CEO of OpenPayd, said: “eToro is changing the game for the trading community across the world, which is why we’re thrilled to be powering its product throughout Europe. Our infrastructure was built for use cases just like eToro Money. We strongly believe that embedding financial services in this way powers business growth, enabling any company to build new products, streamline operations and manage payments globally. This is what the future of financial services looks like”.
OpenPayd offers a bespoke API-based solution that slashes time spent on reconciliations, removes the possibility of human error and significantly speeds up payment processing times.
Bitfinex also uses OpenPayd’s solution
In April, Bitfinex signed a similar deal with OpenPayd to enable Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) payments for euro-denominated deposits and withdrawals. SEPA instant is a more efficient and obviously faster means to transfer Euros, which Bitfinex anticipates will grow their transactional base much faster than the use of SWIFT.
OpenPayd’s BaaS platform includes many features specifically designed for digital asset businesses. Among other things, it allows them to automate the process of receiving fiat deposits and initiating fiat withdrawals from and to their customers via SEPA, SEPA Instant and SWIFT.
Crucially, with Bitfinex having access to the SEPA Instant payment scheme, its customers are now able to top up their fiat wallets in real time. This also provides additional options for Bitfinex customers to deploy euros onto the platform and have the ability to pay-in and pay-out from their accounts near-instantly.
In addition, OpenPayd’s virtual IBANs can be directly embedded into their customer platforms’’ back end, which helps reduce reconciliation errors and significantly speeds up the payment processing time.
