Modulr, the UK based alternative payment service provider for digital businesses, recently revealed in an announcement that it has joined UK’s most premier group of automated payment clearings service provider BACS as a direct participant.
As per the statement released by the firm, it revealed that this partnership is geared towards providing its clients with an easier, simpler, and reliable service via its direct participating with the clearings service group. This partnership also means that Modulr is now one of the new non-bank payment service providers among the participants who make up BACS. This move allows Modulr to take full control of its BACS payment flows and remove any need for relying on third-party banking partners, thereby giving it total independence over its banking infrastructure.
Given its access to the BACS network, the clients now gain greater reliability for their transactions with reduced frictions, which normally arise over the involvement of middlemen while also allowing both the payment service provider and clients to save some cost directly.
Modulr provides its payment solution as a service API platform for digital business, which allows them to gain some level of flexibility and control over the transaction, given its status as an alternative payment channel. The firm, which was originally founded in 2015, is one of the fastest-growing Fintech in the global market and currently has a well-established presence across UK & Europe with branch offices located in Edinburgh and Dublin.
The statement revealed that this partnership was made as a key part of the new directive which involves meeting broader policy objectives for various regulatory and compliance organisations such as Bank of England, Financial Conduct Authority, Payment Systems Regulator and HM Treasury in order to drive greater competition and innovation in UK payments circle.
Modulr believes that its direct partnership to BACS brings out the third evolution for this fintech where-in, the firm becomes fully embedded in UK’s payment infrastructure. Earlier this year, the firm made the headlines for becoming one of the small numbers of non-banking financial service providers to hold a settlement account at Bank of England’ Real Time Gross Settlement System.
Commenting on this partnership, Myles Stephenson – Chief Executive Officer of Modulr said, “We see this as the furthest step yet taken in the history of fintech. We’ve moved from licenses to third-party systems and card rails, to the third stage of fintech evolution; direct access to payments systems and infrastructure. This means we’re further embedded in the payment landscape. This sets the bar for the competition, offering the most reliable way to ensure a friction-free customer experience. By removing our reliance on third-party systems, and tapping directly into the source, we can build for scale and have total control over our access to the wider infrastructure. This move, along with direct access to Faster Payments, reflects our determination to build a digital payments infrastructure fit for future-facing businesses”.
Speaking on the same note, Matthew Hunt, Chief Operations Officer of Pay.UK – current owner and home of BACS added, “Our core purpose at Pay.UK is to enable a vibrant UK economy and, as driving more participation and involvement in payments is a vital part of this, we are pleased to welcome Modulr as a new non-bank participant to BACS”.
