- Cross-border payments platform CurrencyFair has announced that it will merge with a tech provider, Assembly Payments, to offer a newly integrated service as a result of investment by SC Ventures, the innovation arm of Standard Chartered.
- The new service will be targeted in particular to e-commerce companies, and will allow for all sorts of payment services to be integrated together.
- A spokesperson for SC Ventures said that the firm would consider making further moves into the e-commerce sector as time goes on.
A leading international money transfers platform has announced a merger with a payments workflow technology provider.
CurrencyFair, which offers cross-border payments services, will merge with Assembly Payments.
The move has come about as a result of an investment by the financial services firm Standard Chartered.
Its innovation arm, known as SC Ventures, arranged the merger after it invested in Assembly Payments last year.
It is making the move on the back of the belief that the international money transfer industry is a booming sector.
The freshly merged offer will give firms access to a sophisticated payments dashboard with the capacity to integrate different payments systems.
The merger will only take place once it has been given approval by regulators and also by the owners of shares in the firms.
This will reduce fragmentation between systems and give firms in particular sectors, such as e-commerce, a chance to tackle their regulatory and operational challenges.
In statements, senior leaders at all of the firms shared more details about the merger and how it came about.
Will Prendergast, the chairman of CurrencyFair, said that it was important for the firms to retain their character when they merge.
He explained that “integrated financial services” was a key goal for the company.
“The merger of CurrencyFair and Assembly Payments partnering with SC Ventures is a strategic move which will see us develop beyond the traditional transactional nature of a payments company and provide a core suite of integrated financial services to businesses and individuals globally,” he said.
He also claimed that the move would help customers of both of the merging firms to get the payment functions they need – all in one place.
“CurrencyFair and Assembly will retain their ‘customer first’ cultures, deepen these relationships by enabling customers to easily access, build, connect, and use any payment service from within their existing business operations without any of the technical, compliance or geographical complexities associated with traditional financial services offerings,” he explained.
A spokesperson for SC Ventures hinted that the company might look for similar investment opportunities in the future.
Alex Manson described the e-commerce sector as a major focus for Standard Chartered’s ventures arm.
“E-commerce is one of the highest conviction themes for SC Ventures, and we will continue to grow and scale our capabilities and geographies to support the transition to digital economies,” he said.
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