Sentenial to take on banks with launch of Nuapay

Sentenial, a provider of payment services to some of Europe's top banks, is to take advantage of EU regulations to set up its own 'disruptive' non-bank alternative for payment processing.

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Sentenial to take on banks with launch of Nuapay

Editorial

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Following legislation introduced by the European Commission making it possible for non-banks to obtain a Payment Institution license and compete with banks, Sentenial has announced plans to take on its own customers with the launch of subsidiary Nuapay.

Sentenial says the cloud-based service will offer businesses everything they need to efficiently manage direct debit and credit transfer payments and "take away the delays and frustrations associated with banks".

Nuapay is suitable for businesses that either want to start collecting direct debits for the first time or those who already process payments but now want a better service at a better price, says Sentenial CEO Sean Fitzgerald.

"Most people overlooked the creation of Payment Institutions, but Sentenial saw an opportunity to deeply disrupt a market in need of change," he says. "What was previously only available to a privileged set is now there for all to use. There is no need for a bank now.”

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Comments: (2)

Jonathan Bowles

Jonathan Bowles director at bushido Impact

Fantastic.  

Ketharaman Swaminathan

Ketharaman Swaminathan Founder and CEO at GTM360 Marketing Solutions

The case of BC (Banking Correspondents) should be instructive to Sentinel: Set up by a government diktat to accelerate Financial Inclusion in the hinterlands of India having poor footprint of traditional banks, this bank-alternative attracted a lot of people / firms that were drunk on the Kool-Aid of disrupting the purportedly high costs and frustrations of dealing with banks. All BC candidates accepted the 0.5-1% commission offered for putting through direct benefit transfer payments and began operations. A couple of years later, many of them have turned dormant. Their association has now asked the government to raise their commission to 3%. The government is wondering what to do when traditional banks charge only 1-2% fees for debit / credit card payments.

Competing with your customers. Biting the hand that feeds. These are only a couple of aphorisms that come to mind as I predict the eventual deadpooling of services like Nuapay that are more the outcome of aspiration and easy availability of VC money for all wannabe bank disruptors than any well-grounded exposure to operations, risk and other challenges of processing retail payments.

I don't expect Sentinel to share my view but it might want to take the first steps towards evangelizing Nuapay by shedding more light on what it considers as "...delays and frustrations associated with banks".

 

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