Norwegian open banking firm Neonomics has acquired UK contemporary Ordo. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Founded in 2018 by the former management team of the Faster Payments scheme, Ordo is an FCA-authorised open banking payments firm providing white-labelled offerings for instant single payments and fully hosted and managed Variable Recurring Payments (VRP).
Norway's Neonomics says Ordo will help it expand in the UK market, add a strong team of staffers and bring in the British firm's unrestricted VRP capability.
The UK and EU are witnessing a surge in account-to-account payments adoption as an alternative to cards. Neonomics is betting that the upcoming release of the Payments Services Regulation in combination with PSD3 will accelerate this.
Christoffer Andvig, CEO, Neonomics, says: “The team at Ordo represents some of the most experienced payments experts in the UK, having a leading voice across many of the most important forums that span the UK and EU in shaping how open banking will evolve.
"This acquisition strengthens our commercialization strategy and time to market while expanding our product offering."
Already approved by the UK FCA and Norwegian FSA, Neonomics has acquired 100% ownership of Ordo.
Late last year, Neonomics filed a complaint with the Norwegian Competition Authority alleging anti-competitive practices in the payments market by the country's banking sector.
The firm alleges that banks have actively worked to undermine the goals of the EU's Payment Service Directive PSD2 by deliberately limiting access to critical payment markets.