Finaro, the global cross-border payment provider and fully licensed bank, has today announced a new strategic partnership with EveryPay, the Greek payment gateway provider, to boost in-store payment acceptance for Greek merchants.
This latest partnership is another example of how Finaro’s pioneering services and flexible technologies are making it the go-to payments partner for PSPs and merchants across Europe, and it also highlights the latest step in the successful execution of Finaro’s ambitious growth plans.
In a timely move that comes as Greece’s tourism industry bounces back, Finaro and EveryPay’s partnership will transform the acceptance capabilities of Greek merchants, who previously have been limited by fragmented and complicated POS terminal relationships and have been restricted in their ability to accept transactions from international customers.
Currently servicing 90% of Greek marketplaces, EveryPay will leverage Finaro’s smart acquiring capabilities, dynamic technology payment solutions and hyper-focused customer service to empower Greek merchants and sub-merchants with secure and seamless in-store POS payments through a single, integrated API payment solution.
With tourism comprising around 20% of the Greek economy, merchants within the tourism sector in Greece are looking to entice more customers back in-store. EveryPay’s newly enhanced payment acceptance, combined with Finaro’s smart routing network, will benefit Greek merchants by ensuring a significantly improved transaction approval and conversion rates, and give customers a wider choice in payment methods.
The two firms will provide a single, unified card-present, in-store SoftPOS payment solution, designed to allow merchants to accept payments directly on their phone or terminal without the need for additional hardware. By opening up SoftPOS acceptance, Finaro and EveryPay will empower Greek merchants to accept card-present and contactless payments, including transactions made with mobile wallets like Apple Pay, Google Pay, or wearable items.
This will also vastly reduce the number of third-party POS terminal relationships that merchants need to manage - a notable characteristic of Greece’s payment landscape is that merchants often operate several POS terminals from different suppliers, which requires multiple contracts and hardware installations.
Retail trade is a long-standing important productive tertiary sector of the Greek economy with a notable contribution to the Gross Domestic Product. The number of POS transactions in Greece increased drastically between 2012 and 2020 at a rate of 1570%. In 2020 the number of POS transactions reached 952.6 million. Thus, Greece has a promising base for the implementation of the new technologies powered by the two companies.
Commenting on the mutual benefits and opportunities created by the new partnership, Achiya Fried, Chief Commercial and Strategy Officer at Finaro, says: “We had already been involved in large scale business with EveryPay to support their marketplace payments needs, and based on the extremely positive ongoing relationship, it was clear that we could take it to the next level for both companies. It gives me great pleasure to see this partnership grow, creating an unbeatable combination of EveryPay and Finaro capabilities.”
According to Grigorios Siourounis, Chairman of EveryPay, its collaboration with Finaro offers unique advantages that no other provider can compete with, saying: “With the much-needed increase in tourism and market activity following the lifting of Covid-19 regulations, EveryPay’s commitment to providing a simple, unique and unrivalled payments solution for Greek merchants both in-store and online is the future for merchants in our country. As such, we knew we had to partner with Finaro so that Greek merchants could access the latest payment technologies to help consumers switch to faster and more convenient payment methods.”
VP of Sales and Business Development, Sveta Bulshtein commented on the natural fit and strong bond between the two businesses: “As soon as I met Grigorios and his team, I knew immediately that we had a promising future, working together. Their exceptional capabilities and impressive aspirations are totally aligned with Finaro’s strong product offering and global ambitions, and together we are able to take payments to a higher level for Greek merchants. I am thrilled to be working with the EveryPay team on this project and ones to come.”
Finaro’s dynamic technology solutions and hyper-focused customer service made it the stand-out acquiring partner for EveryPay, with the two companies now offering merchants unrivalled payment capabilities, underpinned by Finaro’s industry-defining suite of payment optimization solutions.
Another game-changing disruption comes with Finaro’s super-quick onboarding process, a unique capability not offered by any other provider in the market. Finaro’s digital onboarding process enables documents and paperwork to be scanned and uploaded, signed electronically and sent digitally through Finaro’s digital dashboard, in stark contrast to the lengthy paper-based, fax or postal onboarding processes relied upon by other providers. Provided all documentation is correct, this drastically cuts the time taken for merchants and their sub-merchants to start accepting card payments to between 24 and 48 hours, compared to the standard timeframe of 10-15 weeks, and will be leveraged by EveryPay to ensure sub-merchants can begin accepting payments as soon as possible.