Change Financial (CCA) has announced it has been granted a Mastercard Principal Issuer licence for Prepaid and Debit cards in New Zealand.

Being a Mastercard Principal Issuer allows Change to deliver card programs to banks, credit unions, fintechs and other businesses, looking to offer digital and physical card payments to their customers.

In March 2022, Change announced an exclusive agreement to partner with Mastercard to issue prepaid and debit card products in Australia and New Zealand. 

Change CEO, Alastair Wilkie commented, “We are excited to be a Mastercard Principal Issuer in New Zealand for Prepaid and Debit cards. To be granted our licence less than 6 months after our Mastercard partnership announcement is a wonderful result for both parties.” 

Wilkie continued, “Our business has a long New Zealand heritage and it’s a proud moment for our business, especially our Auckland based team members. Our new capability will allow us to lower the barrier of entry for New Zealand banks, credit unions, fintechs and business to deliver innovative card solutions to their customers.”

Change also recently announced they would be issuing Mastercard debit cards for First Credit Union, Nelson Building Society, Police and Families Credit Union and Westforce Credit Union.

Change Financial Limited (ASX: CCA) released the company’s full year results for the year ended 30 June 2022 (FY22).

Change CEO and Managing Director, Alastair Wilkie commented, “This was a transformational year for Change, with the Company in a position to scale our technology offering globally. During the period, we expanded our client base from 136 across 36 countries to 156 in 41 countries, whilst also delivering key building blocks that set us up for continued success. The Change team globally has operated in challenging circumstances and they should be proud of what they have achieved in FY22.”

FY22 Highlights

• FY22 revenue of US$8.3m (A$12.0m), up 32% on prior corresponding period
• Launched new Vertexon Payments as a Service (PaaS) platform
• Signed seven new Vertexon PaaS clients with total contract value anticipated to be in excess of US$12.9m (A$18.7m) over the initial terms
• Includes milestone Vertexon PaaS contracts with four New Zealand financial institutions with TCV anticipated to be in excess of US$10.5m (A$15.2m) over the initial five-year terms
• 1^st US Vertexon PaaS client now live and transacting generating recurring revenues
• Signed a six-year agreement with Mastercard to enable direct issuing in Australia & New Zealand
• Received regulatory approval to enable direct issuing in New Zealand, regulatory approval in Australia is expected in coming months

To access an overview of the FY22 results and outlook for FY23, please see our Results Presentation

• Change Financial is the first non-bank business to offer New Zealand (NZ) fintechs, non-bank lenders and mutuals exclusive access to a payment Application Programming Interface (API) sandbox, previously only available through major banks.

• This free access to payment API sandbox technology ultimately enables fintech users to deliver card offerings faster to market by removing the bureaucracy and complex processes of major banks.

• Change is a card issuer in New Zealand, Australia and the United States and provides transaction processing and card management solutions in Latin America and South East Asia.

Australian based global fintech and Payments as a Service (PaaS) provider, Change Financial (Change), is the first non-bank payments specialist to launch a new payment API sandbox in New Zealand (NZ), providing fintechs, non-bank lenders and mutuals with exclusive access to this technology.

This new payment API sandbox will allow fintechs to test their digital card product and service through Changes’ Vertexon technology to improve effectiveness and efficiency whilst finessing any issues.

Demand for digital and physical card payments capabilities in New Zealand is set to rise as the e-commerce market is projected to grow by 38 percent between now and 2025, reaching US$8.8 billion, according to the March 2022 Global Payments Report.

Change CEO and Managing Director, Alastair Wilkie, explained whilst Changes’ payment API sandbox is available globally, it is particularly important for the New Zealand payments market as it is the first of its kind, allowing New Zealand fintechs access to this technology without the costs and processes attached to major banks.

Finzsoft Chief Executive, Helen Hatchard said, “Change’s new payment API sandbox will help accelerate the development of our digital services and aid growth for our New Zealand clients through innovation, supported by thorough and sophisticated development and testing. 

This announcement is great news for businesses across New Zealand that are looking for physical and digital card solutions as it will provide non-bank lenders and mutuals with access to technology previously only available through the major banks,” Ms Hatchard remarked.

The 2021 Environmental Scan Report from Payments NZ notes that the need for faster, more innovative payments continues to increase, making it possible for people and businesses to better integrate their digital and physical worlds.

“Change acknowledges that the New Zealand payments space is lagging the rest of the world, and innovations like these provide fintechs with greater access to fast, reliable and well-integrated solutions that can ultimately benefit consumers,” Mr Wilkie concluded.

The API sandbox can be accessed from our Developer Resources page.

• Change is powering card capabilities in the underserviced New Zealand market, providing mutuals greater access to digital and card payment solutions.
• More than 35,000 debit cards across four programs will be issued on the Mastercard network and processed through Change’s Vertexon platform.
• The announcement comes as New Zealand’s e-commerce market is projected to grow by 38% before 2025.

Australian based global fintech and Payments as a Service (PaaS) provider, Change Financial (Change), announced it has partnered with fellow fintech solutions provider Finzsoft to sign agreements with four New Zealand mutuals to offer direct issuing, processing, and card management solutions via its Vertexon platform. This partnership makes card payment solutions more accessible to the underserviced New Zealand payments space.  

The instant issuance of digital cards and integrated cardholder API software are not widely accessible in the New Zealand market and First Credit Union, Nelson Building Society, Westforce Credit Union and Police Credit Union will leverage these technologies using Change’s Vertexon platform to improve efficiency and the overall user experience. 

This follows Change’s recent partnership announcement with Mastercard, enabling them to deliver direct issuing capabilities for their Australian and New Zealand clients. More than 35,000 debit cards will be issued on the Mastercard network and processed through Change’s Vertexon platform. 

Demand for digital and physical card payments capabilities in New Zealand is set to rise as their e-commerce market is projected to grow 38 percent between now and 2025, reaching $8.8 billion (USD), according to the March 2022 Global Payments Report. In addition to this, the report reveals buy now, pay later (BNPL) is the fastest growing online payment method and set to account for 17 percent of e-commerce transaction value by 2025.  

Change CEO and Managing Director, Alastair Wilkie said, businesses and consumers across New Zealand currently have limited access to contemporary card technologies and this partnership will expand available opportunities to advance the market overall. 

“Change is among the first to offer digital wallets and modern payment solutions in New Zealand. Our landmark partnership with Finzsoft will address a clear shortcoming in the market by expanding the availability of card solutions outside of the major bank providers,” Mr Wilkie said. 

Credit unions and traditional finance lenders are turning to alternative card providers, outside of the major banks for fast, reliable, and well-integrated exchanges. “By expanding this section of the market, businesses and consumers will have greater access to modern products and services,” Mr Wilkie remarked. 

The instant issuance of digital cards will be available for consumers at launch and Change is already investigating opportunities to add Apple Pay, Google Pay and buy now pay later (BNPL) capabilities. 

“BNPL is projected to be the fastest growing e-commerce payment platform before 2025 and by increasing consumer access to digital cards and payment solutions, we are creating equity in the market while rivalling the services offered by major banks and traditional card lenders,” Mr Wilkie concluded. 

Change will partner with Finzsoft, who will deliver core banking and mobile banking apps to the four mutuals. 

Finzsoft Chief Executive, Helen Hatchard noted, “The partnership will allow these credit unions to offer a modern digital payment experience to their members and allow them to strongly compete with major banks and fintechs. 

We are excited to be partnering with Change once again to deliver digital transactions for accounts, lending and cards.  

Change’s payments experience, product roadmap and strong New Zealand presence will create a truly modern and innovative digital experience for members,” Ms Hatchard said. 

First Credit Union General Manager, Simon Scott said, “By accessing Change’s Vertexon PaaS, Mastercard issuing and card holder API systems, we can provide modern card features that rival the major banks and fintechs.”  

Nelson Building Society CEO, Tony Cadigan said, “Change’s digital payment features, and services will enable us to develop new payment products to retain and attract new clients.”  

Westforce Credit Union General Manager, Victor Martick said, “This partnership will benefit our members by providing modern card features.” 

Police Credit Union CEO, Craig Pomare said, “Digital payments are now an essential part of the global economy, so we are excited to work with Change and Finzsoft to co-develop innovative card products for our members.”  

According to the third edition of Prime Time for Real Time 2022, published by ACI Worldwide, (NASDAQ: ACIW), in partnership with GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, and the Centre for Economics and Business Research, Australia and New Zealand are looking to a new era of real-time payments with a renewed sense of urgency and need to modernise to stay competitive.   

Change Financial (ASX:CCA) is pleased to share the MST Access Initiation Report published today.

You can download the research here or read the content below

Change was selected in a cohort of 9 Australian fintechs to participate in the Fintech Australian and Austrade program to help financial services and technology providers scale in the US market.

Across May and June, the cohort will attend the in-person program in New York where they will promote their offering, meet partners, clients, investors and mentors to build their US market presence. The cohort will also attend the Lendit Fintech 2022 Conference at the end of May, which includes the Demo Day hosted by WEVE Acceleration and Austrade.

Austrade’s Steve Rank, Trade and Investment Commissioner New York, explained  “Australia’s fintech sector will be showcased in New York when 9 of the best and brightest Australian Fintech startups visit in May.”

Change will be presented by Clayton Fossett (COO) and Brian Hodgdon (VP – Business Development and Customer Relations) and promote our Vertexon Payments as a Service and PaySim payments simulation and testing products.

Change will be joined by

• Assurancelab
• Camms
• ezidox
• Karta
• Mycellium
• Rich Data Co
• WeMoney
• Zai

Change is honored to have been selected along with such esteemed fintechs and looks forward to building our presence in the US.

• Exclusive six-year direct issuing partnership with Mastercard for prepaid and debit cards in Australia and New Zealand.
• New agreement strengthens Change Financial and Mastercard’s long-standing relationship in the US market.
• Change Financial provides mid-sized banks and fintechs with a faster path to market for prepaid and debit card products.

Australian based global fintech and payments as a service (PaaS) provider, Change Financial (Change), today announced an exclusive six-year direct issuing partnership agreement with Mastercard in Australia and New Zealand. Under the agreement Change will begin issuing prepaid and debit cards in both countries from Q4 FY22.

Change CEO Alastair Wilkie said, “This agreement strengthens our long-standing relationship with Mastercard in the US, and transaction processing for existing clients.

“Our partnership with Mastercard will deliver direct issuing capabilities for our Australian and New Zealand clients, giving them a faster path to market for innovative prepaid and debit card products.”

Change uses innovative and scalable technology solutions to provide tailored payment solutions, card issuing and testing to banks and fintechs. The company manages and processes more than 16 million virtual, credit, debit and prepaid cards worldwide. Change’s payments technology and management services are used by over 147 clients in 41 countries. Clients include BDO Unibank, ME Bank and eftpos Australia.

Dan Martin, Vice President, Digital Partnerships, Australasia, Mastercard said, “There’s a significant opportunity to provide Australian and New Zealand’s mid-sized banks and fintechs with the tools and services to best meet the changing expectations of a more digital world. This partnership brings the best of our respective strengths, including Mastercard’s global payment network and technology, to enable Change’s customers to create and launch prepaid and debit card programs seamlessly, safely and securely.”

This agreement follows Change’s recent launch of Vertexon, a payments platform with host multitenancy and dedicated PaaS platform for Australian and New Zealand clients. Vertexon seamlessly integrates with a businesses’ core systems enabling them to easily deliver physical and digital card solutions to their customers as well as offering other features such as Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), transaction processing and integrated loyalty programmes.

Change is currently being onboarded on to the Mastercard Network to complete testing to onboard customers onto their PaaS platform from Q4 2022.

• Change’s direct issuing capability follows partnership with Mastercard in Australia and New Zealand.

• New capability allows clients to reduce operational burden and create new lines of revenue.

• Ability to tap into direct issuance is a key strategy for smaller operators as they go on the offensive with digital payments.

SYDNEY, 15 March 2022: Australian based global fintech and payments as a service (PaaS) provider, Change Financial (Change), today announced the launch of direct issuing services for card programs in Australia and New Zealand. This offering will enable bank and fintech clients in Australia and New Zealand to deliver digital and physical prepaid and debit cards to their customers.

Change CEO Alastair Wilkie said, “Change’s direct card issuing capability allows clients in Australia and New Zealand to offer virtual and physical cards, controlling expenses, reducing operational burden, and creating new lines of revenue.

We can help small to medium sized banks and fintechs compete in a highly competitive market without the operational expense. In fact, we are changing the dynamic by giving them the payment solutions needed to level the playing field against the bigger banks and competitors,” added Mr Wilke.

As the demand for online payments in Australia and New Zealand continues to rise, small to medium sized banks and fintechs are under pressure to innovate and keep loyal customers engaged. The ability to tap into direct issuance is a key strategy for many smaller operators as they go on the offensive.

Traditionally these financial institutions have had few options for card issuing and could not compete with the functionality and technical richness offered by major issuers.

“We have seen in the Oceania region, and specifically in New Zealand, agency services from the major banks restricting the use of digital payment options like Apple Pay to the likes of credit unions and mutual banks.  Change can replace these traditional agency service providers to deliver modern solutions that retain and attract customers to smaller banks and fintechs,” Mr Wilke explained.

Change uses innovative and scalable technology to provide tailored payment solutions, card issuing and testing to banks and fintechs. The company manages and processes more than 16 million virtual, credit, debit and prepaid cards worldwide. Change’s payments technology and management services are used by over 147 clients in 41 countries. Clients include BDO Unibank, ME Bank and eftpos Australia.

Change’s Vertexon PaaS platform seamlessly integrates with a businesses’ core systems enabling them to easily deliver physical and digital card solutions to their customers as well as offering other features such as Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), transaction processing for all major schemes, including Mastercard, Visa, Amex, JCB and UnionPay and integrated loyalty programmes.

“Our clients outsource the operational work involved in direct card issuing to us so they can receive the scale benefits without the operational burden. Cards, whether digital or physical are a scale business. You need some way to offer and manage that and we can help,” Mr Wilkie said.

With its recently acquired Financial Services Provider (FSP) approval in New Zealand and with its Australian Financial Services License (AFSL) application underway, Change also takes on the burden of Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) certification with the schemes, technology platform and processing, lowering the barrier for entry for clients in Australia and New Zealand.

By outsourcing issuance, banks and fintechs can focus on their core business and leverage the loyalty they’re known for, generating more customer satisfaction while creating new revenue and data streams. And, they don’t have to worry about losing customers to other financial institutions trying to cross-sell competing banking services.

Change’s direct issuing can deliver card solutions for fintechs looking to add card payments to enhance their financial product offerings.  Small to medium banks and non-bank deposit takers (NBDTs) now have a partner to deliver modern digital cards to their customers without having to partner with larger competitors.

Award winning cloud banking platform Mambu and global payments as a service (PaaS) provider Change Financial (Change), today announced a partnership to deliver market leading digital banking and payment capabilities in Australia and New Zealand.

The partnership will see Change’s Vertexon PaaS platform, which enables banks and fintechs to deliver physical and digital card payments and processing, added to Mambu’s application programming interface (API)-driven cloud banking platform. With today’s customers expecting on-demand access to multiple digital payments and modern banking experiences, Mambu and Change will leverage an ecosystem approach, working together to deliver fast-to-market SaaS solutions to Australian and New Zealand financial institutions. The partnership will allow seamless integration of adding prepaid, debit and credit card and processing capabilities as well as digital card payments like Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay to Mambu’s platform. Change’s solutions include Buy Now Pay Later features for cards and transaction processing for all major schemes, including Mastercard, Visa, Amex, JCB and UnionPay.

Mambu Managing Director Asia Pacific, Myles Bertrand said, “Mambu’s partnership with Change strengthens our digital payments capabilities, whilst enabling Change to connect its customers to our market leading cloud-native core banking solution.

Change’s product roadmap and focus on the provision of seamless digital payments is a powerful addition to Mambu’s composable cloud banking foundation. We see a great deal of synergy in this partnership, and we’re excited about the opportunities it will bring to our customers.”

Change Chief Product Officer, Vinnie D’Alessandro, said, “The strategic partnership with Mambu supports our growth objectives for the Australian and New Zealand markets.  Our card payments and processing technologies are essential for a modern digital banking experience, and our combined solutions with Mambu’s composable banking platform will deliver innovative payment and digital banking solutions to our end customers.”

Mambu General Manager Australia and New Zealand, Paul Apolony, added “Change is a leading provider in the global payments space, like Mambu they’re committed to digital transformation using SaaS solutions and a customer-centric approach. We believe our combined functionalities will enable customers of both organisations to shift to a high-velocity operating model with minimal effort.”

Mambu will also be working with Change to make their payment emulation and testing solution, PaySim, available to clients. PaySim allows financial institutions to simulate and test the full payment lifecycle of their systems including load and stress testing as well as ATM, POS and card scheme simulation.

“We look forward to leveraging the synergies this partnership brings to deliver agile and fast to market results for our customers,” Mr Apolony concluded. 

Mambu is the cloud banking platform where modern financial experiences are built. Launched in 2011 Mambu fast-tracks the design and build of nearly any type of financial offering for banks of all sizes, lenders, fintechs, retailers, telcos and more. Our unique composable approach means that independent components, systems, and connectors can be assembled in any configuration to meet business needs and end user demands. Mambu has 800 employees​ that support 200 customers in over 65 countries – including N26, BancoEstado, OakNorth, Raiffeisen Bank, ABN AMRO, Bank Islam and Orange Bank.

Learn more about Mambu at www.mambu.com

Change Financial (Change) is an experienced global fintech, listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) providing tailored payment solutions, card issuing and testing to banks and fintechs. Partnering with over 147 clients across 41 countries Change delivers simple, flexible, and fast-to-market payment solutions.

Managing and processing over 16 million credit, debit, and prepaid cards worldwide, Change also provides the default standard for payments testing for many Australian companies, including Australia’s domestic card payment service eftpos.

Learn more about Change at www.changefinancial.com

Change Financial was features in Fintech Australia’s Five Fintech on Friday along with Kanopi, FirstAML, MyLenda, and Radium Capital

Change Financial (ASX:CCA) partners with fintechs and banks, to provide tailored payment, card issuing, and testing solutions. The global fintech has over 146 clients across 41 countries, managing and processing over 16 million credit, debit, and prepaid cards, delivering flexible and fast-to-market payment solutions. Change’s Vertexon provides leading digital and physical card solutions for banks and fintechs. Vertexon makes it simple for clients to launch full featured digital payment experiences to their end consumers fast.

Five of the top ten global payment companies trust Change’s PaySim for payment simulation and testing solution, helping them meet the reliability and performance expectations.

https://www.fintechaustralia.org.au/five-fintechs-on-friday-february-4-2022/