Showcasing the features and future development of our Payments as a Service Platform, Change is proud to launch the Vertexon Roadmap.
Senior Vice President of Payment Solutions, Nick Beach, celebrated the release of the roadmap to Change’s website. “Our Product and Technology teams have been investing a huge amount of effort into our product roadmap for Vertexon. Now we can clearly show our broad feature set as well as our current future development plans. I’m excited to share the Vertexon Roadmap on our new website for our Payments as a Service offerings for Oceania, Southeast Asia, LATAM and North America. “
Chief Product Officer, Vinnie D’Alessandro, explains the importance of Change publishing its product roadmaps. “With the release of the Vertexon Roadmap, we now have complete transparency around the Change product strategy. Vertexon offers a wide range of card issuing and transaction processing capability and it can be difficult to articulate just how many features we can offer our clients. The Vertexon Roadmap gives us an elegant method of representing the power of our Payments as a Service platform and our upcoming features.
The roadmaps will be regularly updated as features are released, and new items are added to the development pipeline.
The Vertexon Roadmap is available on the Change website, along side our PaySim Roadmap for the payment testing solutions.
The deal with a US-based fintech company today was a major milestone for Change Financial, as it embarks on an expansion strategy in the US.
Just two weeks after signing a partnership deal with Axiom Bank, Change Financial (Change)(ASX:CCA) is already about to onboard a new client to its payments platform.
Change has just won a contract with a US-based fintech, which is set to become the first card program to be launched under Change’s partnership with Axiom Bank.
The client will transition to Change’s platform and leverage its Program Management service offering – a technology that enables clients to focus on value-added activities within their areas of expertise.
Along with processing, card and program management, Change’s payments platform also provides mobile apps, giving customers digital control of their cards.
The contract signed today will generate a minimum of US$0.7 million (A$1 million) in revenue for Change over an initial three-year term following launch, which is anticipated in Q3 FY22.
Revenue from the program will primarily be generated through interchange, transaction fees, cardholder fees, and program management services – with minimum fee commitments adding to Change’s annual recurring revenue.
Although still unknown at this stage, the company expects to earn more than the minimum US$0.7 million over the term of the contract.
Change CEO, Alastair Wilkie, said the signing was an important milestone as it executes on the strategy to grow in the US.
“We are thrilled to be adding a new client on the Change platform in the US, where we are starting to see increased traction with our product and service offerings,” Wilkie said.
“Supporting a benefits card program is confirmation of the versatility of our platform and also leverages our long-standing expertise in card program management and compliance.”
Expansion into the US
The three-year partnership signed with Axiom Bank in late September was a key step towards expanding Change’s reach in the US.
And as today’s deal showed, it’s a key relationship when onboarding fintechs in the country.
Change aims to onboard potential fintech clients with Axiom as the issuing bank, leveraging its Mastercard registered processor and payments platform, Vertexon.
Wilkie has said the US is a key focus of his FY22 strategy, as the company executes on its growth strategy.
Change’s top line revenue surged from US$300,000 in FY20 to US$8.4 million ($11.3 million) in FY21 – a year described by management as being “transformational”.
The company expects its sales pipeline to grow even further in FY22, as it focuses on global business development strategies.
CCA’s payments technology provides the critical infrastructure that connects existing licensed banks with modern API-driven brands, such as fintechs.
The platform currently manages and processes more than 16 million virtual, credit, debit and prepaid cards worldwide, serving 136 clients in 36 countries.
Experienced Australian based global fintech, Change Financial, welcomes the proactive approach adopted by Senator Andrew Bragg’s Select Committee in its final report on Australia as a Technology and Financial Centre tabled on Wednesday night.
The report’s recommendations for licencing digital currency exchanges and establishing a clear custody or depositary scheme for digital assets in Australia, gives credence to cryptocurrency as a viable currency and payment method. It would also provide cryptocurrency investors with some much-needed consumer protection.
The pandemic has accelerated the digitisation of finance while the global appetite for ease of use and efficiency in payment systems has increased from both the end customer and the provider.
The Bragg report’s recommendation that Treasury should lead a policy review to assess the viability of a retail, central bank-issued, digital currency for Australia would also put the nation on a par with many other countries in the emerging global digital economy.
A Finder survey, released on October 17, found a staggering 18% of Australians already own some form of crypto – one of the highest rates in the world.
Of the nearly 1 in 5 adults in Australia who own some form of crypto, Finder found bitcoin is the most popular coin; Ethereum is the second most popular coin while cardano came third. Two other cryptos Australians currently hold are dogecoin and binance coin.
Bragg’s bipartisan recommendations, if adopted, would bring some welcome regulation to this sector where currently there is hardly any enforceable rules and where local banks have largely avoided the sector.
The lack of regulations has constrained mainstream adoption of crypto, however we have seen countries in Latin America, like El Salvador, embrace cryptocurrencies and support growth.
In Australia, Change is currently working with several start-ups to bridge the gap between crypto exchanges and traditional payment infrastructure and networks using our Payments as a Service platform.
The ability to link a physical or digital card to crypto wallets is essential for driving payment growth and innovation in Australia. It will also open up opportunities for the “un” or “underbanked” as well as faster cross-border payments
Just like our current software as a service (SaaS) model that connects existing licensed banks with modern application programming interface (API) driven businesses and allows the end customer to use eftpos, Mastercard, Visa, and AMEX as well as connect to payment networks via Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay.
The ability for businesses to embrace cryptocurrency relies on support for existing payments technology to power seamless transactions.
Change currently manages and processes more than 16 million virtual, credit, debit and prepaid cards worldwide, serving 136 clients in 36 countries.
By Vinnie D’Alessandro, Chief Product Officer of Change Financial
The launch of payments platform Vertexton is a critical milestone as Change Financial looks to grow not only in Oceania, but also in crucial markets like the US.
Global fintech, Change Financial (ASX:CCA), is set to further accelerate its recurring revenue base after launching its payments platform, Vertexon.
Vertexon is Change’s new Payments as a Service (PaaS) offering, which provides quick-to-market card and payments solutions to banks and fintechs around the world.
The software integrates seamlessly with the clients’ core systems, and is able to deliver both physical and digital card solutions, as well other features such as Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL).
The Vertexon SaaS platform is today being launched on Amazon Web Services (AWS) in Sydney, to service banks and fintechs across the Oceania region.
In addition to SaaS, Vertexon offers full support for digital and physical card issuing, and is currently supporting over 16 million cards across the US, Latin America, Southeast Asia and Oceania.
“This market leading technology simplifies the payments experience, helping to lower the barriers of entry for new payment products,” commented Change CEO, Alastair Wilkie.
“It delivers a fast-to-market solution that gets digital and physical cards into consumers’ hands.
“Vertexon will be a key driver as we grow our annual recurring revenue.”
Vertexon SaaS offering
Vertexon is accelerating growth and scalability for banks and fintech clients around the world by providing card and payments solutions.
Through the unifying of cards, payments and processing technologies, the platform effectively delivers a modern digital solution for prepaid, debit and credit cards.
It supports transactions processing by major card schemes including Mastercard and VISA, CB, UnionPay and AMEX.
It also supports core banking interfaces and loyalty programmes, integrated by APIs.
With the launch of Vertexon, Phase 2 of the platform project has now been delivered on schedule and within budget.
BDO Unibank, the largest bank in the Philippines, recently upgraded its card platform to the latest version of Vertexon, which includes new BNPL features.
The BDO’s Credit Card Systems team said the new version added expanded features and carried over bespoke business functions that could potentially give the bank market leadership.
The multi-tenancy design of the platform is indeed highly scalable, with future growth expected in multiple geographic markets.
The platform’s seamless integration also enables it to be easily implemented in any location worldwide in just a matter of days.
Change chief product officer, Vinnie D’Alessandro, said: “We started the build phase of our SaaS platform in April this year, and to have launched our customer ready platform on schedule and within budget has been a huge achievement for our business and clients.”
D’Alessandro added that the cloud architecture can be deployed into new regions in days, showcasing Change’s extensive payments and technical expertise.
The company is now working with existing and new Vertexon clients to establish their PaaS solutions, as Change grows its sales pipeline further into FY22.
CCA is a global fintech company with a technology that provides the critical infrastructure that connects existing licensed banks with modern API-driven brands, such as other fintechs.
Its platform currently manages and processes more than 16 million virtual, credit, debit and prepaid cards worldwide, serving 136 clients in 36 countries.
This article was developed in collaboration with Change Financial, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publishing.
The company has successfully executed on Phase One of its growth strategy.
ASX fintech Change Financial (ASX:CCA) is laying the framework for long-term growth in the multi trillion dollar global payments market.
The company provided a market update for investors this morning, confirming it’s completed Phase One – product integration – of a three-phase strategy set out by CEO Alistair Wilkie and the CCA executive team.
The company will now focus on Phase Two — building out the Customer Ready Platform for its combined product offering, scheduled for delivery later this year.
While CCA’s short-term operations and revenue channels won’t be affected by the updated rollout, the moves are part of a broader strategy to accelerate growth and capture more of what is now a global market opportunity.
Phase One
The initial phase of the strategy was focused on CCA’s technology suite, which required the integration of tech products following last year’s acquisition of Wirecard’s Australian and New Zealand assets.
In its technology update this morning, Change said it has established a cloud network and installed the new payments management platform.
The system has been developed with an API gateway that provides automated links between the payments management platform with CCA’s certified processing platform and mobile apps – all of which operates with encrypted software and advanced security settings.
The completion of Phase One “gives Change a platform to demonstrate its new capability to customers, and accelerates the sales and business development cycle”, CCA said.
In addition, the company “is already in discussions with a number of banks about bringing their technology into the cloud and onto Change’s BaaS Platform”.
BNPL disruptor
A feature of CCA’s advanced technology suite is that it’s now positioned to offer a BNPL service that’s materially differentiated from other players in the market.
Traditional BNPL providers still require direct connections to the POS (point of sale) systems operated by merchants.
However, CCA’s InstallPay platform capability allows payments to be split directly to customer debit, prepaid and credit cards.
The key advantage of the platform is that banks and FinTechs can offer BNPL services, as opposed to partnering with a third-party providers and keep their customer relationships.
“It allows them to offer BNPL under their own brand, putting them back in power of the customer relationship therefore increasing engagement with their end customers,” CCA said.
The company said its unique tech advantage in the marketplace has the capacity to be “hugely disruptive to incumbent BNPL players”.
It lowers barriers to entry and provides market access to any bank or fintech that offers prepaid, debit or credit cards.
Effectively, InstallPay gives merchant clients a customisable interface around fees charged and the number of instalments.
“The functionality is live in all markets globally, and Change has a number of large clients in Latin America and Asia using the product, including one of south-east Asia’s largest banks,” CCA said.
Looking ahead
With its multi-phase growth strategy on track and a disruptive BNPL platform live in the market, Change has also engaged a global payments advisory team to assist in identifying key opportunities in the rapidly growing global payments market.
The company has conducted an initial market assessment and “concluded the global need for its Platform solution”.
Research from McKinsey shows payments services generated revenue of almost $US2 trillion last year.
In that context, Change is now moving towards Phase 2 and 3 of its strategy to drive growth across its global client base, where it already serves 125 customers in 36 countries.
Phase 2 — the Customer Ready Platform – is due for completion in the second half of this year Phase 3 – Advanced Platform Features – scheduled for delivery by 2022.
“Combining the two platforms (certified processing platform and payments management platform) together and leveraging both the company’s existing technology and the recently acquired will accelerate Change’s product development by approximately 24 months,” CCA said.
https://stockhead.com.au/tech/change-financial-accelerates-strategic-growth-pathway-with-hugely-disruptive-bnpl-platform/
Fintech payments company Change Financial (ASX:CCA) announced this morning that it’s finalised the strategic acquisition of Wirecard’s Australian and New Zealand assets.
The company confirmed the completion of the sale conditions, which will see it take control of Wirecard’s Australia and New Zealand operations.
The acquisition follows Change’s initial announcement earlier this month, when the company jumped at the opportunity to acquire the Wirecard assets at attractive multiples.
And with CEO Alistair Wilkie – the former chief operating officer at $1bn payments platform EML Payments (ASX:EML) at the helm, Change is well placed to convert its strategic acquisition into a material profit generator in the years ahead.
Game-changer
Change said the deal gave it control over a strong global payments business that generated recurring revenues of $9.3m in the 2020 financial year, and total income of more than $15m.
Wirecard’s Australian and New Zealand business specialises in card management and payment platform solutions, for “banks and financial institutions as well as digital brands and fintechs”, Change said.
The business currently serves more than 120 customers across 35 countries, including the ‘Big Four’ Australian banks and major supermarket operators.
Importantly, all key personnel at Wirecard have stayed with the business post-sale – a direct indicator of senior management’s view about the platform’s growth prospects.
Prior to the acquisition by Change Financial, Wirecard’s regional leadership group also explored the potential for a management buy-out (MBO) for the assets, to capitalise on the global opportunity.
As of today (October 1), all required staff of Wirecard Australia & NZ are now employed by Change Financial.
Customer transfer
In confirming the deal, Change advised that it has now started receiving signed assignment deeds for Wirecard customers.
In conversations with administrator McGrath Nicol, which selected Change’s offer in a competitive bidding process, the company expects to complete more assignment deeds in the months ahead.
In addition, existing Wirecard customers have continued to use the company’s services and pay their bills throughout the administration process.
With the sale now completed, Change is focused on accelerating the integration process and expanding market share in the months ahead.
The company flagged a “10-fold” increased of its addressable market via the introduction of new card services.
It also plans to onboard more than 10 companies from its existing client base in the US to the expanded product offering.
https://stockhead.com.au/tech/change-financial-seals-the-deal-on-game-changing-acquisition/