Banking Circle, the Payments Bank for the “new economy,” is reporting a “significant” uplift in its performance in 2021 as it continues “to help Payments businesses, Banks and Marketplaces access global cross-border payments, accounts and liquidity management that enables their business customers to transact more efficiently both locally and internationally.”
Key achievements include:
- More than 200 financial institutions now utilising Banking Circle’s capabilities in Europe
- Over 13 million Virtual IBAN accounts have now been issued to institutional clients
- Settling 6% of European B2C e-commerce flow
- EUR 267 billion run-rate annual payment volumes and 110 million annual bank transfers
- 20 million monthly transactions expected by end 2022
With its Banking Licence giving it a significant edge in enabling Payments companies and Banks to deliver fast and cost-effective cross-border payments, Banking Circle has also capitalized on its migration to the cloud – completed in 2021 – “to respond to customer demands without the delays inherent in legacy technology.”
Settling 6% of Europe’s B2C e-commerce flow, the Bank is “on course to expand its operations in the USA and Asia in 2022.”
Laust Bertelsen, Chief Executive Officer of the Payments Bank confirmed that 2021 was a pivotal year:
“We have remained focused on achieving our core mission of reducing the cost and time of cross-border payments through the creation of one super correspondent banking network. Supporting this ambition, there was a significant increase in our Engineering and Developer headcount. We have also sustained investment in the use of AI to enhance the effectiveness of the AML processes applied to the transactions we handle on behalf of our clients.”
Banking Circle now delivers “access to 15 local clearing schemes through a combination of direct clearing and partner banks, enabling cross-border payments in 25 currencies. 2021 saw Banking Circle add the DKK to its direct clearing currencies.”
It also partnered with SIA, a leading European hi-tech company in payment services and infrastructures, “to launch its new instant payments service in Europe connecting to the TARGET Instant Payment Settlement (TIPS) service of the Eurosystem.”
Anders la Cour, Chief Executive Officer of Banking Circle Group added:
“We have also responded to the massive acceleration in digitalisation of financial services prompted by the pandemic with the building of an ecosystem of affiliate companies, with the Bank at the center. From global cross-border payments, accounts and liquidity management and revenue based financing to business payments and card issuing, B2B Buy Now Pay Later and account-to-account payment methods, the ecosystem is delivering modern aged financial solutions to some of the largest and most successful companies around the world as they accelerate digitisation of their customer and supply-chain.”