Zūm Rails, the company merging open banking and instant payments, announced it is leveraging embedded finance solutions from Fiserv (NYSE: FI), which is a provider of payment and financial technology, in order to enable digital transactions and financial services for US-based businesses.
With Fiserv as the primary transaction processor for Zūm Rails’ payments gateway, businesses such as large enterprises and even small and midsize businesses (SMBs) are now able to facilitate accounts payable and receivable transactions, merchant onboarding, reporting, reconciliation and fraud management.
Early adopters of the solution include real estate platform Homebase, the property management software Passive and others as well.
At present, payments and banking services are expanding beyond typical banks and financial institutions, and firms across sectors are keen to embed financial and payment solutions directly into their existing services.
The barrier to entry has kept many from trying, particularly given that every new capability has required working with providers to build integrations from scratch.
For firms that transcend these barriers, embedded finance lets them tap into what is a $84 billion market opportunity, and offers a key advantage over traditional methods with “inflexible” user experiences.
Via its relationship with Fiserv, Zūm Rails will provide U.S. businesses and merchants with what they need to take and distribute transactions.
Zūm Rails’ payments gateway enhances the integration of various capabilities such as open banking and instant payments into firms’ platforms so they are able to support payments in a secure manner.
By bringing these capabilities together, firms are able to improve user experiences and gain insights into transaction data.
Combining Zum Rails’ payments gateway with the Fiserv payment facilitator model gives firms the option to send funds via large U.S. payment networks, such as Visa and Mastercard, the Automated Clearing House (ACH), FedNow, WEB Debit, and PayPal.
Sunil Sachdev, Head of Embedded Finance, Fiserv said that by making capabilities from their merchant acceptance, banking, and card issuing businesses available to clients and partners via APIs, they are helping these clients expand service models, form key relationships with merchants, and expand revenue potential, as a result.
As Zūm Rails scales across the U.S., it will bring reportedly embedded finance capabilities to the businesses using its platform.
This includes the addition of Zūm Rails’ upcoming Banking-as-a-Service or BaaS product offering, which will enable firms to issue their own debit cards for direct spending.
In addition to the U.S., Zūm Rails will expand offerings in North America.
This includes using Zūm Rails’ Canadian foundation to bring its integration with Fiserv to Canada, as well as developing joint offerings for the Canadian market.
Zūm Rails is the company merging open banking and instant payments through a single payment gateway.
The firm’s approach to payments enables companies as well as their customers to utilize the payment channels that fit their needs in the most efficient way.
Zūm Rails works with financial services companies such as Visa, Mastercard, Fiserv and MX in order to support the payments lifescycle—all from one API.
The firm is reportedly backed by Arthur Ventures with head offices being in Montreal, Quebec.