Banking Circle Group expands into the Australian market with the launch of BC Payments

• BC Payments launches to empower Australian FinTechs to scale internationally with market leading global payment rails
• Piers Cracknell, former Director, Strategic Initiatives NAB, appointed to head BC Payments
• New payments infrastructure business addresses cross-border payments pain points currently restricting Australian FinTech growth

SYDNEY, Aug. 28, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- BC Payments, the licensed subsidiary of EQT-backed innovative tech-led payments business, Banking Circle Group, has launched in Australia. It will provide Australian FinTechs, payments businesses and banks with global payment solutions, facilitating both onshore and offshore growth.

The parent company, Banking Circle S.A., already serves over 250 financial institutions globally and is settling more than 10% of Europe's B2C e-commerce flow^[1]. The latest data shows that in 2022, it processed enough payments to imply €332bn in total annual run-rate payment volumes^[2].

BC Payments has appointed Piers Cracknell as Head of Australia. He joins from his previous role as Director, Strategic Initiatives at National Australia Bank (NAB), bringing over 20 years of payments experience.

BC Payments will help local FinTechs facing barriers to non-domestic growth. At the centre of these barriers is the current de-risking in the B2B payments space by local incumbents. High-growth, compliant FinTechs have been caught in the crossfire, unable to find a clearing, settlement and cross-border payments partner.

Free from the inflexible legacy systems of incumbents, BC Payments will focus on innovation; building new, market-leading solutions that meet the needs of local FinTechs. By reducing the cost and increasing the speed of non-domestic payments, Australian FinTechs will be able to extend their geographic reach and customer propositions efficiently and cost-effectively.

Piers Cracknell, Head of Australia at BC Payments comments: "Having witnessed first-hand the frustration of Australian FinTechs losing access to global payment solutions, I'm excited to now be part of the solution. BC Payments' offering will be delivered utilising the scale and infrastructure of the broader Banking Circle Group, which is already meeting the needs of some of the world's largest payments businesses and banks.

"For Australia's banks, we can help reduce the correspondent banking fees they have to absorb and provide more payment rail options with which to process their customers' international payments. For marketplaces, we can enable overseas collections and payments for local merchants. And as private and government stakeholders push to grow the size of the FinTech market here in Australia, there has never been a more important time to get these companies to market and keep them growing. For those FinTechs looking for a global payments provider to expand into the EU and UK markets, we have the expertise to help."

Mishal Ruparel, Chief Revenue Officer of Banking Circle added: "Led by our tech-first approach, Banking Circle is driving the evolution of global payments infrastructure, which goes to the heart of financial inclusion. We believe this is a great fit for the growing Australian FinTech space.

"We're excited that Piers will be heading BC Payments. His experience and strong network, coupled with our international track record, will be invaluable in helping Australian firms harness the benefits of our payment capabilities."

About BC Payments

BC Payments is a wholly owned subsidiary of Banking Circle S.A. headquartered in Luxembourg and licensed by the CSSF. Learn more at https://www.bcpayments.com.au.

About Banking Circle S.A.  

Banking Circle S.A. is the Payments Bank for the new economy. As a fully licensed bank, free of legacy systems, Banking Circle enables payments companies and banks of any scale to seize opportunities in the new economy - quickly, at low cost.     

Banking Circle S.A. is a modern correspondent bank committed to building a local clearing network for all major currencies, to deliver fast, low cost payments with no hidden fees for the beneficiary. It provides a suite of unique and award-winning banking solutions, including multi-currency banking accounts and Virtual IBANs, bank connections for local clearing and cross-border payments, all underpinned by market leading compliance and security.     

Through bespoke, flexible, scalable and futureproof solutions Banking Circle S.A. is enabling financial institutions to help their customers transact across borders in a way that was previously not possible.     

Headquartered in Luxembourg, Banking Circle S.A. has offices in London, Munich and Copenhagen.     

Banking Circle S.A. is an affiliate company in the Banking Circle Group ecosystem which serves payment companies, banks, global marketplaces and online merchants through a rich set of complementary eCommerce solutions. These include global cross-border payments, accounts and liquidity management, revenue based financing, business payments & card issuing, B2B Buy Now Pay Later and account-to-account payment methods.

Banking Circle Group is owned by EQT VIII and EQT Ventures, in partnership with Banking Circle S.A.'s founders. The Group entities have offices in Amsterdam, Copenhagen, London, Luxemburg, Munich, Singapore and Stamford, Connecticut.