Cross-border payments company FairFX is set to become a direct participant within the UK’s ‘Faster Payments Scheme (FPS)’ having been approved by the Bank of England (BoE) the right to access settlement accounts.
FairFX secures its BoE settlement rights approval through subsidiary Spectrum Payment Services – which will allow FairFX access to the FPS system reducing consumer-to-bank transactional times.
FairFX said it is now the fourth non-bank cleared institution to access FPS as a direct member since regulators launched a new access model last year.
Chief Executive Ian Stafford-Taylor said: “Obtaining direct membership of the Faster Payments Scheme together with settlement accounts at the Bank of England represents a major step in the progression of FairFX Group.
“This development is in line with the group’s strategy to streamline the payment supply chain, deliver lower payment processing costs, improve customer experience and facilitate product iteration,”
Permission from the BoE allows FairFX to generate its own sort code and enables them to create international bank account numbers for clients, without having to rely on other financial institutions to transfer money.
The company said that this will result in a reduced cost per transaction along with increased customer acquisition and retention – on the basis of a “vastly enhanced” user experience.
Stafford-Taylor continued: “FairFX will continue to improve its efficiency and scale by removing links in the supply chain and going direct to payment schemes both in the UK and overseas.
“Direct access to payment schemes was traditionally the exclusive preserve of clearing banks, so joining this select group clearly demonstrates FairFX’s credentials as a leading payments provider with bank-grade capabilities and distances us from other digital finance competitors.”
Last year, FairFX processed more than 1 million FPS transaction which will now on be processed in real-tme.
