Alibaba enters Banking Circle for shapely payments
Alibaba has signed up with Banking Circle to use its infrastructure and global network as it seeks to improve its payments business.
Anders la Cour, co-founder and CEO of Banking Circle, says: “Payment providers who join Banking Circle can offer ‘local’ cross-border payments, with low fees, good FX rates and fast transfer times. It’s a cohesive solution – there’s no differentiation between local and cross-border payments. All payments occur quickly, at low cost. Payments are simply payments.”
Established in 1999, Alibaba is doing well in the e-commerce space. For example, as reported in July, SoftBank and Alibaba decided to invest $445 million in Paytm E-Commerce.
Banking Circle also angles in with some comments. Also reported in July, it reminds us that the EQT VIII fund and EQT Ventures fund together with company founders and other co-investors agreed to acquire Saxo Payments Banking Circle from Saxo Bank. EQT VIII will have the majority ownership.
In 2013 Saxo Bank formed a new entity, Saxo Payments, with the purpose of using Saxo Bank’s core capabilities within the non-cash payments market.
In October 2015 the company launched the Banking Circle – its product for payments and FX to the fintech industry. In October 2017, the company launched its new identity for the Banking Circle, to reflect its position as a financial utility within core banking.
In our PayTech Awards 2018, Saxo Payments Banking Circle won the “Best Corporate Payments Initiative” with Banking Circle Virtual IBAN.
