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Open Banking solution provider Nuapay, powered by Sentenial, has announced it is extending its Open Banking payment capabilities to German and Italian banks.
Nuapay’s expansion will enable German and Italian partners to offer Open Banking payment solutions, powering account to account payments for their customers.
This rollout connects 308 banks in Italy and 435 banks in Germany to Nuapay’s Open Banking platform, connecting 134 million European accounts and reaching 98% and 70% of payers in each country. This adds to Nuapay’s existing Open Banking connections in the UK and France, covering more than 90% of payers in those markets.
In coming months, Nuapay’s payment integrations will be extended to other European markets, including Spain.
Germany has long shown a preference for cash over digital alternatives. However, the pandemic saw a shift in consumer preferences indicating that the market is ripe for innovation.
Meanwhile in Italy, even before the pandemic hit, the government had been working to increase citizens’ use of digital payments to tackle fraud associated with cash. Pre-pandemic, 86% of Italian transactions were made using notes and coins, according to central bank estimates. However, research shows that the market has seen a staggering 80% increase in mobile payments in 2020 compared to 2019.
The government also encouraged consumers to utilise digital payments with its Christmas cashback campaign. The cashback initiative launched over Christmas asked users to register their payment methods on the IO app, a new government app to provide access to public services and benefits to receive an automatic refund of 10% on each transaction from the state.
Nuapay has secured a second EU Payment Institution licence from the ACPR – the French banking regulator. The licence enables Nuapay to continue offering its payment services in a post-Brexit world to in excess of 1,000 EU clients.
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