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Modulr Now a Principal Issuing Member of Mastercard

The fintech Modulr announced earlier this week that it has joined Mastercard as a principal issuing member, granting it direct access to the leading global payments network.

The new partnership sees Modulr further embed itself into critical financial infrastructure and will bring additional functionality to the fintech’s offering, including improved scalability and speed to market.

Modulr will use the partnership to further expand its product portfolio and diversify the range of options it offers to its customers. The partnership will also be used by Mastercard and Modulr to drive adoption within key market verticals, including card issuing for travel and alternative banking.

Myles Stephenson, CEO of Modulr says, “Gaining even further direct access to key financial infrastructure, such as the Mastercard network, enables us to have even greater control and to further enhance our delivery of fast, simple and frictionless full payment capabilities to our clients. Granting access to non-banks such as ourselves also helps to create a level playing field and promotes positive competition in the sector.

“We look forward to partnering with Mastercard to not only extend the functionality of Modulr’s core platform, but to accelerate payments innovations across the industry.”

Edoardo Volta, Head of Fintechs at Mastercard says, “We look forward to working with Modulr as they enable innovation across payments by expanding their product portfolio, which will allow even more businesses across the UK and Europe to benefit from Mastercard products, driven by Modulr’s powerful payment solutions.”

In 2019, Modulr became one of only a few non-banks to gain direct access to Bacs and Faster Payments. The Fintech also became the first non-bank or building society to launch Confirmation of Payee, a fraud prevention initiative spearheaded by Pay.UK in September this year.

Through direct access to Faster Payments, Modulr holds an account in the Bank of England’s (BoE) Real-Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) system, which enables the FinTech to settle payment obligations in central bank money under its Modulr FS Limited entity (FRN 900573). It has now done the same with its principal issuing membership for both Mastercard and Visa.

Modulr, which powers the likes of Sage, Revolut, Salary Finance, Iwoca and Paxport, is a Payment as a Service API platform created for digital businesses that need a faster, easier and more reliable way to move money.

Author

  • Gina is a fintech journalist (BA, MA) who works across broadcast and print. She has written for most national newspapers and started her career in BBC local radio.

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