“We want to serve SMEs who are not feeling comfortable with traditional banks.”
We interviewed Wim Pardon, Chief Product Officer at Truevo, to learn what payment and value-added services are key for SMEs in Europe and why Truevo decided to use Way4 Acquiring via the SaaS model.
Truevo is an innovative acquirer targeting SMEs in Europe and consuming OpenWay's solutions for merchant management and payment processing via SaaS.
Truevo: e-commerce & in-store SME acquiring in Europe on Way4
Wim: Truevo is an acquirer based in Malta. It started its activities 8 years ago as a high-risk acquirer, so most of its clients until now were perceived as high-risk, meaning cryptocurrency, gaming, gambling. In the meantime, we diversified our portfolio, looking for less high-risk merchants to get balance. We started acquiring of in-store, so-called card-present transactions. And now I can say that the portfolio is still 60% high risk and 40% low-risk and low-risk e-commerce.
We want to serve SMEs who are not feeling comfortable with traditional banks. We launched already a combination of having a terminal or having e-commerce plugins, then also with having an account with Truevo since we have banking accounts in our name, and having a debit card. With a combination of these three products, when a merchant uses our card, he will have to pay almost no fees on the acquiring side.
We believe that for the SMEs, pricing is one point. Service is certainly important. Go-live services are important. But a third part is the value-added services. This could be from an insurance perspective, could be the automation of accounting, could be expense management. So we are looking to launch a combination of these products as a one-stop shop. It’s a buzzword, but it is what it is, so that people can sign up, that they are all-in-one, that the automation on the accounting will be dictated by one tool, or by different tools. And indeed, the SME will be able to focus on business and can forget all the workload that is around doing business. That’s where we believe that we should go, and where we will go, because that will be the most attractive part for the SME.
How will Way4 Acquiring help Truevo to achieve its business goals?
Way4, first of all, is certainly a good standard. It’s a good product. We are sure that, certainly through a reconciliation point of view, Way4 is much stronger than what we have now. And that will help us bring down the cost.
But what for me was more important is certainly the chemistry and the people. Because technology you can buy everywhere. Technology, certainly in the last decades, you can find. But the mentality and approach of OpenWay staff, that for me is the most important part for you to say, OK, let’s move with OpenWay and Way4. Because in the end, you need to make an implementation plan, you need to do the replacement of a system. Certainly the knowledge, but also the empathy or the E.Q. of OpenWay staff, that for me is the most important. Having people nearby, speaking the same language – and I don’t mean real language. They know their businesses, and know what the payment industry is, and they are flexible enough to work with people on our site, and come to a result. In the end we have a few deadlines, and you need to follow those deadlines. You need to make sure that everything is up and running. And that’s for me is one of the key factors why we took the decision to go with OpenWay.
Why Way4 SaaS?
We are believers that everything that can be outsourced should be outsourced. Why should we have our own data center? Why should we? We have all the rest in the cloud. The daily operations will be outsourced to OpenWay staff. It makes us able to focus on our business, purely business. As for the rest, don’t worry, there is someone else looking out for it. That’s the main reason. So do what you need to do. Do what you are good in, and all the rest, if possible, outsource it. That’s it.
Recent major changes in European payments
Wim: PSD2 made a big change in the payment industry. Open banking really will replace some of the payments: traditional, by card or by phone. That’s also the reason why Visa bought Tink for 1,4 billion dollars, because it seems that everyone now is moving thanks to the PSD2 regulation and the direct debit in SEPA.
How did the pandemic impact Truevo’s business?
Wim: The good thing is that we are mostly e-commerce, so we see only growth in our business. In 2020, we were growing more than 25% on the e-commerce side. On the other hand, what about the in-store payments? Due to lockdown, nothing happened. There you see certainly a gap where a lot of projects were postponed, but they will be coming back, I’m sure. But I think 2022 will be an important year to catch up, to see what we’ve missed, and to make happen what we planned in 2019.
OpenWay Club: technologies, use cases, networking, and a lot of fun
Wim: The agenda is something which is really balanced: about technology, about use cases, today we will talk about projects. That’s one part. Meeting concullegas as we say, meaning competitors, but on the other hand, people in the same domain as you are, that’s always helpful. You can talk about a lot of things, of course, business is one. But there is also a lot of fun, which is good. And it opens also your eyes to see what other people are doing.
