Compass Plus Gets Aggregator Accreditation For Faster Payments In UK

Compass Plus, the electronic payments software company, announced on Monday (Aug. 15) that it has been certified as one of only five companies to gain aggregator accreditation for Faster Payments in the U.K. Faster Payments is a system that enables U.K customers to make secure and fast automated payments via mobile, internet, telephone or standing order 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Compass Plus said its open development payments platform, dubbed TranzAxis, was certified by Faster Payments Scheme Limited (FPSL), the operator of Faster Payments. It achieved the certification after completing a series of technical tests required by FPSL for its new access model. With the accreditation, Compass Plus can now offer TranzAxis as a Faster Payments software gateway to aggregators and payment service providers that need direct access to the Faster Payments’ Central Infrastructure.

“Access to real-time payments will be a benefit for businesses and consumers alike, so we are particularly proud to be one of the first vendors awarded the Faster Payments ‘trust mark’ certificate,” said Darren Busby, associate vice president and business development director at Compass Plus, in a press release. “The certification demonstrates our ongoing commitment to innovation and future-proofing our customers’ business.”

The Faster Payments initiative has made significant strides in the U.K., so much so that the scheme has been held up as a model for other nations globally. But there is still work to be done, with more adoption needed by consumers and small businesses. In an interview with PYMNTS’ Karen Webster this spring, William Proctor, vice president and product line manager of UP Immediate Payments at ACI Worldwide, said reaching consumers and small businesses who are not customers of direct member banks is a barrier to more adoption, as is enabling larger businesses to integrate real-time processing into their back offices. “Delivering on ubiquity is the key objective, and the push to make more indirect members [into] direct members will help significantly,” he said in the interview.