Banco BASE Taps Volante For Payments; Azimo Receives Dutch Central Bank License

Welcome to The Axis, your late look at payments news from around the world. Coverage includes Mexico‘s Banco BASE selecting Volante Technologies Inc. for international and domestic payments. Azimo says it has received a license from the Dutch Central Bank to operate in the Netherlands, Cubic Transportation Systems has notched a contract for a mobile ticketing system in Ireland, and Bear Market Coffee in Ireland has gone cashless.

Banco BASE has tapped Volante Technologies Inc. to provide systems for international and domestic payments, according to an announcement from Volante. The company implemented VolPay from Volante for the processing of payments within the country and cross-border payments. Its move comes amid the advent of opening banking, a quickly changing market and the drive to offer merchant services and digital P2P. Volante said in the announcement that “Banco Base expects to expand the VolPay implementation to cover domestic bulk MXN payments, and digital retail payments.” Volante, which was founded in 2001, works with more than 90 financial institutions in 35 countries around the world.

In Europe, money transfer company Azimo says it has received a license to operate in the Netherlands from the Dutch Central Bank, according to reports. While the company’s headquarters will stay in London, the news comes on the heels of the opening of Azimo’s Amsterdam office. And the license would ensure that the company would still benefit from “passporting” rights even with the occurrence of Brexit. Azimo CEO Michael Kent said, according to the report, “We looked at many jurisdictions but decided the best place to expand our European operations was the Netherlands. Outside the U.K., it’s the best place to grow a FinTech company in Europe.”

And in Ireland, Cubic Transportation Systems has notched a contract from The National Transport Authority for a mobile ticketing system in a contract valued at over $4 million, Metro Report International reported. The system, which is based on technology the company has brought to other cities, will reportedly be tested on regional routes of Bus Éireann later in 2019. And the contract forms the first phase of a Next Generation Ticketing program. The report also pointed out that the primary focus of the contract is on bus transportation.

In other payments news from Ireland, Dublin’s Bear Market Coffee is now all cashless, The Independent reported. The coffee shop’s owners made the move after visiting a store that had gone cash-free in New York City. And it happened to be the case that eight in 10 — or 80 percent — of purchases in the store had been made by card. One of the owners told the outlet that a cashless model lets the coffee shop offer better service to customers and help make sure that baristas aren’t stressed unnecessarily. The company has also teamed up with Magnet Networks to let customers use an app to order ahead.