ANNA Money Collabs On Instant QR Code SMB Payments

Users of FinTech ANNA Money will now have the option of instantaneous QR code payments through a new partnership with TrueLayer, according to a press release.

ANNA provides business accounts, debit cards and financial administration to customers, which can include freelancers and small businesses.

The use of QR codes would do away with many of the touchstones of old-style payments like cards or terminals. For ANNA’s customers, who are trying to do business in a new and modern way, it’s easier to use a QR code rather than writing out an invoice and spending time waiting for payment to come the old way, according to ANNA Head of Open Banking Irakli Agladze.

Many customers used open banking APIs to start their accounts with ANNA and add funds right then and there, so the transition to newer, seamless ways of receiving payment in B2B transactions made sense as well, Agladze said.

The new service will reduce transaction costs and speed up transfers in a way that users can better manage their finances and schedules.

Francesco Simoneschi, CEO and co-founder of TrueLayer, said the company believed the future of payments is in innovative B2B approaches like the QR codes, with prizes like saved money and time being huge incentives.

ANNA began partnering with TrueLayer last year, integrating its open baking data API services and using account aggregations and faster and more efficient VAT calculations through the company app.

TrueLayer has also recently partnered with Revolut to provide open banking services for customers.

In that partnership, customers with the British FinTech company have the ability to access multiple accounts all on one app. By adding those services, Revolut aimed to make it easy for customers to manage numerous accounts they might have had for various reasons. Under the old ways, customer accounts were kept separate, and customers had to keep track of them manually.