Fidor Teams With SIA To Bring New Instant Payments Solution To Europe

Sopra Banking Software subsidiary Fidor Solutions is partnering with CDP Equity’s SIA to introduce a new instant payments solution in Germany and other parts of Europe, according to a press release emailed to PYMNTS.

Calling SIA “a highly resilient partner,” Fidor Solutions CEO Michael Maier said the collaboration will give customers “end-to-end service” and access to a cohesive “Instant SEPA Payment Solution” from Fidor Solutions platform.

He also added that the partnership will help companies “easily adjust” to the ever-changing payments landscape. “It’s a great value-added to our proposition and for our clients.”

Per the release, Fidor Solutions gives European financial institutions (FIs) and their customers the power to send and receive money in under 10 seconds. The service is offered in partnership with SIA, which opens up a direct line to EBA Clearing’s pan-European real-time payment system RT1 and to the TARGET Instant Payments Settlement (TIPS) service of the Eurosystem (the ECB and national central banks in the Eurozone).

Fidor Solutions uses the SIA EasyWay platform as an operations hub to streamline the integration of instant payments with FIs. The integrated service covers the entire payment value chain — mobile, web, APIs, transaction processing — and on-demand scalable payment infrastructure.

SIA Northwest Europe and DACH Region Sales Director Cristina Astore said the European payments ecosystem is in the midst of a “digital transformation“ and the partnership with Fidor is a “first milestone for a wider cooperation.”

She added that the collaboration will also help advance the “development of innovative use cases” for both individuals and businesses “contributing to the growth of digital payments in Europe.”

SIA is set to be acquired by the Italian payments provider Nexi for about 4.6 billion euros ($5.4 billion) in a stock deal announced in October 2020. The combined entity would be among Europe’s biggest payment providers. Together, the market capitalization is estimated to be roughly 15 billion euros ($17.6 billion).