The travel industry was particularly hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the future looks brighter. Industry bodies expect to see a boom in travel as people make up for years spent at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

As travellers return to the road or the skies, there are signs that they’re prepared to spend more to make their next trip special – 80% of US travellers aged 18-34 are planning to “go big” on their next trip, and boomers expect to spend at least $4000 on travel in the next 12 months. 

With consumers champing at the bit to jet off, travel and tour operators are in an ideal place to capitalise on the situation, offering new and innovative ways for their guests to make their trip extra special. 

Prepaid cards have a long history of use in the travel industry – foreign exchange providers have offered prepaid currency cards for many years, giving travellers a convenient, secure alternative to carrying large amounts of foreign currency when they travel. In 2022, there are tons of ways prepaid cards can be used to elevate your customers’ travel experience and increase their lifetime value. 

Post-COVID recovery

While many holidaymakers can’t wait to get away without the stress of masks and restrictions, others remain cautious. Data from booking.com suggests that nearly half of all travellers opted to avoid public transport while travelling in 2021, and 79% of global travellers will take more precautions due to COVID. 

With consumers looking to travel companies to support them to stay safe while travelling, contactless prepaid cards could be a useful way of reducing potential transmission points and help customers feel more confident bouncing back from the pandemic. 

Cruise onboard spend

Prepaid cards are the perfect choice for cruise onboard spend, allowing your guests to purchase everything from spa treatments and souvenirs to onshore excursions. Prepaid cards are particularly useful for cruise passengers as they can be used in multiple currencies, making it easy to make purchases onshore as well as on board. 

A branded card makes it easy for guests to manage their onboard funds, as well as offering an easy method for applying any incentive or reward payments they may have earned. 

Best of all, funds loaded onto a branded card can be saved for a future trip, encouraging repeat travel and increasing customer lifetime value. Payment cards could even be used to incentivise customers when they’re not travelling – for example, by offering discounts at select partner retailers. 

Tour groups

Security is a high priority for many guided tour groups. Organised tours are highly visible and can easily become a target for pickpockets and thieves, leading many tour operators to set requirements that guests wear travel belts or take other security precautions to keep their belongings safe. 

Branded prepaid cards could help you offer another level of security to your guests. By requesting that funds are stored on your company’s prepaid cards, you can easily freeze lost or stolen cards to avoid funds being lost, and can quickly transfer your guest’s funds onto a new card instead. This means that if the worst happens, you’re able to respond quickly and get your tour back on track – saving your guests the hassle of having to call their own banks to freeze cards, or arrange alternative payment methods in the interim.

Tour guide expenses

Prepaid cards aren’t just useful for your guests. They’re also perfect for employees like travel representatives or tour guides. 

Prepaid company expense cards can make it easy for your representatives to manage expenses, both for themselves and on behalf of the groups they’re working with. With the option to set automatic top-ups to a preset limit, your guides will always have access to the funds they need to deliver amazing experiences for your guests, and with easy photo upload of receipts and automatic integration with your accounting system, reporting is a breeze too. 

Delay subsistence funds

Every travel organisation occasionally runs into problems with delays or cancellations. While these are unavoidable, the way your brand supports customers can have a significant effect on their experience with you, and on the effect of disruption on your reputation. 

While many travel operators provide vouchers to delayed or stranded guests, prepaid cards could be a more user-friendly and modern option. While vouchers are only accepted by specific outlets, a prepaid MasterCard or Visa can be used in millions of locations worldwide, giving your guests more choice and a better customer experience. Prepaid cards can also be topped up instantly, allowing your customers to cover the cost of pre-approved expenses like taxis or hotels without needing to front the funds from their own money and claim back later. 

Trust B4B to elevate your guest experience

Prepaid contactless cards from B4B can help travel companies deliver an elevated customer experience to their customers, and help make their return to travel extra special. To find out more about how we can help, book a demo today.

In March, Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi announced that the government is ready to spend £150 million to give every school in England access to a high speed broadband connection by 2025.

Following the pandemic, remote learning has seen a boom, initially through necessity but now because it’s been proven to work. Technology in classrooms is enabling students to engage in learning in a very different way to how they engaged ten years ago, with EdTech creating IT tools to provide a more engaging, inclusive and individualised learning experience.

So how is EdTech helping universities meet the needs of their students?

Open to different learning styles and paces

It’s a widely accepted fact that different people learn in different ways and at different paces. Some people learn better by reading, listening, talking, doing or drawing – there are dozens, if not hundreds, of different learning styles.

EdTech allows for all of these different learning styles to be considered, understood and catered for.

Where historically, students might have had one – and only one – opportunity to sit through a two hour lecture with nothing but a textbook and their own notes to refer back to, they can now access the same information in multiple formats whenever they need it. It might be as basic as a film of the lecture with accompanied transcript, or more engaging, interactive, online courses – either way, students can now learn in their own way and at their own pace, which can only lead to a greater sense of agency in their own learning and greater academic outcomes.

24/7 Accessibility

A big way that EdTech is helping students is by making learning accessible to all. For example, text to audio and audio to text tech enables students with impaired vision or hearing to benefit from lectures, either virtual or in person, alongside other learners. While specific support, such as signers or braille formats may still be needed, this kind of EdTech means all learners can engage and work with the same material.

Video lectures, either streamed or recorded for later viewing, allow students with other commitments, such as caring responsibilities or health considerations, to watch and learn from lectures without having to leave their homes and without having to put other aspects of their lives on hold. They also allow neurodivergent students, such as autistic students or those with ADHD, to manage their own learning environment and learn at their own pace, in chunks of time that work best for them.

Collaboration

EdTech is opening up the ways that students can communicate and collaborate with one another.

Project management tools and e-learning resources make it possible for students to work together without having to be in the same room or even available at the same time. Group projects can operate in a fluid way, allowing students to still engage and learn together, whilst still being available for other important commitments.

Tutors can also input and feedback virtually, meaning that questions can be asked and feedback can be given more regularly, making learning possible at times that suit everyone.

Paperless classrooms

Asides being messy and difficult to keep track of, excess paper isn’t great for the environment – and this is an issue close to young people’s hearts.

In September 2021, a global survey found that 60% of young people aged 16 to 25 felt very or extremely worried about climate change, and more than 45% said that these feelings affected their daily lives.

It tracks then that paper-based learning isn’t what students want, especially given that students today are digital natives. But EdTech allows for students to learn in a paperless environment.

Cashless systems

Younger generations are more likely to rely on cards and digital banking than cash in their day to day life, so cashless payment is expected at university too – especially if remote learning is now commonplace.

Introducing fintech into the university experience can bring huge benefits to students. By issuing students with prepaid cards on enrolment, they can easily receive bursary and scholarship payments quickly and to be accessed immediately. The risks of fraud and human error in inputting bank details are also diminished and processing payments is much quicker than bank transfers or, even worse, cheques.

Prepaid cards can also play an important role in societies, events and clubs. Student union and society fundraising activities often leave students in charge of large budgets but prepaid cards allow students to easily access and take control of their activities. Prepaid cards can also have restrictions that mean funds can only be spent in certain shops, meaning that the budgets can be kept safe.

Cards can also be used as a recruitment and engagement strategy – students can be offered meals and travel expenses to attend open days or to volunteer, making these events and opportunities accessible to all students without racking up their own expenses.

And students facing challenging circumstances can be paid hardship funds in an efficient and cost-effective way, meaning that money can reach them quickly and when it’s needed.

EdTech has transformed the way that students engage with higher education, from making learning more accessible to different people with different schedules, reducing the impact of learning on the environment, and making for safer and more efficient payment solutions.

To find out how B4B Payments can help meet the needs of your students, get in touch today. 

Increasing numbers of businesses in all industries are making financial services part of their business proposition to improve their traditional offering and delight their customers.

Whether it’s offering branded cards or buy-now-pay-later payment accounts, embedded finance (or Banking as a Service) can help you offer attractive new features and drive customer engagement and loyalty.

To offer electronic payment accounts like these, companies need an Electronic Money Institution (EMI or eMoney) license. For companies offering payment cards, they’ll also need to be a member of a card scheme like MasterCard or Visa.

Businesses exploring the potential of adding embedded finance features into their business offering quickly discover that the process of applying for these licenses is complex and daunting. Instead, many opt to partner with a BIN sponsor, leveraging another organisation’s license and scheme membership to offer services without the regulatory burden of becoming authorised themselves.

There are a number of BIN sponsors on the market, and it can be difficult to differentiate the benefits offered by different providers. Here are a few things to consider when selecting a BIN sponsor for your business…

Does my BIN sponsor have the right licenses for my needs?

Starting with the obvious – it’s important that your BIN sponsor has the correct licenses for your needs. This sounds simpler than it is, particularly if you want to offer your services internationally.

For the UK, for example, eMoney licenses are issued by the Financial Conduct Authority. However, since Brexit, UK-authorised EMI’s are no longer automatically able to access SEPA, the Single Euro Payments area, to make and receive payments across Europe. If you’d like to offer payment services in Europe, your BIN sponsor will need a separate license for this if they’re a UK EMI – B4B Payments is authorised by the Bank of Lithuania, meaning our Emoney License is applicable across Europe, as well as by the FCA for UK operations.

In the United States it’s even more complex; eMoney licenses are managed at a state level rather than federally, so you’ll need to apply to the individual licensing boards for the states you’d like to offer services in. Other countries across the world have their own individual, separate requirements too. Similarly, it’s important to check you’ll have access to the right card scheme memberships, to be sure you’re able to offer cards which are familiar and widely-usable in stores or ATMs in your target country.

Does my BIN sponsor have experience working with businesses like mine?

While the first area to check is that a prospective BIN sponsor holds the relevant licenses and scheme memberships, that’s not the end of the story. Not all BIN sponsors are cut from the same cloth, and like all businesses, each will have its own specialist areas of expertise.

It goes without saying that different businesses have different needs, and even though BIN sponsorship may seem a simple service, partnering with a BIN sponsor who has experience working with businesses in your industry or sector can help smooth the path and ensure a positive, productive relationship for years to come.

For example – a fast-moving fintech needs a partner who understands the importance of maximising speed to market, and who’s willing to push the boundaries of their service offerings to deliver new and innovative solutions and to work with them through their own applications for EMI licenses or scheme membership. At the other end of the spectrum, a business who simply wants to issue store cards will have simpler needs and could be happier with an off-the-shelf co-brand solution which can be cheaper to mobilise.

What other areas could my BIN sponsor support me with?

At its simplest level, BIN sponsorship simply involves issuing BIN ranges – the first six numbers on a payment card which identify the bank who issued it. However, if you’re in the process of launching your own card scheme it’s likely that you’ll need far more than just this service.

Some additional services, such as regulatory reporting, compliance management and fraud monitoring, are the responsibility of the BIN sponsor by default. However, things like card manufacturing or foreign exchange services may not be.

To avoid having to coordinate multiple third-party suppliers, it’s worth checking the full range of features a prospective BIN sponsor is able to offer throughout your growth lifecycle, as investing in an end-to-end solution could significantly reduce the time it takes to bring your card scheme to market.

Can my BIN sponsorship solution scale as my company grows?

Many fintech organisations see a partnership with a BIN sponsor as a temporary state, and have ambitions to hold their own eMoney license, scheme memberships or even their own banking license.

The process of applying for these licenses is lengthy and expensive (with good reason – it’s vital that regulated entities are asked to prove their suitability to offer such critical services), and can take many years to acquire. They’re also not a one-and-done process – there are a number of intermediate steps on the path to becoming a fully regulated financial institution, and in the fast-moving world of fintech the path to authorisation can seem painfully slow.

For fintech companies, a BIN sponsor should be able to accommodate and support your business through each stage of its growth with a flexible and scalable set of services. Gaining an eMoney license means you’ll no longer need to leverage your BIN sponsor’s license, but you may well still need to leverage card scheme memberships. Further down the line, should you be granted your own scheme memberships you may still need support from your BIN sponsor for things like funds safeguarding or accounts.

B4B Payments’ BIN Sponsorship 2.0 solution is designed to support fintech organisations through every step of their transition from a new, unregulated business to a fully regulated EMI with scheme permissions. Our offering is designed to flex and scale as you grow, helping you to become more independent whilst continuing to offer the features you need to get to the next stage of your journey.

Does my BIN sponsor’s platform integrate with my technology?

It’s important to consider how you and your customers will access their services, and this means checking that they have a robust technology platform which will integrate with your own offering.

Fintechs often live or die based on their customer experience, and most invest huge amounts of time and effort into designing an intuitive, inviting and easy-to-use interface for their customers. It’s vital, then, that the transition from your company’s own platform into the areas your BIN sponsor controls, such as payments or accounts, is seamless – an ugly iFrame could negatively affect your customers’ experience, and your brand’s reputation in turn.

Ensuring that features like card issuing, management and payment are integrated with your own systems in a way that maintains the high quality experience and technology, you’ve spent so long developing means finding a BIN sponsor who has the same commitment to UX as you do.

B4B Payments’ card issuing and payment platform is designed to integrate seamlessly into your own workflows for an end-to-end embedded finance solution. Our robust API and webhook functionality makes it easy for developers to build our advanced payment features into your own platform, whilst maintaining the highest levels of security and compliance throughout.

With over 15 years of expertise in payments and now as part of the Banking Circle group of companies, B4B Payments is a globally recognised and trusted provider of card issuing and payment services.

Since 2006, we’ve supported thousands of businesses to bring innovative fintech solutions to market via our robust payments platform.

Our next-generation BIN sponsorship 2.0 solution supports fintechs along every step of their journey from co-brand to fully regulated issuer and scheme member.

Our team has a market-leading level of knowledge and expertise to help you grow your business with the power of scalable and secure payments, and our market-leading solutions provide everything you need to put payments at the heart of your proposition.

Get in touch today to find out how B4B Payments can help you make your fintech ideas a reality with our next-gen BIN Sponsorship services.

Fintech is big business, and the COVID-19 pandemic seems to have only accelerated the pace of the sector’s development.

64% of consumers worldwide have used one or more fintech platforms, up from 33% in 2017. In 2021, $102bn in investment was fed into the fintech sector.

It’s no surprise, then, that an ever-growing number of startup companies are working to bring their own innovative fintech offerings to market. London alone plays host to over 2,500 fintech companies, and there are thought to be well over 25,000 startups operating in the space worldwide.

Growing a successful fintech startup in such a competitive landscape requires a diverse range of expertise, not least a solid understanding of the financial sector and the rules and regulations to which fintech’s are subject.

While in the UK initiatives such as the Kalifa Review are seeking to create a more welcoming environment for fintech innovation, founders still struggle to expand their businesses, particularly in the face of international regulation, with 47% citing regulatory compliance issues as the main barrier to international growth.

BIN sponsorship as a solution to regulatory bottlenecks

While it’s possible to go it alone, many new companies find themselves overwhelmed by the level and complexity of red tape surrounding financial regulation, which threatens to hold back their ability to deliver innovative new services to their customers. In these situations, partnering with a BIN sponsor could offer a lifeline to many fintech startups.

For fintechs looking to issue cards or offer payments, obtaining an Electronic Money Institution (EMI or eMoney) license and card scheme membership could be a significant hurdle – in the UK, companies applying for an EMI license must provide in-depth information about the structure and objectives of their organisation, as well as proving they hold a significant amount of starting capital.

Instead of going through the rigorous process of obtaining these licenses ahead of launch, partnering with a BIN sponsor allows brands to leverage another company’s existing licenses and partnerships, getting your offering off the ground without the complexity of becoming a financially regulated entity.

While many fintechs have ambitions of becoming regulated entities in their own right, BIN sponsorship is an attractive first step on the road that offers a number of benefits to startup companies.

Increased speed to market

While the value of so-called “first mover advantage” is sometimes debated, there are undeniable advantages in being first to offer an innovative new service. Bringing an offering to market quickly allows startups to outmanoeuvre direct competitors, establish early brand loyalty with customers, and use resources and investment effectively by minimising costs with a shorter development roadmap.

Launching faster also puts your product in front of potential users more quickly, giving you first-hand insights and feedback at a much earlier stage and providing vital data for further development of your offering.

Even if your ultimate goal is to operate as a fully-regulated entity with your own scheme licenses, BIN Sponsorship could allow you to launch your offering while your applications are still in progress, accelerating your development roadmap and cementing your brand’s position early. With B4B Payments next-generation BIN Sponsorship 2.0 offering, you’ll get access to the licenses and scheme memberships you need to get to market, alongside longer-term support and flexibility as you move along our journey to becoming fully regulated in your own right.

Confidence in regulatory compliance

While speed to market is a high priority for many startups, in finance it’s vital that this doesn’t lead to cutting corners. Security breaches or instances of fraud can be hugely damaging to fintech brands, and can lead to serious consequences if they’re discovered to have been the result of compliance issues. For example, OCBC bank’s fraud prevention measures are currently under scrutiny from the Monetary Authority of Singapore after customers lost S$8.5 million in an SMS phishing scam.

By partnering with a BIN sponsor, you’ll receive a raft of support for all aspects of regulatory compliance. As well as being able to leverage your sponsor’s e-money license and card scheme memberships, your BIN sponsor will handle AML checks, fraud monitoring, funds safeguarding and more, so you’re free to focus on developing an innovative tech offering and exceptional customer experience.

With the regulatory aspects of your payment service taken care of, you’ll be free to innovate with confidence that your customers will be safe and that your compliance risk is minimised.

Expert support and guidance

While they may have talented developers and visionary ideas, fintech startups often lack knowledge of the inner workings of the banking and payments world. By partnering with a BIN sponsor, fintechs can gain access to a team of experts with many years’ combined experience in the industry, and all of the benefits that brings.

B4B Payments’ BIN sponsorship service gives you direct access to a team of seasoned industry veterans, each with many years’ experience in the payments space as well as a deep understanding and appreciation for fintech innovation. They’ll be on hand to support you from your first steps towards launching a card issuing or payment platform, right through to taking over the reigns as a regulated entity in your own right.

Our BIN Sponsorship 2.0 offering also provides access to a wide range of pre-built processes and procedures to make it simple to stay on top of your compliance and regulatory responsibilities, without the pressure of developing these yourself.

Robust underlying technology

Innovative technology is only as good as the foundation upon which it’s built, and while fintech companies rely on their own teams of expert developers, there’s a definite advantage to being able to leverage tried-and-tested solutions, at least at first.

While not all BIN sponsors offer an end-to-end service, B4B Payments’ next-generation BIN sponsorship solution includes access to our cutting-edge payment platform, designed to be integrated using our API and webhooks to create your own embedded finance solution. By leveraging our trusted payment platform, fintechs can focus on the developing the advanced features and innovations that make them unique, with the confidence that the basics are taken care of via a robust, established and secure technology platform.

With over 15 years of expertise in payments and now as part of the Banking Circle group of companies, B4B Payments is a globally recognised and trusted provider of card issuing and payment services.

Since 2006, we’ve supported thousands of businesses to bring innovative fintech solutions to market via our robust payments platform.

Our next-generation BIN sponsorship 2.0 solution supports fintechs along every step of their journey from co-brand to fully regulated issuer and scheme member.

Our team has a market-leading level of knowledge and expertise to help you grow your business with the power of scalable and secure payments, and our market-leading solutions provide everything you need to put payments at the heart of your proposition.

Get in touch today to find out how B4B Payments can help you make your fintech ideas a reality with our next-gen BIN Sponsorship services.

LONDON, England, 10^th May 2022: B4B Payments, a leading global payments provider, is pleased to announce an exciting new partnership. Swedish fintech start-up Juni has chosen UK payment solutions provider B4B Payments to deliver their innovative financial services offering for ecommerce companies, this is delivered as part of a new service by B4B, designed to help fintech start-ups scale their offerings more rapidly.

Gothenburg-based Juni was listed as 2021’s fastest-growing fintech startup in Europe, raising $76M in Series A funding and has recently come out of beta with its all-in-one financial management platform. With a goal of eliminating common challenges faced by ecommerce businesses, Juni has leveraged B4B Payments’ BIN sponsorship 2.0 service to power their prepaid card proposition, with the aim of making it easy for businesses to keep track of their finances across multiple platforms.

“We’re delighted to be supporting Juni to bring the Juni prepaid Mastercard to market, and to see our payment solutions leveraged in such an innovative way to empower ecommerce and digital marketing entrepreneurs. As an established fintech firm ourselves, we’re excited to be part of Juni’s success, and we look forward to working closely with them to achieve their ambitious roadmap.”   

Paul Swinton, CEO of B4B Payments

“We’re really excited about our partnership with B4B and their support in building our infrastructure. It will enable us to scale Juni and continue our fast-paced growth while, most importantly, give our customers more value when using our platform. Through B4B, we’ve recently launched our new USD accounts and Mastercard cards, and we’re looking forward to launching additional currencies and features in the coming months.”

Samir El-Sabini, Co-founder and CEO of Juni

B4B Payments’ issuing solution is designed to provide an easier path to market for innovative fintech firms like Juni by removing many of the complexities of regulatory compliance. While Juni is not currently a financially regulated entity, B4B Payments enable them to offer fully secure and compliant card issuing and payment services integrated seamlessly into their platform without first needing to jump the hurdles of gaining regulated status.

Juni has selected B4B Payments to support the launch of their virtual Mastercard prepaid card. With the option to make payments in multiple currencies, process FX transactions with a 0.25% capped fee, earn 1% cashback on ad spend, and access data from multiple ad accounts in a single dashboard the Juni Card empowers ecommerce businesses to gather data insights, make better decisions, and scale their activities more effectively than ever before.

B4B Payments’ next-gen solutions are designed to scale flexibly over time to support fintech companies from their earliest days as a start-up through to becoming a fully licensed entity in their own right. By offering not only access to the required licenses, but a raft of resources and expert support, B4B Payments aim to support a new wave of fintech companies on the path to success.

We aim to work closely with the Innovate Finance community to help members reach a wider market of customers, via our scalable and secure payment capability

B4B Payments, a leading global provider of card issuing solutions for businesses, today announces it has become a high growth member of Innovate Finance, the independent industry body that represents and advances the global FinTech community in the UK. B4B joins other leaders in the FinTech field to sit at the heart of the UK’s FinTech network, assessing new ideas and emerging trends, and building relationships that can further advance innovation in the financial services sector.

This latest partnership comes as B4B Payments continues to expand its portfolio of payments solutions for businesses, providing an unrivalled scope of financial services and product capability.  By developing new connections and networks through Innovate Finance’s High Growth membership, B4B can continue to achieve its mission to make innovative payment capabilities instantly accessible for all businesses that need it. 

With our new capabilities expanding from cards into corporate payments and FX we are looking forward to collaborating with other Innovate Finance members to drive new opportunities to embed our regulated finance features into their own products to reach a wider market of customers.

CEO of B4B Payments, Paul Swinton