PIMFA
13 April 2023
Ecospend joins PIMFA WealthTech as Innovation Partner to pioneer new Open Finance solutions for the wealth sector
- PIMFA WealthTech announces Ecospend as its new Innovation Partner to deliver proof of concept “Pay by Bank” solutions to help drive efficiencies and lower costs
- Open Finance solutions have been designed to improve payment speed and efficiency while reducing fraud risk across the Wealth industry
- Bringing all the benefits of Open Banking and Finance to the wealth management and financial advisory sector, there is scope to provide more data-based services in the future
- Ecospend is the UK’s leading provider of Account-to-Account payments. It has processed over £12bn in payments for HMRC and has recently gone live with its unique offering for one of the UK’s largest investment platforms.
Ecospend, the UK’s leading Open Banking provider recently acquired by Trustly, has joined PIMFA WealthTech, the digital marketplace and industry network created to drive innovation and enhance collaboration between WealthTechs and wealth management firms, to provide a proof of concept “Pay-by-Bank” solution to its members.
Ecospend’s solution will allow clients of PIMFA WealthTech members to make payments directly to their accounts more easily and securely and without the need for cards.
The account-to-account or “Pay-by-Bank” solution initiates a direct bank transfer, removing the need to enter card details when completing a payment, which significantly reduces the chance of data entry errors and card fraud risk for wealth management clients. The payment is authorised via the client’s chosen online or mobile banking service, which typically makes use of biometric ID, creating a seamless and secure payment experience that requires no data input.
The ‘Pay by Bank’ method also bypasses card networks and interchange fees bringing cost savings, as well as efficiencies – the automated user experience removes the risk of human error and saves the time taken to reconcile manual bank transfers.
After assessing the Open Banking market, PIMFA WealthTech selected Ecospend as an Innovation Partner based on the quality of its technology and services and the robustness the solution that has already been demonstrated through its partnership with HMRC.
Ecospend has processed record-breaking volumes from HMRC, having passed £12.5bn since 2021. In addition, it has been developing a specialised service for the wealth industry and was selected last year as the provider to one of the UK’s largest investment platforms.
Keith Philips, Executive Director of PIMFA WealthTech, commented: “We are delighted to welcome Ecospend to PIMFA WealthTech and believe their ‘Pay by Bank’ technology solution will prove very popular within the wealth management community. Not only does the solution substantially reduce the risk of fraud, it also significantly reduces interchange costs for businesses and provides an instant transfer of funds. I’m sure many wealth managers and investment platforms will take an immediate interest in this solution and look forward to working with Ecospend in offering this solution to the industry.”
James Hickman, Chief Commercial Officer at Ecospend, commented: “We are thrilled to be working with PIMFA WealthTech to develop cutting edge Open Banking payment options for its members. This is a great opportunity for the entire industry given the importance and reach of PIMFA WealthTech and we are thrilled to be working with the market leader – it’s the perfect response to changing consumer behaviours and digital adoption.”
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Notes to Editors
About PIMFA WealthTech
PIMFA WealthTech is part of the Personal Investment Management & Financial Advice Association (PIMFA), the trade association for the wealth management, investment services and the investment and financial advice industry, spanning 13,000 regulated firms that collectively manage the interests of almost £1.7trillion.
It believes that collaboration is essential to solving industry challenges and brings together senior industry decision-makers to address the most important and complex questions concerning technology focus, partnering and adoption as it applies across the value chain.
Our market network and technology platform has been created to bring the most innovative and relevant WealthTechs to our sector. Our teams work alongside leading financial institutions to identify, prototype and deliver enhancing technologies and breakthrough solutions that generate competitive advantage and business impact.
About Ecospend
Founded in 2018, Ecospend is a UK based Open Finance technology platform provider. The beginning of 2021 saw Ecospend win the largest Open Banking contract with HMRC against over 80 companies. Ecospend now processes payments across all appropriate tax regimes including Self-Assessment, VAT, Corporation Tax and PAYE.
Its proprietary technology underpins a product portfolio which is divided into two core areas: Payments (pay-by-bank) services and Marketplace solutions. Authorised by the FCA for Payments (PISP) and Data (AISP), it has full API bank connectivity within the UK and is expanding its coverage in Europe.
In February 2023, Ecospend was acquired by the global account-to-account payments company Trustly. For more information, see:
About PIMFA – the Personal Investment Management & Financial Advice Association
- PIMFA is the trade association for firms that provide wealth management, investment services and the investment and financial advice to everyone from individuals and families to charities, pension funds, trusts and companies.
- The sector currently looks after £1.7trillion in private savings and investments and employs over 63,000 people.
- PIMFA represents both full and associate member firms. Full members provide a range of financial solutions including financial advice, portfolio management, as well as investment and execution services. They assist everyone from individuals and families to charities and pension funds, all the way to trusts and companies. Associate members provide professional services to the PIMFA community.
- PIMFA leads the debate on policy and regulatory recommendations to ensure that the UK remains a global centre of excellence in the wealth management, investment advice and financial planning arena. Our mission is to create an optimal operating environment so that its member firms can focus on delivering the best service to clients, providing responsible stewardship for their long-term savings and investments.
- PIMFA has made numerous recommendations to the FCA regarding the Future of Advice, the Future of Supervision and the FSCS levy – read more.
- PIMFA was created in 2017 as the outcome of a merger between the Association of Professional Financial Advisers (APFA) and the Wealth Management Association (WMA) with a history as a trade association since 1991 – read more.
- Further information can be found at co.uk
Contact
For further information on this release or other press matters please contact:
Matthew West, PIMFA PR Manager – MatthewW@pimfa.co.uk, +44 (0)20 7382 0376
Sheena Gillett, PIMFA Communications & PR Director – sheenag@pimfa.co.uk, +44 (0)20 7011 9869 / +44 (0)7979 493225
For Ecospend:
Rostrum PR, Nick Andrews, senior account mananger – n.andrews@rostrum.agency + 44 (0) 7715267232
