Aliaswire & Nacha: Media Release 2021

MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 12, 2021

Aliaswire Joins Phixius, Nacha’s Peer-to-Peer Data Exchange Network

Blockchain-based platform enables secure exchange of pre-and post-payment information

BURLINGTON, MA, and HERNDON, VA, December 12, 2021 – Aliaswire, a provider of digital payment and credit solutions for businesses and financial institutions, and Nacha today announced that Aliaswire will join the Phixius Peer-to-Peer Network for the exchange of payment-related data.

Established and operated by Nacha, the Phixius Peer-to-Peer Network allows participants to instantaneously exchange and verify payment-related information to enable more efficient and secure electronic payments. Peers in the Phixius network receive several important benefits, including a single source for verification and exchange of payment-related data, improved automation, revenue potential, with enhanced risk management and regulatory compliance.

“Nacha welcomes Aliaswire’s participation in Phixius, an important and growing Peer-to-Peer network,” said George Throckmorton, Nacha managing director and executive director of Afinis Interoperability Standards. “Data verification of consumer and business account information is a priority for Aliaswire and other Phixius participants, and we look forward to more companies joining as they learn about the benefits of the Phixius Network.”

Aliaswire supports billers, financial institutions and small businesses, and their merchant service providers. Its DirectBiller digital bill pay platform equips banks to offer commercial clients modern, custom-branded billing and payment experiences to their customers. DirectBiller manages the end-to-end process from invoicing through payment reconciliation and integrates with banks’ treasury management systems and billers’ ERP systems. Aliaswire’s PayVus small business credit card issuing platform combines merchant acquiring and issuing to generate new revenues while opening up access to credit for small businesses.

“As a business that is focused on taking the friction out of everyday payment processes, we are very pleased to participate in Phixius,” said Jed Rice, CEO of Aliaswire. “The ability to embed this technology into DirectBiller to securely verify bank accounts enables Aliaswire to help our billers and bank channel partners achieve compliance with Nacha’s Web-Debit requirement. We also believe Phixius provides a foundation for future payment innovation, and we are excited to be part of that.”

To learn more about Phixius, go to Phixius.org.

About Nacha

Nacha governs the thriving ACH Network, the payment system that drives safe, smart, and fast Direct Deposits and Direct Payments with the capability to reach all U.S. bank and credit union accounts. Nearly 27 billion ACH Network payments were made in 2020, valued at close to $62 trillion. Through problem-solving and consensus-building among diverse payment industry stakeholders, Nacha advances innovation and interoperability in the payments system. Nacha develops rules and standards, provides industry solutions, and delivers education, accreditation, and advisory services.

About Aliaswire, Inc.

Aliaswire is a fintech company based in Boston with a history of innovation in payments. The company supports leading financial institutions and merchant services providers with bill pay through DirectBiller® and small business credit solutions through PayVus®. For more information, visit https://www.aliaswire.com/.
 
Media Contacts:

for Aliaswire
Tim Walsh
timw@walshgroupmarketing.com
617.512.1641		 for Nacha
Dan Roth
droth@nacha.org
916.747.9592

Closing Bank’s Innovation Gap with Fintech Partnerships

BY SCOTT GOLDTHWAITE ON NOVEMBER 14, 2021
Let’s face it: Banks aren’t naturally set up to innovate. To come up with the next great idea, companies have to be prepared to move fast and break things. Banks are intentionally designed to prevent this kind of behavior. They are sturdy and layered in security and approvals, and for good reason—we need the backbone of our financial system to be stable and reliable.
Still, banks have to respond to changing demands from their customers, from consumers to multinational businesses. Due to Covid-19, consumers and companies alike now expect to be able to conduct more banking and financial tasks electronically. And banks need to be able to respond to these demands quickly and efficiently. A mutually beneficial partnership This expansion of expected services works to banks’ advantage. It presents openings to capitalize on the close relationships they already have with their customers. For example, bank clients may already be fully integrated with the bank’s systems. What’s more, they often look to banks as trusted advisors who have the expertise and resources to help them navigate a variety of financial challenges and opportunities…Read the Full Article.

BOSTINNO’S 2021 INNO ON FIRE Award Winner

BOSTINNO’S 2021 INNO ON FIRE

“Today, we’re honoring the companies that were on fire in 2021, raising money, growing their firms, bringing in new customers, launching new products and boosting Boston’s ecosystem.

Fintech: A volatile economy didn’t stop these startups from gaining traction.

Aliaswire: Aliaswire, which provides digital payment and credit solutions for businesses and financial institutions, was pointed in the right direction this year. The firm doubled its employee headcount in the last 12 months and is on track to double its revenue in 2021, while multiplying its number of payment transactions by seven year over year. Aliaswire also picked up $6 million in venture funding in June, the first such investment in its history, and brought on industry veterans to join its board and executive team.”

How Banks Can Leverage Tech Partnerships to Enable Innovation for Commercial Clients

Banks have an opportunity to be stable, well-financed technology disruptors when working with appropriate partners. By partnering with technology providers, banks can combine their financial strength and market power with the innovation and speed of high-tech product companies, enabling banks to compete against newly formed fintech startups.

To talk more about how banks can differentiate themselves from fintechs through strategic tech partnerships and what that means for corporate innovation, PaymentsJournal sat down with Scott Goldthwaite, President at Aliaswire, and Steve Murphy, Director of Commercial and Enterprise Payments Advisory Service at Mercator Advisory Group.

Listen to Full Podcast and Read Supporting Article on PaymentsJournal 

 

EBPP: Putting the “Tech” into Fintech

As the business climate for financial institutions continues to be more challenging than ever, the many opportunities and advantages of digital banking are becoming more evident. While a few FI’s are moving beyond legacy branch-focused strategies by offering advanced payments solutions to their valued commercial clients, the majority of FIs are getting left behind and losing clients to a new generation of FinTechs. Many FIs are just now addressing the conservative internal culture that has often challenged the adoption of new technologies which have given rise to FinTechs that are filling a need that many banks are not able to provide. However, many banks are beginning to realize the benefits made possible by partnering with technology vendors to compete with the growing FinTech competition.

FinTech Firms Come in Different Forms

An increasing numbers of banks are at a stage in their development where they should assess their place in their markets.

Some of the questions they are asking include: Are they a traditional bank? Do they want to be a leader in technology, like a FinTech firm? Do they want to adopt something in the middle, and be a hybrid financial provider?

After evaluating their options, FIs can then better assess how they might be better able to serve their customers – and perhaps – be a disruptor in their market like FinTech firms. The difference can be that FinTech firms are often rooted in a tech startup mindset that includes offering only very specific functionality and decoupling from existing digital banking suites. Banks, on the other hand, have an opportunity to be a stable, well-financed technology disruptor when working with appropriate partner(s). By partnering with technology providers, Banks can combine their financial strength and market power with the innovation and speed of high-tech product companies.

The Importance of Taking a Multi-Layered Approach to FinTech

Traditionally, banks use technology providers for their core banking systems, however, these systems address only the basic cash management and digital banking needs of their commercial clients.

From a long-held obsession with serving customers based on branch banking, to online and digital banking variants, banks are poised to move beyond the foundation of traditional core banking products and services, typically seen as part of front-office solutions. Many banks are branching out (both literally and figuratively) to include such areas as payments, financial planning, investments, wealth management, business banking, and other capabilities.

Such a unified approach offers comprehensive banking capabilities and is a key reason why technology – and FinTech’s role in elevating automation in banking – has become the foundation for innovation for both banking customers and enlightened FIs alike.

While technology is naturally at the core of FinTech, its true value is more than merely features. It can offer high-levels of functionality, process improvements, and subject matter expertise, layered into cohesive solution suites. For many FIs, the fusion of these elements remains a work-in-process, albeit with much potential.

There’s a Void in Corporate Banking Technology and Innovation

Even though FinTech startups continue to focus primarily on retail banking (with a little over six-in-ten focusing on the retail banking market segment[1]), only about 11% are developing solutions for large corporate banking customers.  Banks have an opportunity to fill this void by becoming a FinTech partner with corporate banking and treasury functions.

By partnering with select technology firms, banks can better innovate and reduce time-to-market while increasing speed-of-execution, settlement speed and quality, and overall profitability.

Leveraging Tech to Deliver an Outstanding Banking Customer Experience

Many banks are realizing that a new type of FinTech business model requires both technology prowess – and the kind of touch that only banks that truly understand their banking customers’ needs.

First and foremost, banks are unique in that they have years of experience and a reputation for understanding and addressing customers’ needs. Banks also have a long history of seeking out and understanding their customers’ needs, something startup FinTech firms cannot generally offer across a broad spectrum of products and services.

While not true in all cases, many banks have built (or are building) strong brand awareness, particularly those that can include a personal touch and innovative technology. They can offer a wide range of products and expertise to their clientele that are unmatched by startup FinTech firms that only focus on limited functionality.

Summary

Banks that are expanding their horizons to include FinTech-like capabilities are placing themselves in a strong competitive position.

And smart institutions are increasingly partnering with strong, stable, and innovative tech partners to ensure that their solutions offer the features, quality, and scalability demanded by their customers.

Unlike some one-trick-pony tech startups, tech-savvy banks have the opportunity to offer a broad array of most in-demand solutions. Banks are unique in that they can offer both the spirit – and the letter – of banking customers’ wants, needs, and expectations.

Read our follow-up blog: Leveraging a Fully Integrated End-to-End EBPP Solution

[1] https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/financial-services/our-insights/cutting-through-the-noise-around-financial-technology

Leveraging a Fully Integrated End-to-End EBPP Solution

Many banks are considering ways to improve on the functionality and customer in the Electronic Bill Presentment and Payment (EBPP) market category. Today’s EBPP, which has its roots in computer-based online banking, is increasingly being touted as part of a comprehensive mobile and/or digital bill pay solution by progressive financial institutions.

With banks transitioning from a branch-based customer interaction business model to include a greater emphasis on digital banking variants, including payments in general and EBPP as a specific, value-add capability.  This is all part of the primary goal of delivering outstanding customer satisfaction.

Banks get their FinTech Mojo Back 

In today’s economic climate, the self-described “FinTechs” are often seen as industry innovators while traditional financial service providers are positioned as staid, conservative, legacy businesses.  In reality,  there are core banking functions that only banks can provide in a highly regulated industry.  No matter what new mobile app comes to market for lending, finance, investing, saving, etc., there is always a bank in the background performing the tedious and mundane, but necessary tasks:  BSA, KYC, AML, credit risk, FDIC insurance to name a few.  Not all FinTech firms last due to funding, adoption, and  revenue model issues.  Long after the FinTech is gone, the bank is still responsible for picking up the pieces.

The “FinTech” concept has always been about two major components, Financial Services combined with Technology and Banks.  Once considered one of the earliest adopters of technology, many are bow considered laggards.    Now, many progressive banks are in a unique position to reestablish their FinTech dominance.

One of the areas that banks can get their “mojo” back is in payments.  The “operating system” of the bank — one that enables complex treasury management — can be built upon an existing platform to extend advanced capabilities to commercial clients that may otherwise seek these services from FinTechs. The one thing that FinTechs can’t offer to commercial clients is the safety and security of their money.  The reality is that adding an external FinTech service provider that moves money outside of the bank can increase the financial risk for commercial clients.

This puts the bank in a unique position to be able to offer advanced payment capabilities to their key commercial clients.  However, with opportunity comes challenges, and the challenge that many banks have is the time and resources to build complex payment capabilities on top of their core banking platforms.  power with the innovation and speed of high-tech product companies.

Fin + Tech = FinTech Partnership

To address these challenges, banks are partnering with experienced and stable technology providers to combine the financial strength and market power of banks with the innovation and speed of innovative tech product companies. When it comes to payments, select technology companies excel in developing omnichannel payment experiences while banks excel at making funds available rapidly to their commercial clients. For these commercial clients, payment processes tend to be complex and focused on paper: paper invoice goes out and paper checks come back.

Next-Gen Bill Payment Technology Meets Treasury Management Services 

While a typical bank’s treasury management commercial clients may utilize basic ACH, remote deposit capture, and lockbox services, banks cannot typically support the complex payment workflows that these clients need. Consequently, they strive to adopt electronic payments as the primary payment acceptance method.  This is where the right technology partnerships are critical.

For banks, partnering with a payments technology provider that is focused on delivering and maintaining an enterprise-class bill payment solution has many key benefits:

  • An “evergreen” product roadmap that keeps up with the latest technology
  • Customer-centric services that keep your clients engaged
  • Dedicated staff to service and support your

When choosing a payments technology provider, banks should consider the following:

  • Guaranteed up-time that is even better than their own banks’ SLAs
  • Integrated with the bank’s treasury management system
  • Provides pricing that matches the bank’s desired go-to-market model

Enterprise Payments for Any Size Business

Every sized business deserves the very best platform for managing their payments. Aliaswire’s DirectBiller™ advanced bill payment and bill presentment (ABPP) solution is designed to give banks a suite of differentiated payment services that integrate with, and complement, traditional bank offerings. They also maintain the banks’ strict requirements for security, privacy, and vendor management. Also, DirectBiller’s advanced processing platform and APIs orchestrate and manage the complexities of bill presentment and payment to deliver a transformed biller and payer experience. A fully customizable, out-the-box solution, DirectBiller gives businesses the freedom, control and cost savings to easily achieve their EBPP/EIPP payment strategy.

DirectBiller enables the bank to offer fully integrated payments to meet the payment requirements of even their most complex and demanding commercial clients. Examples include full PDF presentment, IVR, card processing, surcharging, and real-time integration with accounting and operational systems.

At Aliaswire, we put the Tech in FinTech. When you are ready to partner to deliver the most secure, reliable and scalable advanced bill payment solutions to your most valued commercial clients, contact us.