Novatti Group

PETER COOK

CEO of Novatti Group

Q What is the Novatti Group?

Our vision is to help everyone “pay and be paid.” This simplifies the process of sending and receiving payments for businesses by eliminating unnecessary steps. We offer a comprehensive compliant set of payment solutions to any business, regardless of whether it is a traditional store, a software firm, or even a person who is not tech-savvy.

The secret sauce is to have financial licences combined with high automation via technology and global partnerships. Novatti Group has financial licences in Europe, Asia and North America and is continuing to work on expanding these licences. Novatti Group has extensive commercial partnerships with companies including Visa, Mastercard, Amex, Ripple, Stellar, Unionpay, Alipay and Wechat Pay.

With over 200 staff in AsiaPac, Europe and the US, Novatti Group has been continuously expanding and offering innovative services that have shaped the Fintech industry since 2015. Soon after the launch, the company became publicly traded on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) after our initial public offering (IPO), which was actually oversubscribed too.

Our services will typically take care of all of your payments requirements. Some of the services we specialise in include card issuance, merchant acquiring, cross-border remittance, international transactions, and many payments-related back-office functions.

Q Why are you looking at Europe?

Europe has been one of the biggest role-players in the financial world. By registering and gaining licences in a single EU member state, Novatti Group can provide its solutions to European merchants and other payments companies.

A defining characteristic of the financial services industry is stringent legislative regulation. Companies that fall under the “financial institutions” category in Europe, such as banks, brokers, investment dealers, and others, are subject to these rules.

With a valid licence issued by any EUA member state, a financial institution can legally operate in any member state, including Germany, France, Italy, and many more. We already have offices in London and Cyprus; London, of course, was historically Europe’s foremost financial centre because of its abundance of international banks and other regulated financial organisations.

We are also already active in Europe with our products Flexepin and Verv and we are supporting our merchants with a range of cross border payment and card acquiring services to help them move money faster and cheaper in a compliant and secure way.

Both provide a dynamic range to the financial capabilities and help companies achieve our vision.

Q What are Flexepin and Verv?

Flexepin is a shopper’s delight. Using a Flexepin prepaid cash voucher, customers may add funds to their current accounts and make purchases online without using a credit or debit card. When you use cash vouchers, you may deposit and withdraw money from digital wallets and utilise them at any business that accepts them. This provides an entirely new layer of privacy and security to the customer as they do not need to provide companies with their personal financial details.

Verv, on the other hand, offers a complete digital banking suite that caters to businesses. This provides a growing organisation’s whole payments ecosystem, including everything from their one-of-a-kind data security solution to domestic and international bank payments.

Both provide an alternative to the conventional banking and monetary systems that are already available. These brands help us provide unique compliant and secure products that benefit numerous industries and personas.

Q What other services does Novatti Group provide?

Novatti Group services can be categorised into 5 main groups. Issuing, Acquiring, Cross border payments, Subscription Billing, and Alternative Payments.

We can issue Visa cards in Australia and New Zealand. We do so by leveraging our partnership with Visa as a Principal Member. We deliver physical and virtual payment card solutions for small to large enterprises, including white-label cards and apps.

Our acquiring business enables merchants, particularly those in e-commerce, to accept payment from consumers through credit cards, direct debits, and digital wallets such as Alipay and WeChat Pay. We have acquiring licences with both Visa and Mastercard to simplify the integration process.

Overall, we process millions of dollars daily in payments for our clients and partners. This is about sending funds, whether for a consumer or a business connected to the SWIFT payment system, but also through Ripple and other payment networks.

Our billing capabilities enable our clients to digitally and automatically bill their customers, including invoicing, enabling them to get paid sooner.

Alternative payments allow customers to pay in methods they prefer or are familiar with, outside of major debit/credit cards. This includes digital and mobile wallets, pre-paid vouchers (we discussed flexepin earlier), QR-coded payments, direct bank transfers or local payment methods such as mobile money. We also have a BPAY bill payment platform that lets residents pay Australian bills in Chinese yuan. The solution is integrated with Chinese payment giants Alipay, WeChat Pay and UnionPay.

As I mentioned earlier, we extensively work in blockchain by providing a Stablecoin as a Service to make it possible for any business to benefit from the power of digital assets that are backed by Australian dollars. We also enable crypto wallet holders to make payments in real-time using an online checkout option that connects directly with their favourite cryptocurrency exchanges. Businesses integrate seamlessly, and settlements are made in Australian dollars.

Q How does the European payment landscape compare with APAC?

The Asia-Pacific region is genuinely an incredible kaleidoscope of diversity, ranging from extremes of prosperity and poverty to a wide range of cultural practices and political systems that influence the payment landscape vividly. I believe the Asia Pacific region is a great region to grow; it has a rich history, and people are swiftly shifting to digital payments after the pandemic.

The European payments sector has experienced a tremendous transformation due to technological innovation and digitalisation, shifting consumer behaviour patterns, and new regulatory requirements.

The European market is more regulated, which means a tighter grip over security. As the amount of data continues to increase, the most important thing for the most prominent players in the payments industry to think about is how to keep that data safe. Data breaches are incredibly detrimental to the industry, and hence I believe that stricter regulations will help keep the breaches at bay and the organisation a lot safer.

Other than the regulations, I believe that languages and cultures are different between these two regions. While it may seem that these might not affect the landscape much, in reality, the different cultures, investment and how people spend their money affects a lot.

I believe that the future of payments is rapidly changing because of the increased demand from customers who expect simple, quick, and error-free transactions and individualised user experiences. This increase in customer demand has directly led to the rapid evolution of the future of payments.

I think while still advanced, Asia-Pacific needs to foster digital innovation and efficiency in a manner that is in line with the values and priorities of its society if it is to maintain its position in the ground-breaking tech development.

To get right to the point, I believe that the landscape of Europe is somewhat comparable to that of the APAC region; yet, there are certain aspects in which they are different, such as cultural variables, technical achievements, and imaginative qualities.

Q How do you continue to evolve the Novatti Group brand?

Whether an organisation or an individual, I think it’s important to always push oneself to learn and improve. We are always navigating the demands of the consumers and the overall strategies to deliver their needs accordingly whilst trying to achieve our vision. With the ever-changing payment landscape, our team is constantly trying to find new ways to help improve the customer experience and anticipate upcoming industry developments. For example, we’ve recently announced an Australian dollar-pegged stablecoin to be launched on multiple blockchains.

Especially in light of the increasing number of privacy concerns and the continually evolving behaviours of end consumers, I feel that keeping your customers at the forefront of your mind is how you can provide actual value. There is a lot of internal flexibility here, and we experiment with new products and incubate start-ups regularly. As a result of our teams’ ability to operate autonomously while coordinating their efforts globally, we can quickly bring on new clients and provide them with more value-add services. Our team’s ability to work together and adapt quickly sets us apart from the competition and allows us to provide our quality services. We can better adapt to the challenges we face in the market, revise our approach, and see improved results. Our customers and our business partners are totally in tune with what we provide, and they like working with us because of how we are constantly evolving.

Q Do you have any tips for growth?

Although I’m not sure if this qualifies as advice, I think everyone should follow our try-new-things philosophy. When expanding our business, we are not scared to attempt new things. After investing the time in the research and testing phases, we can determine whether a new concept or project will be successful.

In today’s business environment, the capacity to innovate is very essential. Furthermore, it is a critical component in developing enterprises and reaching new stages.

Given the speed with which business is changing, a company should focus on testing different marketing approaches.

Partnerships help us provide new complementary services quickly without compromising on the quality of the service.

We are also investing strategically in our partners to help us both grow. If you want to advance your position in the market and drive your company’s growth, I believe this is one of the important pieces of advice you could follow, which is often overlooked.