multi-currency payment solution
Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) is expanding RBS Lynk, its US
electronic payment processing unit, and is spearheading the move by
launching a comprehensive multi-currency online payments solution.
The new online payments service will offer US businesses the
opportunity to process credit card payments from domestic
cardholders as well as enable multi-currency transactions for
non-US cardholders – all from a single internet gateway, and
supported by RBS acquiring services around the
world.
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To streamline its US operations, RBS has linked the technology
behind RBS Lynk, RBS Streamline (its European acquiring service)
and Bibit Global Payment Services, an operation RBS acquired in
2004 that provides transaction processing to corporate
customers.
The RBS product fills a need in the US market for a cost-effective
and simplified payment solution that will enable online customers
to pay for purchases in more than 100 currencies using a credit
card or other local payment types. For example, businesses
operating in the US with overseas customers can give those
customers the opportunity to pay in their native currency in 143
countries, rather than in dollars.
Single-source model
The service also offers a single-source model that eliminates the
need for companies to establish and maintain contracts with
multiple processors and acquirers. Businesses will also benefit
from the support of a dedicated US management team to assist with
the customer service, account management and detailed transaction
reports.
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By GlobalDataThe lack of an international automatic clearing house system makes
cheque and other payments originating in other countries a
complicated proposition, especially for smaller US businesses. It’s
in this space where banks with a large foreign exchange or
multinational payments operations can find opportunity.
The RBS service complies with payment card industry (PCI)
standards, allowing merchants to accept online credit card payment
without having to store the card information or become
PCI-compliant themselves. The gateway also helps merchants
determine the level of risk for transactions before they are sent
for authorisation, enabling merchants to lower the risk of
incurring charges for fraudulent transactions.
A significant move
The expansion of RBS Lynk in the US marks a significant move by a
global giant in internet payments processing, as well as general
retail processing and related services. RBS is the leading internet
payment specialist in Europe, providing services to internet
retailers in more than 40 countries. It has more than half of the
online acquiring market in the UK, and among US merchant acquirers
it ranks ninth, even though it is only now formalising a market
presence there. In 2006, RBS processed 3.1 billion transactions,
worth $306 billion, for 250,000 clients around the world.
RBS has appointed Josh Groves as president of the new US online
payments venture, which will be part of the National Business Unit
at RBS Lynk. From 2002 to 2006, Groves was CEO of Magex Holdings, a
leading person-to-person payments and gift card solutions provider
to merchants and financial services companies in the US and
Europe.
RBS Lynk, formed in 2005 after RBS purchased the Atlanta merchant
acquirer Lynk Systems, is a unit of the company’s US banking
operation, Citizens Financial Group of Providence, Rhode
Island.
While larger US processors such as Chase Paymentech Solutions and
its part owner, First Data, offer multi-currency gateways,
cross-border internet transactions remain a fast-growing but
relatively untapped opportunity in the US. The idea is to provide a
single, integrated source for the payments chain for both domestic
and foreign payments, with a single gateway and risk module, as
well as local and international processing and local acquiring
connections.
With a single product, RBS can give merchants a gateway to process
domestic transactions and give them access to international
customers as well. With online transaction growing more
international every day, RBS Lynk will gain US market share in no
short order, making its presence felt.
