Qard presents its API dedicated to Open Finance

Qard is a French FinTech that used to offer loans and a cash management service to small and medium-sized businesses. Moving away from this core business, it has developed a SaaS offering based on an API for data centralisation. It is now targeting financial players to help them optimise their knowledge of their customers.

FACTS

• Qard has just presented a new product designed from scratch by its FinTech teams. This product, called Qard API, takes the form of a SaaS offering (including an API and a Dashboard) dedicated to data collection and analysis.

• Qard API is particularly aimed at financial services players, enabling them to connect to legal and judicial data sources as well as to payment, Open Banking, compatibility or e-commerce services used by their end customers.

• For each data source, Qard can retrieve and analyse the relevant data on :

  • taxation (tax returns and detailed analysis)

  • accounting (analysed accounting entry file),

  • Open Banking (bank accounts, solvency and default analysis),

  • legal and official data (from the commercial courts),

  • commerce (elements of invoices, orders, subscriptions, analysis of payment service providers and e-commerce platforms)

  • e-reputation (press articles, reviews and other blogs).

• Examples of sources presented by Qard include Amazon, Shopify, Google News, InfoGreffe, Insee, PayPal, but also Impots gouv or Stripe, the ACPR or Budget Insight.

• 9 million French companies have already been analysed by the new Qard system.

CHALLENGES

• Centralise and standardise: Qard's new service is presented as a means of enabling financial players to access relevant data to improve their knowledge of each situation and optimise their support. Qard centralises this data and its API facilitates its integration into its clients' processes and software.

• Computerising KYC: Qard promises to computerise and automate KYC policies by integrating them directly into the processes and software of its financial clients.

• From Open Banking to Open Finance: More than Open Banking, Qard promotes Open Finance. Open Banking is relegated here to the category of a possible capture of relevant data. Qard offers a much more comprehensive API that provides a broader picture of each company.

• Reducing credit risks: Qard API also emphasises its usefulness in the area of credit. Its API allows data to be used to improve analysis and define risk levels.

MARKET PERSPECTIVE

• Among the clients already won over by Qard's new tool are Mansa, Courtisia Credit Pro and Aria. Qard plans to raise further funds and recruit new staff in 2022 to further strengthen its system.

• This new tool is positioned in the same credit scoring niche as Algoan, another French FinTech that serves numerous establishments such as Solaris, Alma, Premista, Oney, Yelloan, Cofidis,Carrefour, Mymoneybank....