SlimPay and Tink as open payment partners

French FinTech SlimPay, which targets businesses with recurring payment processes, has announced its partnership with Swedish open-banking start-up Tink. The aim of their partnership is to offer an open banking payment service to European merchants. An affinity offer in line with the trend to harmonise markets.

FACTS

• SlimPay and Tink have committed to providing merchants with fully integrated account-to-account payment access through open banking.

• In concrete terms, the merger between Tink and SlimPay has led to the creation of a payment offering that allows merchants to offer a secure and transparent way to set up a direct debit to their customers.

• Customers can authenticate themselves via open banking and make a payment to validate their subscription, without having to manually enter their details or leave the merchant's app or website (thanks to the SlimCollect solution).

• In more detail, end-users only need to make an initial payment via payment initiation to start the direct debit process of validating their subscription. They are automatically redirected to their banking application to authenticate in real time using biometrics such as a fingerprint or Face ID.

• SlimPay's customers who can initiate the integration of this solution include big names such as Deezer, EDF, Nespresso and Vattenfall.

CHALLENGES

• Accelerating direct debit: The new open bank payment method proposed by SlimPay and Tink is presented as a faster and more secure way to set up a direct debit.

• Meeting consumer expectations: A recent SlimPay focus group revealed that 80% of consumers are concerned about security when paying online. The FinTech is highlighting the use of its SlimCollect solution as a promise to make its new payment offering more secure.

• Harmonising payment for merchants: The merchants particularly targeted for the rollout of this service are big names with international reach. However, its partnership with Tink will allow SlimPay to rapidly evolve in several European markets, offering a single payment method to all merchants in the SEPA zone. In fact, Tink and SlimPay have a clear international ambition for the whole of Europe, for a harmonised model capable of avoiding the need for large merchants to manage several local payment methods.

MARKET PERSPECTIVE

• Last April, SlimPay chose BNP Paribas as its banking partner to manage its interbank flows using Open Banking technologies. However, the same BNP Paribas has formed a strategic partnership with the fintech Tink to develop its Open Banking solutions.

• In Europe, many fintechs are developing recurring payment automation functions, such as GoCardless, Payit, Yapily and True Layer.