The Paypers: What are the product brands your company has to offer? Could you provide any additional information on who primarily uses these products? And also a few words on the geographical dispersion.NEOVIA Financial: The NEOVIA Payment Network™ simplifies payments for businesses improving customer experience, margins and lifetime value. It includes the international NETBANX® payments processing service (straight- through-processing, both direct and bureau) for merchants, and member and card services through the NETELLER® payment account (our sustainable stored value solution). Our solutions are offered globally, with customer in over 170 countries. Our focus has been Europe and Asia Pacific, although we have recently been adding specific solutions in Latin America.
NETBANX allows merchants to accept and settle card and non-card payments through multiple channels including online, contact centres, mail order and automated phone systems. Via NETELLER, merchants can offer their loyal customers a branded payment account (our traditional eWallet) that allows instant and direct settlement that avoids the complexities and costs of traditional card schemes; and finally, we also offer the embedded multi-award-wining Net+® card allows consumers to spend at over 30 million MasterCard® locations worldwide, and which is a key part of our stored value proposition.
The Paypers: According to your website, you are “still innovating with integrated payment solutions after more than 10 years”. How do you achieve that and how has the company evolved throughout these years?
NEOVIA Financial: The Group was formed out of the combination of NETBANX (formed in 1995 in Cambridge, UK), NETELLER (founded in 1999 in Calgary, Canada) and 1-Pay™ (founded in Hong Kong). Our history of providing innovative products dates back to 1996, when NETBANX was the UK’s first CNP (“card-not-present”) processor. The launch of the NETELLER eWallet in 1999 was driven by a customer need to find an alternative payment solution in an industry (online gaming) where credit cards traditionally did not work.
We have continued to develop innovative solutions, both in our stored value business, with the launch of the Net+ card which combines a virtual prepaid card and physical prepaid card to a members’ eWallet account, and also with NETBANX, our STP business, where our Unified Payment Page provides our merchants with a dynamic, flexible checkout solution that can be tailored to whatever payment options they require easily and efficiently, thereby increasing payment acceptance.
The Paypers: What can you tell us about Neovia`s payment volumes over the years, number of e-wallet owners, etc?
NEOVIA Financial: We have continued to see an increasing acceptance of alternative payment products over the past few years as consumers move away from traditional payment methods either due to trust issues or lack of flexibility and convenience. NEOVIA has over 4.5 million registered eWallet members, of which around 100,000 use their eWallet regularly each quarter. We receive almost $200 million of funds into our eWallets each year, which is then transferred to merchants or spent online via the Net+ card.
The Paypers: I believe that Asia has the highest potential for growth in terms of online payments. PayPal looks to drive mainstream online payments in Asia, but as competition in the online payments industry continues to intensify in the region, Alipay is set to expand its footprint and challenge PayPal by revealing plans to top eBay`s division by transaction value in two years. Also, The Peoples Bank of China has started working with Chinese banks to set up a banking online payment platform that will directly compete with Alipay. In your opinion, what lessons can Asia take from Europe in terms of online payments? Or is it the other way around?
NEOVIA Financial: The Asian market has been successful for us, although we are very targeted in the merchants that we serve. The key to success in these markets is providing a reliable, secure, and efficient payment service – a requirement of any payments offering whichever market it is targeting. In terms of growth potential, NEOVIA sees the North American market as a key target market. Broader e-commerce is still expanding rapidly, as witnessed by PayPal’s success, and NEOVIA is keen to ensure that it participates in this market which is the largest e-commerce market in the world – alternative payment solutions will be a key part of solutions to consumers and merchants in the future.
The Paypers: Alternative payments refer to any online payment method which does not require the use of a credit card. According to this definition, mobile payments can also be included here. Does your company have products, projects or plans for mobile?
NEOVIA Financial: We process payments online and everyone understands this to mean via a PC – however, our payment solutions already work on smartphones such as iPhones, Blackberries and other handsets via web browser technology. You can make a payment using NETBANX via any merchant which has integrated NETBANX, and similarly our stored value services are equally accessible. Our Newteller platform redevelopment provides a more sophisticated solution which can be tailored to each merchants’ needs, and gives us the capabilities to develop mobile-specific applications.
About NEOVIA Financial Plc Trusted by consumers and businesses in over 170 countries to move and manage billions of dollars each year, NEOVIA Financial Plc is a leading alternative payments business. NEOVIA Financial Plc is quoted on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM (symbol: NEO) and currently has a market capitalisation of around £80 million. Being independent has allowed the company to support tens-of-thousands of retailers and merchants in many geographies and across multiple industries.
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