Frank Schwab, CEO of Fidor’s technology subsidiary TecS, said that the problems the bank had encountered were unexpected, telegraph.co.uk reports. The new Payment Systems Regulator (PSR), which launched at the start of April, 2015, has set out to review the access available to the UK’s infrastructure.
The PSR said that it had started the review in part because of concerns raised about “the limited choice of indirect access providers” or sponsor banks available. The PSR expects to deliver its finding by April 2016. Mr Schwab said that the obstacles presented by the payments infrastructure were “very specific to the UK market” and that, despite the obstacles, he said that a UK launch was “now close” and the lender would certainly be operating in the country by the end of 2015.
Fidor’s technology allows the public to open access to its systems so that software developers can create their own interfaces and apps. Founded in 2007, Fidor began in Germany, and has since expanded via a joint venture in Russia. Once operations began in UK, the lender also plans to expand into the US by the end of 2015.
The company chose the UK as its next destination for London’s innovative financial technology scene, which it believes is more open to the kind of products it has developed than its home markets. Unlike in Germany, where savers can choose between some 2,000 banks, in the UK Fidor will only have to compete with around 10, Mr Schwab said.
Mr Schwab argues that traditional banks have failed to adapt to an audience hooked on social media. Fidor is aiming to pick up the kind of saver who uses Facebook every day, and businesses who sell their wares with an eBay or Amazon store.
Every day we send out a free e-mail with the most important headlines of the last 24 hours.
Subscribe now