Advanced Payment Solutions (APS) announced that all formalities have been finalised to launch a large-scale project in the EU, completion of the project will enable merchants to receive payments for their goods and services from the clients of over 700 European banks via Open Banking (OB). APS specialises in Stellar blockchain IT solutions.
The list covers financial institutions from almost 20 European countries and includes the UK and Austria, Belgium and France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Luxemburg, Portugal and Romania. The option also becomes available in banks in the Netherlands, Italy, the Baltic countries as well as Sweden and Spain.
The solution enables the clients of banks to pay directly from their bank accounts to merchants. APS believes that, besides widening the ppen banking possibilities, the project brings a pioneering aspect to the market.
“APS’s solutions are based on the Stellar blockchain, which is designed particularly for financial transactions. This features the highest possible speed, full transparency of every single transaction and, what is most important for the clients, lowest cost,” said Serik Igbayev, CEO of APS. He added, “The pioneering feature of the project is that the clients of the bank make payments with traditional money and, at the other end, the merchant also receives traditional money. But what is in between is blockchain. This combination provides both the bank client, who can use an internet banking or mobile application, and the merchant with an extra degree of convenience.”
APS believe that the pioneering project combines the advantages of traditional finances, open banking and blockchain. “Given its geography and the number of financial institutions, we can state that the project is an important step in bridging traditional finance and blockchain, which is the future of finance.”
“It is a very important step forward for the payment business. Nowadays, the e-commerce market is at a stage where competition is on the rise and its participants welcome low-cost opportunities to receive payments. Blockchain is exactly what meets their needs.”
Mr Igbayev is confident that this option will drive growth in efficiency in both the banking sector and the e-commerce domain.
He added that while the project starts in Europe, global payment market trends are very similar everywhere.
“It is in our strategy to proceed with further developments, expanding the geography [of the project] and implementing our experience in other parts of the world,” Igbayev said.
