Intelligent SME.tech Issue 22 | Page 66

// SCALING UP //

Lindsay Robertson , CEO , Optimus Cards
don ’ t get it right all of the time , we try to help our customers to be successful in a way that also reflects how our colleagues want to work – if nothing else , the enforced requirement to might otherwise be underserved parts of the market . We offer card services to credit unions – importantly our solutions mean that the customer balances remain with the credit union rather than landing in our safeguarded account as is the way with an ‘ ordinary ’ prepaid card . We aim to make the issuing of a card as effective and economically feasible as we can for a credit union , enabling them to serve a part of a sector that may otherwise find it difficult to gain access to such products .
In addition , we also offer card products to operations like our parent – Uphold – and have created solutions that enable their wallet holders to access their holdings via a card . As an EMI with an obligation to safeguard client funds from the moment of receipt , our facilities enable companies like Uphold to compete effectively in a market of increasingly banklike operators , and to provide their ever-more sophisticated customers with the services that they demand but can ’ t obtain from the traditional , high street , banks .
How does the economics of your solution enable customers to offer card services profitably ?
The economics of our solutions are strongly supported by Temenos ’ Composable Banking model . We aim to provide cost-effective solutions to smaller financial solutions , such as credit unions or local branches of international banks , where an in-house solution and membership of a card scheme , would ordinarily make the cost of the proposition prohibitive . work from home has shown us that we can be flexible about working location and that we can still be collaborative and effective .
Our strategy is also straightforward . Optimus is an Electronic Money Institution ( EMI ), authorised and regulated by the FCA in the UK , and we strive to provide competitively priced card payment solutions to what
We essentially provide a Cards-as-a-Service solution , taking the heavy lifting out of the day-to-day processes and enabling clients to offer card products to their customers . We can put economies of scale into play enabling situations where clients might contract en-bloc for a service , with a small number of cards specific to individual participants , but with programme costs equitably shared across all of the participants .
Why did you choose Temenos to scale your portfolio , and what have been the benefits of this ?
Temenos has been at the heart of the Optimus offering since inception and the company ’ s Composable Banking approach
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