CaixaBank, through Comercia Global Payments, the joint venture of the financial institution with the multinational technology company Global Payments, has agreed with fintech Socialpay a business alliance that will allow joint innovation in payment solutions for new business models. The agreement has materialized through the entry of Comercia Global Payments as a partner of Socialpay, owner of the commercial products Marketpay and Lemonpay.
Socialpay is a pioneer in the design of an escrow payment solution. This is a system that allows the buyer, when making a purchase in a marketplace or online store, not to pay the seller directly, but to have the settlement retained in an interim account. When the delivery of the purchase is made or the actual provision of a service is ensured, this is when the seller receives payment.
This is a convenient service in the new digital economy models for both parties involved in the transaction: the seller is guaranteed to receive the money for the product or service he provides, while the buyer knows that the seller will only receive the money when he receives the product or service correctly. Therefore, the transaction is guaranteed for both parties.
A tool for new business models
Marketplaces such as Vibbo, (Schibsted Group) or Truecalia, international equity finance platforms such as CapitalCell, innovative IoT projects such as Orain and more than 30 intermediary portals, already offer Socialpay’s escrow payment. The tool can be adapted to any type of business model: on-demand business services, crowdfunding, crowdlending, travel and events, shopping at marketplaces. Moreover, the solution is fully adapted to the new European regulation on payments, PSD2.
Socialpay’s solution is flexible enough to adapt to business needs. The merchant can decide how and when to perform the settlement. In addition, each merchant or marketplace can indicate the payment of merchant fees to intermediaries and under what conditions they can be paid.
On the other hand, Socialpay’s technology offers guarantees to combat possible fraud in transactions, while providing additional comfort at the time of purchase.
Socialpay has become the only provider in the Spanish market specialized in payment solutions of these characteristics. Thanks to the agreement with CaixaBank, Socialpay’s technology will be able to reach all of the bank’s client merchants.
Socialpay was created in Barcelona in 2016. In addition to Comercia, the start-up has attracted new investors, including Inveready and Finaves, IESE Business School’s Venture Capital.
CaixaBank, leader in innovation
CaixaBank continuously invests in technology to respond to customer requirements and one of its priorities is to maintain leadership in digitalization. It is the leading retail bank in Spain, with a 26.7% penetration share of private customers as the main institution. The bank, chaired by Jordi Gual and whose CEO is Gonzalo Gortázar, has close to 16 million customers and 5,379 branches.
The bank is considered one of the leaders in innovation in financial services worldwide. CaixaBank maintains its leadership in online banking – 55% of its customers are digital – and in mobile banking, with 4.3 million customers. It is also the leader in electronic banking with 15.8 million cards in circulation and a market share of 23.3% in terms of turnover.
CaixaBank has developed projects that have set technological milestones in the sector, such as the first commercial implementation in Europe of contactless and mobile payment systems, the creation of the first contactless ATMs in the world, the launch of imaginBank, the first mobile bank in Spain, and the development of the first artificial intelligence applications for customer service.
In 2017, the bank received the award from The Banker, a publication of the Financial Times Group, for the Best Technological Project of the Year for the launch of imaginBank’s chatbot, a customer support service to find out about exclusive offers and discounts based on artificial intelligence. Global Finance magazine also awarded CaixaBank the Best Digital Bank in Spain, Best Western European Digital Bank 2017 and Best Bank in the World in Social Media 2017.
