Stockholm-based online banking payments provider Trustly has issued a special report on the Trading business, emphasizing on speed and automation in trading platforms. The fintech firm that develops and sells online payment solutions covered six European markets and asked 2700 traders in order to compile the report.
Philip Ternhem is Senior Sales Manager, Financial Services at Trustly. Having over 12 years of experience in Financial Services, Philip has worked primarily in payments. Before joining Trustly in 2014, he’s had numerous roles at Klarna and holds a B. Sc. in Business from Lund University.
Philip joins LeapRate today to discuss the speed of payment, the impact on customer acquisition in online trading and more.
LR: Hi Philip, thank you for joining LeapRate today. Let us know more about Trustly and the people behind it.
Philip Ternhem – Senior Sales Manager, Financial Services at Trustly
Philip: It’s a pleasure to be here. Trustly is the global leader in online banking payments. Our account-to-account network bypasses the card networks, letting consumers make fast, simple and secure payments to merchants directly from their online banking accounts. With support for more than 6,000 banks, Trustly enables merchants to accept payments from roughly 600 million consumers across Europe and North America. We serve many of the world’s most prominent merchants within e-commerce, financial services, gaming, media, telecom and travel, which all benefit from increased consumer conversion and reduced operational, fraud and chargeback costs.
We currently have over 400 employees and are headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden, with regional offices in Finland, Spain, Malta, Germany, Portugal, the UK, Brazil and the US. Trustly is a licensed Payment Institution in accordance with the second payment services directive (PSD2) and is entitled to provide payment initiation services. Trustly is under the supervision of the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority.
We’re growing fast and see a continuous increase in demand for our services, which I see as the greatest testament to the work that we do and the value we try to unlock for our customers.
LR: Do people still feel that the card networks are a safer payment method than paying directly from their bank account?
Philip: Many trading platforms still receive the majority of account fundings via manual bank transfers and our studies show 86% of the traders have used a manual bank transfer to fund their account in the last 12 months. The reasons for not using your card vary but it’s safe to say there are traders who are cautious about handing out their card details. In addition to this, cards are just not the most convenient way of paying today, especially as more and more trades are executed over mobile devices. This has put an increased demand for convenient payment methods that better cater to these behaviors and as authentication methods are becoming more and more convenient, Trustly’s online banking payments are increasing in popularity amongst traders.
LR: Do you offer any online trading payment solutions?
Philip: Indeed, many of the largest trading platforms today are already offering their traders the option to instantly deposit and withdraw funds using Trustly and if you read the report, you’ll see why.
LR: How long does it take to register, is the solution user friendly?
Philip: There is no need to sign up with Trustly for the trader. Anyone with a bank account in one of the 6,000+ banks we support can use Trustly to initiate an instant deposit to fund their trading account or withdraw earnings instantly. So yes, we believe the process is very user friendly.
LR: When discussing online trading, one of the first things that comes to mind is speed. Speed is essential for online traders and e-wallets – where does your company stand when it comes to speed?
Philip: Speed is most certainly essential for traders, probably in this segment more than in many others. However, today it takes traders on average 25 hours for funds to be credited to their trading account after a deposit was completed. This means the window of opportunity is probably long gone once you’re ready to execute on your trade.
With Trustly’s proprietary clearing system, we can enable platforms to offer instant settlements for their traders, both on the deposit and withdrawal, which we believe is a key ingredient for our success in this segment.
LR: What were the key traders’ demands regarding payment solutions in 2019?
Philip: Aside from what we’ve discussed above, one parameter that is clearly overlooked by the brokers is the withdrawal process. According to the Leverage Trading Report from 2018, this is the parameter where traders are scoring their satisfaction with their brokers the lowest.
Brokers that focus on fine-tuning this process will clearly gain a competitive advantage and our research shows that 73% of traders would hold more funds in their trading account if they knew they could be instantly withdrawn. We are eager to help brokers meet these demands from their clients.
LR: According to you, what has changed for the online banking payments industry in 2019, and what to expect in 2020?
Philip: In 2019, PSD2 fully entered into force. The goal of PSD2 is to level the playing field, opening up access to bank data and payment initiation to third parties and enabling existing and new service providers to offer their services with a clear and harmonized regulatory framework. Well-functioning PSD2 APIs will be a major step forward for the industry and we whole-heartedly welcome the regulation.
LR: How do you see Trustly setting itself apart from the crowd?
Philip: While well-functioning PSD2 APIs provide a great platform to build from, the APIs do not deliver an end-to-end payments solution. Trustly, in contrast, delivers a complete solution by offering pay-outs, reconciliation and FX capabilities, while also leveraging bank payments, other payments infrastructure and filling the gaps with our own proprietary technology. Ultimately, our solution solves a lot of various complexities and offers consumers and merchants fast, simple and secure payments.
LR: Year-ahead prediction for the company.
Philip: To continue to develop our global payments network, we have our sights set on markets beyond Europe and the US. I can’t yet say when and where that will be, but it’ll definitely be an exciting year for Trustly and our merchants.
Why do slow, outdated processes cause so many traders to lose out? How can faster funding make them more willing to use your platform repeatedly? Get Trustly’s report and uncover some of the most revealing aspects about Trading in Europe.
