Another step towards Fintech innovation: moving forward to the fast-evolving payments world
Bologna (Italy), July 25, 2022 – CRIF – a global company specializing in credit and business information systems, analytics, outsourcing and processing services, as well as advanced digital solutions for business development and open banking – announces its successful registration as a Payment Initiation Service Provider (PISP) with the Central Bank of Ireland.
The authorization issued to CRIF Realtime Ireland, a Group company based in Dublin and 100% controlled by CRIF, extends CRIF’s capabilities in the Open Banking area by providing payment initiation services.
After the AISP, CRIF is again the first credit reporting agency to achieve a PISP licence within the European Union, thus showing its ambition to be innovative by opening the way to new services that strengthen its commitment to digital financial inclusion.
A PISP is a payment institution which, under the revised Payment Services Directive (PSD2), initiates a payment order at the request of the payment service user with respect to a payment account held with another payment service provider.
More specifically, thanks to this licence CRIF will be able to support a variety of clients – not only financial institutions – through a combined offering of proprietary data, Open Banking data and Open Banking payments, thus enabling a set of new use cases spanning across different industries.
This unique set of capabilities enables fully digital processes not only for lending purposes, but also to boost commercial relationships and increase customer retention, while boosting service personalization through enhanced customer knowledge. Adding payment initiation services allows the completion of digital processes, from identification to the final check-out, which represents one of the most sensitive steps because of its high dropout rates, both in B2C and B2B payments.
“We are pleased to announce that thanks to this new registration, CRIF is now able to support an even greater number of credit institutions and non-financial companies in the provision of more innovative services, complying with the best data protection and security standards. Moreover, there is the added possibility of integrating with our platform designed to create an ecosystem, with new services which will enable operators and their end customers, consumers and businesses, to obtain maximum added value” – commented Enrico Lodi, CRIF Managing Director.
About CRIF
CRIF is a global company specializing in credit & business information systems, analytics, outsourcing and processing services, as well as advanced digital solutions for business development and open banking. CRIF is currently the leading credit information banking group in continental Europe and a major player in the global market for integrated business & commercial information and credit & marketing management services.
Through continuous innovation, the use of state-of-the-art technology and a strong information management culture, CRIF supports financial institutions, credit unions, insurance companies, telco, media, utility and energy companies, businesses, and consumers in more than 50 countries. In addition, as part of its end-to-end solutions, CRIF has developed a line of services for individuals and SMEs dedicated to financial well-being and the prevention and protection against fraud and cyber risks, while CRIF Ratings, a credit rating agency authorized by ESMA and recognized as an ECAI, provides ratings on non-financial companies based in the EU.
Over 10,500 banks and financial institutions, more than 600 insurance companies, 80,000 companies and 1,000,000 consumers currently use CRIF services in 4 continents. In addition, CRIF is included in the prestigious IDC FinTech Rankings Top 100, the classification of the top providers of global technology solutions for the financial services industry, and in 2019 it expanded its coverage as an AISP to 31 European countries where the PSD2 directive for open banking is applicable.
For more information: www.crif.com
