NatWest takes minority stake in FinTech Icon Solutions

By Gloria Methri

NatWest Group has announced a strategic minority investment in Icon Solutions, a FinTech providing payments technology and consultancy services. Last September NatWest selected Icon Payments Framework (IPF) to accelerate the bank’s payments modernisation.

Launched in 2020, IPF is a low-code payment framework that empowers business payment experts to create industry-leading workflows. It also enables software engineering teams to quickly extend and create highly customizable integrations into existing bank systems.

The investment and ongoing partnership with Icon Solutions provides NatWest with customers more choice and lays the foundation for future payment innovation. It also forms part of a payment platform modernisation plan, which will build on the bank’s existing relationships and accelerate its ability to respond to the rapidly changing payment market.

Mark Brant, Chief Payments Officer, NatWest, said, “Our relationship with Icon Solutions has already helped us bring our payments estate to life. This investment is fundamental to the delivery of our modernisation in payment technology, which will enable us to serve our customers better and to remain at the forefront of the payments industry. Combining the scale and resilience of a bank with the speed and innovation of a FinTech like Icon Solutions means we can bring new payment services to our customers quickly and safely.”

Tom Kelleher, Co-founder and Director of Icon Solutions, said, “NatWest and Icon have been on a journey together since 2019 to modernise payments at the bank, inspired and led by Ian Povey and Mark Brant. We have a common belief in the adoption of low-code technologies to deliver new payment systems quickly and safely, with a significantly lower cost profile. Overcoming vendor lock-in and powering in-house builds with the Icon Payments Framework (IPF), NatWest can now drive change from within. Today’s investment is much more than an investment. It’s a commitment to a future where payments are safe, immediate, and flexible.”