Revamping e-commerce payments: Interview with Lili Metodieva, Managing Director, Monneo

By Edlyn Cardoza

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a revolution across every industry around the globe. It has unexpectedly also transformed the way of payments and introduced digital payments in a new manner for the world. 

The demand for online, contactless, digital, speedier, and frictionless payments will only increase as innovation continues to grow in the industry. This means that FinTech start-ups, such as digital payment companies and BNPL providers, will continue offering easy and quick ways to make payments. 

Consumers have been the target for many new payment services, but businesses have been the focal point for payment purveyors building new online markets.

Monneo is a virtual IBAN provider & Merchant Account provider committed to working with International, EU and UK banks to break down legacy barriers and connect e-commerce merchants with global, digital, banking networks. 

IBS Intelligence sat down with Lili Metodieva, Managing Director of Monneo, to discuss the payments landscape for e-commerce merchants.

How does Monneo help e-commerce merchants?

At Monneo, we have built an accessible, flexible solution ideal for e-commerce merchants of all sizes, especially those underserved by traditional financial services. Our infrastructure is based on the Open Banking concept; however, the platform represents a superior market alternative breaking new ground.

Through an innovative technology platform, we allow online merchants to accept card payments receive settlements from acquirers into dedicated IBAN accounts and payout while still maintaining control of multiple IBAN and merchant accounts at several different banks all through a single platform.

How does Monneo ensure its service remains compliant and adheres to relevant regulations?

We endeavour tirelessly to uphold compliance and security through our service, ensuring our clients can be onboarded in a safe but efficient manner. To this end, we work closely with our banking partners to ensure that our customers’ money is always safeguarded. 

In addition, we are also an authorised payment institution regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the UK. Every element of our work remains fully compliant with all relevant directives that govern our services, including those related to the European Union Payment Services Directive (PSD2). 

Recently, Monneo launched a new service known as ‘Pixelpay’. What will this service bring for your clients?

Pixelpay is a stand-alone financial product explicitly designed for the affiliate marketing industry. The closed-loop financial ecosystem removes the friction in payments between advertisers, networks, and publishers. With Pixelpay, affiliate networks can send and receive multi-currency payments worldwide. 

As a result, the solution resolves several significant issues currently affecting the affiliate marketing industry. The innovative solution has been built on the back of our complete payment ecosystem, so it’s connected to our extensive network of leading European and International banks.

Monneo also has begun its Latin America expansion with the support of PIX. What does this growth mean for Monneo?

It’s an exciting development that reaffirms the Monneo platform’s global reach. Through our launch in Brazil, Monneo’s clients can now send and receive money via the country’s most popular payment channels, including PIX, the electronic payment system currently used by 62% of the nation’s population.

Our customers can now use our service to help clients execute payments in ways that people in Latin America are most accustomed to. Furthermore, customers can leverage our solution to gain greater access to markets in Latin America for accepting payments on their websites and paying out. 

In your opinion, what significant advancement will 2022 bring for payments?

I think we will see significant advancements in borderless banking in 2022. This form of financial transaction has become more prevalent in recent years. More people now work in cross-border job roles and with many businesses requiring capital in a different currency than their country of origin.

This trend looks set to continue, so we’re likely to see the demand for borderless banking services grow. Companies that provide digital banking solutions, such as us, will be essential to this growth and should help make cross-border financial transactions both cost and time effective in the near future. 

ALSO REGISTER FOR: IBS Intelligence’s Payments & Lending Conference in Mumbai on March 24th