Banking Circle Group forays into Australia with the launch of BC Payments

By Gloria Mathias

BC Payments, the licensed subsidiary of EQT-backed payments business, Banking Circle Group, has launched in Australia. It will provide Australian FinTechs, payments businesses and banks with global payment solutions, facilitating both onshore and offshore growth.

BC Payments has appointed Piers Cracknell as Head of Australia. He joins from his previous role as Director, Strategic Initiatives at National Australia Bank (NAB), bringing over 20 years of payments experience.

The firm will help local FinTechs face barriers to non-domestic growth. At the centre of these barriers is the current de-risking in the B2B payments space by local incumbents.

BC Payments will focus on innovation; building new, market-leading solutions that meet the needs of local FinTechs. By reducing the cost and increasing the speed of non-domestic payments, Australian FinTechs will be able to extend their geographic reach and customer propositions efficiently and cost-effectively.

Piers Cracknell, Head of Australia at BC Payments shared, “BC Payments’ offering will be delivered utilising the scale and infrastructure of the broader Banking Circle Group, which is already meeting the needs of some of the world’s largest payments businesses and banks.

“For Australia’s banks, we can help reduce the correspondent banking fees they have to absorb and provide more payment rail options with which to process their customers’ international payments. For marketplaces, we can enable overseas collections and payments for local merchants. As private and government stakeholders push to grow the size of the FinTech market here in Australia, there has never been a more important time to get these companies to market and keep them growing. For those FinTechs looking for a global payments provider to expand into the EU and UK markets, we have the expertise to help,” added Cracknell.

Mishal Ruparel, Chief Revenue Officer of Banking Circle added, “We believe this is a great fit for the growing Australian FinTech space. “We’re excited that Piers will be heading BC Payments. His experience and strong network, coupled with our international track record, will be invaluable in helping Australian firms harness the benefits of our payment capabilities.”