Banking Circle Group’s BC Payments launches in Australia

BC Payments, a subsidiary of payments company Banking Circle Group, has launched in Australia, with former National Australia Bank (NAB) director Piers Cracknell at the helm.

Cracknell has been appointed as head of Australia by BC Payments and joins from NAB, where he was director, strategic initiatives.

In Australia, BC Payments will provide fintechs, banks and payment providers with global payment solutions.

BC Payments has confirmed its intention to help local fintechs, in particular, which have been affected by de-risking in the B2B payments space by local incumbents, hurting non-domestic growth.

It said this has left many fintechs unable to find a clearing, settlement and cross-border payments partner.

“Having witnessed first-hand the frustration of Australian fintechs losing access to global payment solutions, I’m excited to now be part of the solution,” Cracknell said.

“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.”

BC Payments’ parent company Banking Circle already serves more than 250 financial institutions globally and currently settles over 10% of Europe’s B2C ecommerce flow.

“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,” added Cracknell.

“And, 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.”

Mishal Ruparel, chief revenue officer of Banking Circle, said: “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.”