Moneyhub, the market-leading Open Finance data, intelligence and payments platform, has today made its cutting-edge Payments system available to all its white label clients.

The functionality allows all businesses to build tailored products and services that incorporate card-free payments, as well as offering content-driven access to financial analytics and insights.

Moneyhub API clients already benefit from the ability to embed plug and play payments into their own front ends. Now everyone using the Moneyhub platform, including white label clients, has access to the same Open Banking card-free payments protocol, allowing their users to easily transfer money between accounts using just one service rather than a number of different apps or portals. Payments can be secured with a thumbprint, eye scan, or pin number, depending on the customer’s choice.

The update is a key milestone on a roadmap that will fast-track the transformative nature of Open Banking and make “sweeping” money with rules such as rounding up, matching a spend, or beating a budget the new normal. When Variable Recurring Payments (VRPs) are introduced, it isn’t just card payments that will no longer be needed: standing orders and direct debits will also become redundant.

Moneyhub’s full implementation of Open Banking’s Payment Initiation Service will democratise savings and investments for everyone and save Moneyhub’s enterprise clients millions of pounds in the process. It will be a customer-centric transformation on all levels.

Moneyhub’s new Payments update also resonates with its wider mission to enhance the financial wellness of consumers and businesses by providing immediate clarity and holistic control over their finances.

Moneyhub has already established itself in the wealth, insurance and retail markets in the UK, and boasts clients including Mercer, Aon, Nationwide, Hometrack and Standard Life.

It has established the largest number of native Open Banking connections in the UK of any provider in the market, with 200 financial services providers covering 584 specific UK payment accounts, as well as a further 3,500 connections in Europe. Now white-label clients will be able to take advantage of this unique, vast and ever-growing network to power payment solutions.

The combination of Moneyhub’s platform, team and clients allowed it to secure a number of prestigious awards in July 2021. It was awarded the Best Open Finance Innovation prize by a panel of industry experts at the Open Banking Expo Awards. Moneyhub also secured Best Open Banking Partnership in the Consumer section for its work with Mercer to develop a Financial Wellness proposition in the workplace, savings and investments sector. It went on to win Pensions Tech of the Year and Wealth Tech of the Year at the UK FinTech Awards.

Financial services institutions that use Moneyhub’s services already enjoy greater engagement from their customer distribution channels. In the pensions space, for instance, Moneyhub has been used to create applications that have prompted younger people to engage with their longer-term savings with unprecedented frequency.

Any business, including pension providers, wealth managers, employee benefits consultants (EBC) and so forth can now offer their own customers the game-changing ability to perform core banking functions inside their own offerings, driving further engagement and offering enhanced, personalised customer experiences.

Dan Scholey, Moneyhub COO, carried out the first-ever Open Banking payment by a member of the public at the Altus Platform Efficiencies Event on 19 September 2018, using payment initiation services (PIS) to enact an instant and direct bank to bank payment.

“Moneyhub Payments enables any business to provide end-to-end digital journeys that result in actionable positive outcomes that are effortless for people. We can finally help our clients exceed, not just meet, their customers’ ever-increasing expectations for high-quality immediate delivery of products and services.” Scholey said.

“This is an important release for Moneyhub, but it also has a wider significance across the industry. Embedded financial services are here and companies that are not in the tech space can now offer their customers access to advanced Open Banking payments inside a single service that also offers total visibility and control of their finances at all times.

“Banks are becoming excellent utilities because money management is now an integral part of any product and service for people in today’s ‘always on’ digital economy. Aggregation of accounts combined with payments means important financial transactions are no longer limited to banks and can now be performed inside any app with immediate effect, enabling a truly outstanding customer experience.

“We’re excited to give all Moneyhub clients a new industry-leading ability which will improve their customers’ financial wellbeing and open up new ways of managing their finances.”

Serial digital entrepreneur and Chairman, Zinox Group, Leo Stan Ekeh have heaped praises on two recently retired Executive Management staff, Chairman of Konga Group, Mr. Olusiji Ijogun and Executive Director, Zinox Group, Mr. Etiene Etukudoh for their immense contributions and years of outstanding service to the companies, even as he expressed deep gratitude to them for their invaluable efforts and sacrifices.

Ekeh spoke at a smart valedictory event held in honour of Ijogun and Etukudoh.

The event was held at the impressive Yudala Heights located at Idowu Martins, Victoria Island, Lagos on Tuesday, August 3, 2021. The well-attended event, organized in strict compliance with COVID-19 regulations, saw Executive Management and staff of the Zinox and Konga groups, as well as other guests and associates of the departing staff in attendance.

While delivering his appreciation speech, Ekeh explained his many years of a fruitful relationship with the two distinguished personalities and wished them greater heights in their future endeavours.

Ekeh, who described Ijogun as a brother, stated that integrity is a major quality for the choice of Chairman for any organization.

“For a company to be successful, the biggest brain is the Chairman and the CEO as they prescribe and supervise the implementation of quality culture, structure and systems. It is not just the knowledge of the business, the integrity of the personality and the quality of leadership. The business is bound to fail if the leaders don’t believe in God and that’s a major problem with start-ups in Africa. Konga wouldn’t have survived if I hadn’t known Siji.

‘‘It is a privilege to have Mr. Ijogun as Chairman of the Konga Group and we really appreciate his many efforts,” Ekeh said.

Further, Ekeh drew rich illustrations from his many professional and personal experiences with Mr. Ijogun, noting that his time as Chairman of the Konga Group was a blessing to the entity.

Also speaking about Etukudoh, who spent many performance-filled years at TD Africa where he rose to the position of Managing Director, Ekeh described him as an ideas man who he can always vouch for.

“Etiene is an all-rounder. He worked for all the companies in the Group. He is a good Nigerian and he has style. He’s one young man I can vouch for. He’s brilliant, modern and trustworthy. I have great confidence in him and I always told him when I have new businesses. He’s a man of great ideas and we consider it a privilege for him to have worked with us. This relationship is for life. You have me as a father so you can call me anytime,” Ekeh assured.

The event also offered attendees the opportunity to share their goodwill messages as well as their experiences of working with Ijogun and Etukudoh. Many of the speakers were effusive in hailing both men as inspirational professionals who will be greatly missed.

Reacting to the showers of encomiums, Ijogun, a certified corporate guru with a track record of exceptional service with a host of multinationals, expressed gratitude for the opportunity to serve as the first Chairman of the Konga Group after its acquisition by Zinox. He described Ekeh as a calculated risk-taker and an unmatched incubator of businesses that can turn a profit from waste.

He also predicted a progressive future for Konga and charged the Group to remain resilient by sustaining its impressive growth trajectory.

“Konga’s growth is phenomenal. Nobody knew online platforms would be the order of the day before COVID-19. To the glory of God, Konga has moved from loss-making to profit-making, with over 15 times greater in terms of revenue and I must commend Mr. Ekeh for the deep pockets. Since inception, we’ve added the Health, Food, Bulk and Travel business and still have more in the offing. With the influx of investors, Konga will be a major African business initiative in the nearest future,” Ijogun declared.

Also expressing gratitude for the memorable show of love, Etukudohreaffirmed his loyalty as a brand ambassador for the Zinox Group.

“I am grateful for the honour. In everything, I just wanted a big brand. I want to celebrate everyone who has been a part of my life. It’s been a journey. I came into the Group and made up my mind to demystify what people call the ‘Oga status’.

‘‘After today, nobody remembers the title but how you treated them. I’ll recommend that every staff work closely with the Chairman for at least one year before they leave the company. Chairman has been a big brother and his hunger has no part two. I’m grateful to Chairman, his wife, Mrs. Chioma Ekeh and everyone else. This is a great family and we have to keep it growing forever,” he said.

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) on Tuesday released guidelines for the establishment and regulation of Payments Service Holding Companies (PSHCs) in Nigeria.

This is contained in a circular issued by Mr. Musa Jimoh, CBN’s Director, Payments System Management Department.

Jimoh instructed deposit money banks, payments service providers and other financial institutions to take cognizance of new license categorization for the Nigerian payments system.

“It requires companies desirous of offering switching and processing services, and mobile money services to set up a PSHC structure such that activities of the subsidiaries are clearly delineated.

“The CBN hereby issues the guidelines to facilitate the understanding of regulatory requirements for operations of PSHC in Nigeria,” he said.

He urged all stakeholders to ensure strict compliance with the guidelines and all other regulations.