Flash Friday is a weekly live show that brings the latest fintech news and developments to the audience

Today, Don Ginsel - CEO and Founder of Holland Fintech was joined by Paul Scholten, CEO at Buckaroo to share insights on the development and opportunities for the payment sector within fintech space. Buckaroo started as a Payment Service Provider in the Netherlands in 2005 and later, expanded the business in Belgium in 2020. The company offers a wide range of services, from IDEAL payment to SEPA direct debit and credit cards. Buckaroo now offers over 40 payment methods and gift cards to over 5,000 businesses and organizations. In this chat session, the hosts discussed how the payment sector has evolved and where the greatest opportunities lie in the future journey.

Topic discuss and key points addressed:

Nowadays, a lot of payment service providers are moving forward to the front-end of e-commerce and they try to involve the whole conversion cycle from website visitors. How far is your role in the consultation process?

We have the check-out function to make sure that the conversion rate is higher. We not only deal with payment but also integrate subscription management, execute strategic payment methods and follow up customers in the process to make sure that they have the capability to pay, either with IDEAL or credit card. Furthermore, we also try to get more and more partnership with independent software providers in the payment environment.

In terms of subscription commerce, is there a lot of appetite for subscription-based business models? Where is that growing in the future?

We do see the growth in that area. We witnessed a lot of our customers offering subscription-based services alongside their sales products, either as a core business or associate. Since this model essentially helps retain customers, it is an important part of online business. However, it is not going to take over our target market. We are still investing in it, both in the Netherlands and Belgium due to the similarity in these two markets.

Why do SMEs not fully optimize the financial tools such as payment method, subscription-based method for e-commerce?

Because they face the challenge of insufficient development in payment method and service. We think about enhancing the capability to onboard customers in an easy way and provide them a plug-in to connect activities with the e-com platform. In that sense, Buckaroo always asks the question “What is the precondition for SMEs companies to move to the online sphere?” and “How to onboard them in an easy, simple and seamless way?”

Where is the payment industry heading in terms of infrastructure level, fundamental changes, front-end side and development?

Europe faces a big challenge posed by American and Chinese giants such as Alibaba and Tencent. Therefore, the European banks have to look for other alternatives, based on transfer, cards, and other payment methods to see how that will evolve the European contacts. We actually also have 2 big players. They are under the radar but are really sizable. They will contribute to defining the payment landscape in the future. Moreover, in terms of Central Bank Digital Currency (CNDC) which is still further down the road, but it will have a big impact on the payment landscape. Some countries already look at it, for example Sweden. Generally, we do see the inclusion of payment in products, independent software and vendors.

You are based in the Dutch ecosystem, which is highly valued for payment expertise and we have a lot of champions in the payment space. What makes the ecosystem so special and a big field for successful players?

It is a whole combination of entrepreneur’s spirit, the Dutch nature of trading, finance, the willingness of the Central Bank to allow this market to develop, the system that handles payment. These factors help generate more growth in the virtual cycle, which all results in a high number of important players. If we compare with other Scandinavian countries within Europe, we are quite far ahead but we still need to continue developing and catching up with the latest innovations!

The virtual chat session ended on a high note with the highlight from the hosts: “The jewelry is still out the sea to explore”. Covid-19 leaves an enormous impact on the financial market and unlocks many future possibilities for financial services, particularly for fintech. It is important that we have inclusion of payment methods to respond to any circumstances. Other than that, we also need to be strategic in growing geographically to acquire challenging but realistic targets.

Learn more about Buckaroo HERE

Are you interested to hear the full conversation? Watch the recording below!