CIO Bulletin

ConnectPay — One of the fastest-growing Electronic Money Institutions (EMI) providing banking services

As Global business flourishes, cross-border payments are becoming crucial at an exponential rate. It is now quicker and easier than ever to expand your business into new markets. Likewise, it has never been easier for customers to find you, no matter where they are in the world. Researchers predict that global cross-border online sales will double in the next five years, with European cross-border online sales projected to grow 27% year on year. With more global browsers becoming digital buyers, cross-border eCommerce is here to stay.

It’s important that the gateway you choose integrates with a wide range of payment and settlement currencies to maximize your chance of reaching new markets. Using local currencies for card transactions has the potential to result in better acceptance rates. However, there have been limited banking services for global users looking for fast and secure payments. ConnectPay is here to cater to this high demand. It is one of the fastest-growing Electronic Money Institutions (EMI) in Lithuania – the leading fintech hub in continental Europe - providing banking services for internet-based companies.

By offering smooth onboarding and boutique banking experience, ConnectPay has established a strong clientele featuring numerous companies. A strong focus on different legal jurisdiction specifics enables Connectpay to make compliance work for their clients, not against them. ConnectPay’s primary focus is banking payment services for business and institutional clients: SEPA & SWIFT payments, Multicurrency accounts, Corporate cards, and Merchant accounts. ConnectPay is licensed and regulated by the Bank of Lithuania and is subject to the regulatory framework of the European Central Bank.

ConnectPay — Unique in operation, strategies, and innovation

In terms of operation, ConnectPay runs under an EMI license, providing all the banking services a digital business might need, constantly broadening the product portfolio following client requests and market insights. Unlike traditional banks, the company doesn’t invest clients’ money. All funds are kept at the Central Bank of Lithuania, thus available and ready for withdrawal 24/7/365. Regarding strategy, ConnectPay stands for easy banking, liberalizing payment services for digital businesses.

Concerning innovation, ConnectPay not only utilizes its’ resources to introduce new products or upgraded user experience flows, but it also cooperates with government institutions to bring a broader perspective to the whole FI landscape. Recently, ConnectPay collaborated with the Bank of Lithuania & “GovTech Lab” to deliver time & effort-saving RegTech solutions. The goal was to automate regulatory reporting by enabling market participants to send microdata to the regulator in real-time, saving costs & time for both parties.

The firm’s strength and success factor

Featuring a large and extensively experienced compliance team, the company can offer deep knowledge of different legal jurisdictions and industries. Even if it takes more time and human resources to evaluate every case individually, walking the extra mile helped build the company fast.

ConnectPay already holds a secure #2 position among 80 Lithuanian EMIs by the volume of operations and #3 by the customer funds held in the account. The company has increased its monthly payment turnover from 422 million in June 2020 to 918 million in June 2021.

Customer-centric and responsive

The most admired feature of the company is its boutique customer service approach. All clients are a part of the Easy Bankers family, provided with personal attention, timely solutions, prompt answers, and constant dialogue when it comes to business needs and expectations.

The future plans

By the end of Q3 2021, ConnectPay aims to launch SEPA Instant payments that will allow clients to send transfers within the Eurozone in seconds. Merchant Services are to be rolled out at the same time frame, enabling banking and card payment acceptance. Fully refurbished ConnectPay business cards are coming in Q4. When it comes to multicurrency accounts, ConnectPay will expand payout offering to 80 currencies until the end of Q1 2022. Finally, ConnectPay has built its own Banking as a Service (BaaS) product that allows digital banking services to be directly integrated into the products of other non-bank businesses, and it’s already in soft launch mode. Company is constantly expanding its business by broadening its product portfolio and licenses, analyzing options to acquire companies while building a one-stop-shop of banking services for the clients.

Meet the CEO

Marius Galdikas, the CEO of ConnectPay, is a business and technology executive with 15+ years of proven track record in developing digital products and accelerating growth in various enterprises. He is well-versed in organizational development and navigating teams of experts towards common goals. Marius has helped build ConnectPay from scratch by leading the Technology department from the very beginning. In less than a year of successful growth, Marius’ CTO position was complemented with one new letter, ‘E’— making him the CEO. Marius had a clear goal from the very beginning — to turn a niche EMI into a billion-worth fintech organization with a wide range of services, and after three years in the market, it looks like he’s on the right path.