LONDON: Shelby Finance Limited, Morses Club’s digital division, has entered into a new supplier relationship with Modulr Finance Limited, a digital payments provider. The relationship relates to the Digital Division’s U Account business, which provides e-money accounts, and replaces the Company’s existing relationship with Wirecard Card Solutions Ltd.
Modulr’s platform will provide the Group’s U Account customers with an enhanced payments service, along with a superior customer service experience for their e-money and payment needs. Modulr’s direct participation to the payment schemes Bacs and Faster Payments will provide U Account customers with a reliable card processing solution and allow them to make near instant Faster Payments. This wide-ranging digital payments solution is not typically available outside of mainstream banking providers.
The new strategic contract with Modulr will also provide the opportunity for further development of mobile payment and international payment capabilities. Moreover, the Group’s development of a new biometric onboarding and servicing capability will mean U Account customers will be able to access and operate their accounts more easily and securely than before.
The new service, powered by Modulr, is expected to be available to U Account customers from Autumn 2020. The Group also plans to unveil new branding for U Account along with the launch of an improved mobile application before the end of the year, which will enable customers to take advantage of these new features.
The superior performance of Modulr’s platform, along with the ability to process a larger number of new customers, should allow Morses Club to increase its scale in e-money accounts, and leverage the wider suite of Modulr products including payment initiation, Visa cards, Direct Debits and direct access to Faster Payments and Bacs schemes. The Group aims to offer complementary services to these customers, including revolving and fixed-lending products, as part of the Group’s wider strategy to offer an enhanced and integrated digital offering to all its customers.
Paul Smith, CEO of Morses Club commented, “This is another step forward in our strategy to invest in the Group’s digital infrastructure, allowing us to cater for our customers’ ever-changing needs and provide a high-quality product offering.
“Not only will Modulr be a more reliable provider for our U Account customers, but the superior technological capabilities of the platform will allow them to access a service offering not typically available outside of mainstream banking providers. On top of this, the launch of our improved mobile application before the end of the year will enable our customers to increasingly use our services in their everyday lives, deepening our relationship with and understanding of each customer.
“This relationship marks a significant progression towards achieving scale within the e-money accounts market, providing a bigger pool of customers who can take advantage of Morses Club’s other digital products. The launch of revolving and fixed-lending products to our account holders will also be a major step forwards in achieving profitability in the Group’s digital division.”
Morses Club is an established provider of non-standard financial services in the UK. The Group consists of Morses Club, the UK’s second largest home collected credit (HCC) provider, and Shelby Finance Limited, Morses Club’s digital division, which operates under two online brands, Dot Dot Loans, an online lending provider, and U Account, which offers online e-money current accounts.
Modulr is the Payments as a Service API platform for digital businesses. It integrates into any product or system. Modulr’s new type of payment accounts are built for businesses that need a faster, easier and more reliable way to move money. Businesses can automate payment flows, embed payments into their platforms and build entirely new payment products and services themselves. All managed in real-time, 24/7 from one API.
The UK non-standard credit market, of which UK HCC is a subset, consists of both secured and unsecured lending and is estimated to comprise around 10 million consumers3 and total loan receivables of £10.7bn4.
Non-standard credit is the provision of secured and unsecured credit to consumers other than through mainstream lenders. Lenders providing non-standard credit principally lend on an unsecured basis and the market is characterised by high frequency borrowing. Approximately 2 million people move annually between standard and non-standard markets4.
Since February 2014, unsecured personal lending has grown from £161 billion to £216 billion in February 2019.
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