What is Earthport’s mission statement?
Earthport’s mission is to provide our clients with a simple, cost effective, single source for sending cross-border payments. Our mission is to reinvent what is currently a complex and costly proposition to one that is transparent, simple, fast and reliable. This enables our clients – financial institutions, money transfer organizations, digital commerce entities and others – to speed innovation and grow their business.
Where are you headquartered?
Our headquarters is in London. Our business is global and spans 70 countries. Our primary offices are based in London and New York for now but we are expanding our physical presence in 2015. London is the world’s best environment for financial services where we are regulated by the FCA. The London timezone is of great advantage for a global business, dealing with east and west. In London we have great access to capital markets, our investment community, some of our biggest clients and of course access to great FinTech skills and experience. London really works for Earthport’s headquarters!
Who do you think will be the most influential figures (or companies) in Fintech, in 2015?
There are a number of consumer-facing innovations in payments and FinTech, many of which find it difficult to scale, given the changing the industry. Technology innovations are happening rapidly. In the world of payments, digital currencies and crypto-currencies have the potential to really change the way we move funds globally. Regulators’ views are critical in how these gain traction. The FinTech space for servicing SMEs and their trade payments and e-commerce is where Earthport bridges the gap between legacy systems and new technologies.
What kind of year do you foresee for your company, and the industry as a whole?
In our interim trading update we announced revenues to be 172% higher than the previous period. These results are indicative of the kind of growth we can accomplish in the foreseeable future. As a company poised for leadership and empowering an ecosystem of global payments supporting cross-border innovation, we will be following the growth in emerging markets and Asia. Putting a lower cost infrastructure in place is crucial to facilitate the growth in global commerce.
What are your key targets for 2015?
We will expand our network for local clearing services by adding more countries to our network. We will add more banks and digital commerce providers to our network and increase our footprint in Latin America and Asia.
What are the key hurdles for growing your business this year?
Managing priorities and scaling our business with agility to optimally address the size of our market opportunity.
What are your thoughts on the current state of FinTech?
The winners will be the ones who get more traction due to both a positive user experience and rapid customer adoption. The speed at which technology is evolving is impressive and the power is with the customer and their ever increasing demands. The companies who are closest to their customers and have their fingers on the pulse of their every need will be the winners. It is also important to note that the winners of today may not necessarily be the winners of tomorrow. FinTech is a fast moving industry!
