UK-based cloud-native clearing bank ClearBank has onboarded Fiat Republic, a banking-as-a-service (BaaS) platform, as its first live client on SEPA Indirect. The bank states in a press release that the partnership is a step towards improving access to euro payments across Europe for businesses and financial institutions.
SEPA Indirect allows clients to offer their customers virtual IBANs issued by ClearBank and the usage of their own BICs, so that these customers can retain their brand and customer experience while accessing payments under the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) initiative.
With ClearBank managing scheme access and settlement, clients can bypass the complexity involved in being a direct participant, while still enjoying faster access to euro payments, reliability, and a cross-border payment experience with less friction.
Adam Bialy, founder and CEO of Fiat Republic, describes the partnership as creating “redundancy to existing rails”. “By operating under our own European BICs and using our own IBANs, we’re taking a huge step towards operational autonomy.”
