Nuapay Enables Open Banking for Their Perfect Gift and K Ring as Christmas Shopping Ramps Up Across the UK

Nuapay, powered by Sentenial, today announces it has been chosen by two leading Mastercard prepaid providers, Their Perfect Gift and K Wearables, to enable consumers to use Open Banking payments in the lead up to Christmas.

Their Perfect Gift is an “open loop” gift card, which can be used anywhere that accepts Mastercard. Nuapay’s FCA-licenced Open Banking payment service, now integrated with Their Perfect Gift’s online check-out, enables gift-givers to purchase a flexible gift card in a fast and convenient way, without using their credit or debit card.

Developed by K Wearables, K Ring is the world’s first contactless payment ring, powered by Mastercard and accepted at over 40 million retail locations worldwide. K Ring is safe and convenient to use, as it eliminates the need to handle cash or touch a card PIN pad for purchases under £45. The company’s partnership with Nuapay means that consumers will now be able to top up their K Wearables prepaid Mastercard using Open Banking payments.

Working with Nuapay, which recently won the Best Online Payment Solution for Merchants at the Payment Awards, brings significant benefits to Their Perfect Gift, and K Wearables.  It enables their customers to pay seamlessly via their mobile app, while providing faster access to cash and reducing processing costs for Their Perfect Gift and K Wearables.

The Open Banking payments are also completed using SCA-compliant authorisation, and without a merchant needing to collect card payment details, thereby reducing the costs of card fraud and chargebacks. This makes it a compelling payment acceptance option for financial service providers of prepaid, credit and e-wallet accounts, and as such the sector is becoming one of the leading adopters of Open Banking payments.

“2020 has seen a strong increase in the use of Open Banking payments. This is partly due to merchants accelerating the adoption of mobile friendly payment methods to respond to the challenges of Covid-19, and partly as consumers’ understanding of and appreciation of the benefits of Open Banking increase” comments Nick Raper, Head of Nuapay UK. “Endorsement from leading prepaid card programmes such as Their Perfect Gift and K Wearables will only serve to further increase Open Banking adoption, particularly as consumers look to purchase flexible gifts that can be spent as the recipient wishes this Christmas.”

Consumer retail experts at Mintel predict that both technology products and gift cards will be popular gifts this year, making this the perfect time for K Ring and Their Perfect Gift to invest in improving their customers’ payment journeys.

Thish De Zoysa, Co-founder and CEO of Their Perfect Gift, adds: “We made the decision to partner with Nuapay due to their unmatched Account-to-Account capabilities, ability to streamline our customers’ payment experience, and the quick implementation with our WooCommerce website through the Beam Open Banking plug-in. Open Banking is a rapidly accelerating trend, and we want Their Perfect Gift to be at the forefront of adoption in the prepaid market; giving our customers payment choice and a fast and convenient way to purchase our Mastercard prepaid gift cards.”

Philip Campbell, Founder of K Ring, comments: “A great product is one that is a step ahead of consumer expectations and other offerings, and by enabling our customers to top up their K Rings using Open Banking, we are once again setting a new standard for the payment wearables industry. We select our partners carefully in order to maintain competitive advantage, and Nuapay fits the bill perfectly. By integrating Nuapay’s Account-to-Account solution into our top up process, we are continuing to make payments increasingly seamless and ultimately invisible.”

Nuapay’s PISP processor has a single connection to all major banks in the UK and France and a growing number of connections across Europe, ensuring that Their Perfect Gift and K Wearables customers payments will be supported, no matter where their customers bank.  Nuapay’s Open Banking solution is one of the only Open Banking solutions on the market to provide merchants with a fully inclusive Open Banking solution, including full reconciliation and batch settlements of transactions.