Dipping into its venture fund, Nationwide has announced that it is investing in payment request service, Ordo.
The startup will launch later this year, providing users with protection from invoice and payments fraud. As fraudulent attacks become more sophisticated, Ordo will offer a secure way to request, make and receive payments.
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The Ordo platform is specifically designed to give users more control and transparency over how users send and receive payment requests and bills. Ordo calls them ‘smart requests’.
Furthermore, the platform will protect customers in real-time by enabling businesses to securely send payments directly to their customers. This will be accessible through the app when it launches.
Once it is sent, the customer is immediately notified that they’ve received a smart request. From the app they can view, and make an account-to-account payment in real-time.
Keeping security a top priority, the design of the platform means that there is never a need to share bank account details between the biller and customer. In addition, the biller will always receive the reference they provided with their payment.
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By GlobalDataOrdo will also allow businesses to include an invoice attachment as part of the end-to-end encrypted message.
Deputy Chief Executive at Nationwide Building Society, Tony Prestedge, said: “Ordo helps businesses gets invoices paid while at the same time allowing consumers to maintain control of how and when they pay their bill.
“This seemed a natural fit for Nationwide as a brand who helps its members manage their money and who itself later this year is entering the business banking market to offer an alternative for small and medium size businesses to the big banks.”
Ordo platform: powered by Open Banking
The investment is the latest deal from Nationwide. The Building Society’s £50m venture fund was created to form strategic partnerships between Nationwide and startups.
Furthermore, the chosen partnerships will share expertise and insights to develop services and products that will benefit Nationwide customers.
In an Open Banking era, the financial sector is witnessing more organisations take advantage of the regulatory opportunities.
The Ordo platform uses Open Banking and Faster Payments to make the payment, bank account to bank account. Subsequently, this means that businesses get their money instantly and customers know where they are with their finances in real-time.
CEO and co-founder of Ordo, Craig Tillotson, said: “We are delighted to have an investment from an organisation that shares our vision of making a positive difference to the financial lives and wellbeing of people, businesses, particularly SMEs, and communities.
“Nationwide’s investment is not just about the money, although that will really help us to make Ordo a reality, but demonstrates the appeal of our innovative proposition. This is a great opportunity for SMEs and their customers, and will deliver significant benefits to the economy as whole.”
