What problems does Yotta solve?

In today’s world, both businesses and consumers are constantly trying to balance cost and sustainability.

We do our best as consumers. We walk to our local grocer, our hairdresser, perhaps even our independent cinema or theatre. We take out our card from our wallet made from recycled leather. We take home our organic, locally-sourced apples, and we head home having made the world a better place.

The local business owner gives you a smile as you leave before they remember the financial and environmental implications of every transaction their customers make… To set the scene, let’s take a look at the impact of a typical point of sale (POS) system.

Unsurprisingly, small businesses are the ones who face the greatest obstacles in this scenario. Much of the control is out of their hands ast they try to appeal to a more environmentally-conscious consumer-base while at the same time being at the mercy of a supply chain that isn’t set up to be sustainable.

To add to the scale of the issue, the UK government has mandated a Net Zero economy by 2050. While it’s easy to assume that the majority of the responsibility lies with larger retailers and organisations, small businesses represent 99.2% of the UK economy. This puts even more pressure on small businesses to find a viable solution.

Until now, the idea that low-cost and sustainable could co-exist seemed paradoxical. But, with open banking, Yotta Pay can achieve its mission to create a sustainable consumer payments infrastructure without plastic or paper to become the UK’s first ethical payments processor

“Aside from the unnecessary fees associated with card terminals and transactions, there is an environmental impact, too. 30 million kg of PVC is used worldwide to create debit and credit cards which, at some point, will end up in landfills. Yotta Pay is using open banking to create an opportunity to save the planet, as well as money.” - Alexey Shmatko, CEO & Founder at Yotta Pay

Where does Yapily come in?

Ironically, the digital age still largely depends on a bank card system established over 50 years ago. Yotta Pay quickly realised that, to disrupt the market, open banking needed to be fundamental to their proposition.

“As the UK’s first ethical payments processor, we needed a mission-oriented provider that offered more than ‘getting the job done’. We chose Yapily because of the flexibility and reliability of their platform, and the responsiveness of support and customer service.” Alexey explained.

Using Yapily Payments, Yotta Pay allows businesses to offer a frictionless checkout experience at all customer touch points whether it’s on their website, face-to-face, or in-app - allowing consumers to pay by bank however they choose to shop. For physical, in-store transactions, Yotta Pay has developed a selection of zero carbon footprint POS components which use QR codes to provide ethical and sustainable payments.

Better still, taking cards out of the payments flow, businesses are now able to receive funds instantly instead of waiting up to 7 days for them to clear, giving them more control over accounts receivable and reducing the time taken to reinvest capital into growth.

With fees as low as 0.19%, open banking is improving business profitability while cementing Yotta Pay’s status as an ethically-driven payments provider. Consumers benefit from an easy system which allows them to make purchases in a few clicks, with no need to download an app or remember card details and account passwords.

There’s also the issue of security. The Office for National Statistics reported that consumer and retail fraud was a key driver in the increase of fraud offences committed in 2022, increasing by 25% (approx. 4.5 million offences) compared to March 2020. Using a secure API, Yapily Data is helping Yotta Pay mitigate this risk by enabling them to safely access and verify account details for new merchants. This also means they have a verified destination account for receiving payments for goods from customers at the point of sale.

The impact

Yotta Pay’s intuitive payments system massively simplifies the experience for consumers, which is now helping businesses achieve impressive results.

Minimising both fees and the use of plastic, businesses are able to get the best of both worlds: increasing profitability while decreasing their environmental impact. With UK card payments totalling almost £20bn, Yotta Pay is helping the average merchant save thousands of pounds each year compared to other payment rails.

They are also reaping the benefits of open banking as a driver for customer satisfaction, as one merchant was happy to share:

“Yotta Pay increases the positive customer experience by making transactions simple and, as the transaction is completely paperless and requires no payment terminals, also supports our social and environmental responsibility. It’s great to see this initiative available to independent businesses like ours.”

Seeing the positive impact open banking is bringing to both their own business and customers’, Yotta Pay sees immediate opportunity to add greater value for merchants and consumers as the technology continues to mature.

“With a successful rollout in the UK, Yapily’s platform and integrations play a critical role for us and will continue to do so. Our plans for bringing innovative new products to existing markets, and new ones across Europe, are possible thanks to working with an open banking partner that has everything we need to scale.” - Alexey Shmatko, CEO & Founder at Yotta Pay

Sine partnering with Yapily, Yotta Pay have:

• Allowed businesses to save up to 90% on operational costs.
• Improved online checkout conversions by 200%
• Reduced the time taken for merchants to receive funds from days to minutes, allowing them to optimise cash flow and redeploy those funds faster than ever
• Consistent, 100%+ month-on-month growth in open banking payment volumes since launch