Octo3 merges with fintech solutions provider Evantagesoft to launch new FTS.Money brand in Asia
Payment infrastructure company Octo3 has merged with banking technology solutions provider Evantagesoft (EVS) to form FTS.Money.
Octo3 and EVS merge to form FTS.Money
The move brings together Octo3’s white-label, cloud-based payment infrastructure, including gateways and locally aggregated payment rails, with EVS’s core banking, digital banking and ATM infrastructure.
The new brand is to be based in Hong Kong and is headed by CEO and founder Ajmal Samuel, who was also founding CEO of Octo3.
The company’s C-suite also comprises Sonya Kapur as COO, EVS founder and CEO Arshad Quayyum as CTO, and Octo3 CTO Hans Wong as CCO.
FTS.Money’s remit includes services for global payments switching, orchestration and modernisation, crypto acceptance and gateways, digital KYC and onboarding, transaction processing, financial analytics and e-vouchering.
In an interview with FinTech Futures, Samuel explains that FTS.Money has been established to boost financial inclusion in Asia, with a specific focus on bank account access.
“FTS is not just an infrastructure company, but in the future, will also provide IBAN accounts and the capability of remittance globally for our customers,” he says.
The incoming remittance service is already licenced in Hong Kong, with both products forecast to arrive “later this year”.
Samuel goes on to disclose that, in the spirit of financial inclusion, the company also hosts a new product called MyVoucher.io, which will operate as a means to connect local payment methods with international platforms.
The gift card-like offering will enable consumers to redeem local currencies against participating international brands, and is currently being piloted among consumers in Pakistan before a wider rollout coming “very soon”.
FTS has also developed a new API Hub, which Samuel explains seeks to connect developers to a wide range of third-party services.
“These days, everyone gives you an API, and every API is different,” he comments.
“On the back-end of the API Hub, we are actively going out and looking for different financial institutions or different providers, and we will connect to their platforms so that the customer needs to only connect one time.
“With our platform, you can connect to the API Hub and suddenly you get access to maybe 10 or so different providers behind us, all of them provided through one API to our customers.”
Both customer bases of Octo3 and EVS are currently being migrated to the new brand, a move Samuel says is set for completion “by the end of the year”.
