UK Bank NatWest Introduces Merchant Acquiring Service For SMBs

U.K. bank NatWest is starting a merchant acquiring service for small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs), according to reports.

The venture is called NatWest Tyl and it’s in direct competition with Worldpay, which parent company RBS was forced to sell by the government as a condition of a bailout during the financial crisis last decade.

NatWest Tyl will help institutions with online credit card payment logistics, both online and in store. It promises logical customer onboarding, data-led insights, easy to understand pricing and next working day settlement.

The service is already live with some clients, but it will be available to all merchant acquiring customers by the end of the year.

“Developing our own merchant acquiring and payments proposition is an important step forward,” NatWest Commercial and Private Banking CEO Alison Rose said, adding it “reiterates our commitment to harnessing the revolution in new technologies so that our customers can remain focused on growing their businesses.”

RBS sold Worldpay to Advent International and Bain Capital for £2 billion in 2010, in a deal that proved fortuitous for the buyers, as the payments industry has flourished in the past few years.

In other NatWest news,  the bank recently announced a biometric payment technology for its commercial and business customers.

The new development will allow for customers to make payments through an app using Apple’s FaceID or TouchID, CNBC reported.

Once a device is registered, a customer can set up the biometric authentication, which will require a six-digit code. The new technology will be introduced to iOS users first, and then on Android and other systems in the latter part of the year.

NatWest Chief Operating Officer for Commercial and Private Banking James Holian told the news outlet the system will allow for “unprecedented levels of security”  featuring three unique authentication levels, and that it will let customers make payments of any size.

“We feel this is another important innovation that will make it easier for our customers to get on with doing what they do best: running their business,” he said.