Fiserv Unveils APIs for Embedded Finance

Global payments and financial technology company Fiserv announced that it will offer embedded payments and banking solutions to digital platforms and merchants.

By leveraging its merchant acceptance, banking, and card issuing capabilities through a set of application programming interfaces (APIs), Fiserv allows payment facilitators, financial institutions, and software platforms to enhance their service and provide their clients with direct access to financial services, the company said in a press release Wednesday (Oct. 18).

“We’re driven to bring the full stack of leading merchant and banking capabilities to our clients, reducing the time it takes them to get into the market,” said Sunil Sachdev, head of embedded finance at Fiserv. “This simplified delivery model for embedded finance will enable software platforms and marketplaces to establish stronger relationships with their brands and merchants while significantly expanding revenue potential.”

Meanwhile, “We’re still in the early innings” of embedded payments, Hersh Mansukhani, vice president of platforms and embedded payments at Fiserv, told PYMNTS’ Karen Webster.

“The platformization of the world is occurring, and software is getting into places where it never was before,” he added.

Digital, embedded transactions are transforming industries as diverse as rental markets and logistics, which have traditionally been offline and now are pivoting toward omnichannel transactions.

“You don’t have to become a payments company to offer payments as a product,” he contended.

Mansukhani highlighted some considerations for businesses in a four-part framework: “How are you onboarding? How are you managing credit risk and exposure to that risk? How are you managing the reporting? And how are you funding everyone?”

Last week, Fiserv announced it has acquired Skytef, the primary distributor of Software Express payment solution SiTef.

This move aims to strengthen Fiserv’s distribution network in Brazil and offer a broader range of products and services to its clients and partners, the company said in a press release.

Through this acquisition, Fiserv gains access to Skytef’s network of over 600 independent software vendor (ISV) partners and approximately 27,000 merchants, according to the release. This addition brings Fiserv’s total number of partners in Brazil to more than 1,000.