Zen forges a partnership with Sia to launch new digital financial services in 32 countries

Sia, a leading European hi-tech company in payment services and infrastructures controlled by Cdp Equity (Cdp Group), has entered into a partnership with the international fintech company Zen in order to launch an innovative digital financial solution in 32 European countries.

Thanks to the agreement, Sia’s digital infrastructure will manage the processing of transactions made with physical and virtual payment cards issued by Zen for online and offline payments in over 150

currencies. The infrastructure also includes a state-of-the-art fraud prevention and management service and card tokenization services. Zen customers will therefore be able to add their cards to their Apple Pay and Google Pay wallets.

Zen is an international fintech company headquartered in Poland and licensed to operate in the field of e-money by the Central Bank of Lithuania, providing financial services in 32 European countries. The company was founded in December 2019 by Dawid Rożek, the originator of the internationally successful gaming platform G2A.com, and since November 2020 has been operating in a strategic partnership with Mastercard.

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Zen allows its customers to manage their money and make payments with complete peace of mind

In addition to a multi-currency checking account paired with Mastercard payment cards, the fintech offers exclusive benefits to consumers, including a moneyback option or a one-year extended manufacturer’s warranty, and to businesses such as chargeback takeover and instant availability of payments to their account following their customers’ online purchases. Zen’s offering is available through an online service and mobile app with a transparent way to join. This new digital tool is particularly good for purchases, especially in the booming e-commerce sector.

Zen founder Dawid Rozek commented, “With traditional banking solutions, as an entrepreneur I faced many challenges in managing my finances. This experience made me realize that there are several people like me who need to have a complete, digital suite to safely manage their money and purchases online. Zen is inspired by Far Eastern culture, where the concept of Zen means having a sense of security and control. Our acronym Zen (Zero-Effort Non-bank) translates the desire to help customers manage their finances without any difficulty. We understand that in order to succeed, fintech companies need to take their business international, which is why we partner with trusted providers like Sia to create advanced financial solutions designed to meet the needs of consumers and entrepreneurs across Europe.”

Eugenio Tornaghi, Sia’s Director of Marketing & Sales, added: “We are particularly proud of the agreement with Zen, which confirms our role as a reference technology partner also for fintech companies present in many European markets, where we are already supporting banks and other financial institutions, with the aim of further accelerating the development of digital payments. We are confident that our proven expertise in payment systems and e-money, together with our ability to drive innovation, are a perfect combination for Zen’s success.”

For Sia, the partnership with Zen constitutes the third one signed in 2021

In fact, the company active in payment services and infrastructures closed two agreements last January: an agreement with finleap connect, the open banking platform of the leading European fintech ecosystem finleap, in order to offer new open banking services in Europe; and a partnership with the fintech WizKey in order to negotiate credits on blockchain.

As a reminder, in October 2020 Sia announced its merger with listed Italian PayTech Nexi, which specializes in card and mobile payment services. The deal involves the integration of the two groups to be achieved through the merger by incorporation of Sia into Nexi. The company resulting from the merger will remain listed on the MTA with a free float of 40%. The agreement envisages that, in the event of completion of the merger by incorporation of Sia into Nexi, Sia shareholders will receive 1.5761 Nexi shares for each Sia share, equal to around 30% of the capital of the new group, while current Nexi shareholders will retain around 70%. Consequently, Cdp, indirectly through Cdp Equity and FSIA, will have a total share in the capital of the new group of just over 25% and the private equity funds (Advent International, Bain Capital and Clessidra), Nexi shareholders through Mercury UK HoldCo, will have around 23%. As for governance, Nexi’s CEO Paolo Bertoluzzo will remain at the helm of the new group.

In January 2020, Sia, together with Cetif (Research Center in Technologies, Innovation and Financial Services of the Catholic University of Milan) and Reply (a company listed on Piazza Affari, specializing in the design and action implementation of solutions based on new communication channels and digital media) began experimenting with the management of surety bonds through blockchain. Sia closed its 2019 financial statements with consolidated revenues of €733.2 million (+19.3% from 2018) and ebitda of €257.9 million (+28.1%), adjusted ebitda of €257.7 million (+28.1%) and net income of €95.6 million (+24.7%), against a net financial position that rose to €812.4 million (+12.2%) due to investments and the adoption of the new accounting standard for leases 

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(Featured image by rupixen via Pixabay)

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