Benzinga | Nov 17, 2021 07:05AM EST

Euronet Worldwide Launches Dandelion B2B Payments Platform

Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ:EEFT), a leading global financial technology solutions and payments provider, announced today the launch of Dandelion a first-of-a-kind cross-border payments platform that modernizes the way fintechs, banks, ERPs and tech platforms can integrate business and consumer cross-border payments into their products.

Today, consumers and businesses send more than $155 Trillion* in cross-border payments annually with costs exceeding $200 Billion**. This market has seen a tremendous change in customer expectations driven by global adoption of digital payments, regulatory reform, a global labor market that is transforming with temporary and gig workers, and rapid expansion into emerging markets. These shifts are also leaving consumers and small businesses underbanked and unprepared to keep up with global economic dynamics. This enormous and changing market has been overlooked still relying on fragmented legacy systems that are slow, clunky and lack transparency and accessibility.

For most businesses, making an international payment is a difficult process. That's because the current infrastructure is driven by a series of complex processes with no end-to-end solution. International payments touch an average of five banks, collecting unexpected fees and delays along the way and often requiring manual processes like emails, paper trails, invoices and phone calls. All of this adds cost and inefficiency. Cryptocurrencies have tried to fill this gap and moved financial systems forward, but there is real concern that crypto moves the global financial system backwards on tracking and reporting of monies, security, transparency and financial stability.

"No one has really focused on effectively connecting all sides of the transaction the entire end-to-end experience with a real-time solution. That leaves a huge gap in the payments space," said Michael J. Brown, Chairman and CEO of Euronet. "Most of the new entrants in the payments market focus on the interface and onboarding of end users. And they do a good job of it. But we set out to reimagine cross-border payments from end-to-end. That is where Dandelion fills the void in the cross-border payments world. Dandelion is the platform that financial players have needed to enable rapid global expansion and efficiently process cross-border transactions."

Dandelion delivers real-time, global connectivity to enable access to new markets as a turnkey solution, eliminating the need for a massive investment of resources and accelerating the time to revenue for the customers of financial platforms. Now, Dandelion offers businesses a platform that helps them better serve their customers with:

Global Reach: Dandelion provides direct connections to local payment rails across 162 countries - even difficult-to-reach emerging markets - including: Four billion bank and mobile wallet accounts Cash delivery to more than 507,000 locations Business payments expected to reach over 100 countries by Q1 of 2022Real-Time Payments: With its unparalleled global infrastructure, Dandelion has direct, end-to-end connections. Good funds are delivered in minutes (or even seconds) to business or consumer accounts. A Single, Easy-to-Use Technology Integration: Dandelion offers a single, customizable API for easy integration. The developer portal enables state-of-the-art monitoring and real-time support before and after go-live, making it easy for companies to deploy natively from their platform, for a seamless customer experience. In addition, while the API is fully compliant with ISO 20022 the global open standard for payments messaging the framework's flexibility also enables fast and easy integration into other global systems that adhere to different standards. Unparalleled Transparency: Unlike other payment options, Dandelion follows the live status of the payment, for customers who want full visibility into the status of their payments. Dandelion eliminates hidden transfer fees, improves exchange rates and drives down cost per transaction. Integrated Compliance Capabilities: Dandelion leverages Euronet's world-class compliance experience and localized expertise around the globe. Built-in settlement: Dandelion also enables instant settlement of cross-border payments, removing the need to establish thousands of relationships with correspondent banks and partners.

"We've taken our leading C2C money transfer network and enhanced it," said Brown. "But this isn't just about great new technology it's about the whole package. It took us decades to build the regulatory framework, licenses, global connections, banking relationships and local infrastructure with skilled teams, which, through great technology, can now be consumed as a service and we know it works, because we use it ourselves."

Dandelion is unlike any other payments platform. That's because it offers the broadest access to global markets and the flexibility to plug into wallets and alternative payment platforms. And, it has the largest real-time bank network. By Q1, 2022 Dandelion expects to have the ability to deliver real-time payments to countries representing more than 80 percent of the global GDP. Combined with this reach, Dandelion uniquely integrates value-added capabilities including compliance and foreign exchange management