Card Issuer Tutuka Merges With Paymentology

A pair of issuer-processors — Tutuka and Paymentology — announced Monday (Dec. 6) they would merge into a single entity.

The new company will operate under the Paymentology name, bringing together that the firms describe as Paymentology’s multi-cloud platform and Tutuka’s global reach, with more than 270 people working in 49 countries.

“Previously, banks and FinTechs had to work with a multitude of card processors to reach a global market,” the company said. “Now, through Paymentology, they can integrate into a single API, go live and issue cards almost anywhere in the world.”

The company says these customers can scale beyond that, with Paymentology offering the ability to process client cards on its platform and upgrade clients to a dedicated platform devoted to them, or for specific countries, something Paymentology says is a feature not offered by other processors.

“Banks and FinTechs are racing to provide customers with digital and data-driven features,” said Rowan Brewer, CEO of the London-based Tutuka.

“They are highly receptive to working with a single issuer-processor that can provide that, across the globe,” he said. “People want to be able to pay with a virtual card — sometimes online, sometimes tapping their phone — but everything digitally. Banks, digital banks and FinTechs need support and expertise to help them issue cards and process payments.”

Read more: 39% of Firms Use Virtual Cards for B2B Payments

The merger comes at a time when 39% of firms are using virtual cards for B2B payments, according to a recent study by PYMNTS and Mastercard.

As PYMNTS reported last week, these firms say the use of virtual cards has allowed them to receive payments faster (64%), allowed for more transaction details (57%) and made transactions more secure (50%).

At the same time, there are still many companies who shy away from the use of virtual cards, typically because their payments systems aren’t equipped to accommodate them, or because they’ve had difficulties trying to integrate virtual cards with their systems.