Trustly

Trustly Group
Type of business Private
Founded 2008 (2008)
Headquarters Stockholm
Country of origin Sweden
Founder(s) Carl Wilson, Joel Jakobsson, Lukas Gratte
Chairman Andreas Bernström
CEO Oscar Berglund
Industry Financial services
Revenue 20 million EUR (2015)
Employees 135
Website www.trustly.com
Current status Active

Trustly Group is a Swedish fintech company founded in 2008.[1][2] The company provide a solution for Online Banking ePayments (OBeP) offering solutions for the e-commerce industry through its direct payments technology. Trustly provides its service through PayPal[3] and TransferWise.

To make a purchase, the customer is required to pass his banking credentials to Trustly, who performs the transaction on his or her behalf. Trustly accepts most credit and fraud risks, and the online store or consumer is guaranteed payment.[4][5]

In 2015, the company's payment solutions were offered by more than 800 online stores in Europe and payments of more than EUR 1.7 billion annually were processed.[3] In 2016, Trustly reached more than 67 million consumers through integration with 100+ banks in 29 European countries[6] including: Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Estonia, Poland, Italy, Spain and Malta. Trustly generated revenue in 2015 totaling EUR 20 million, up 85% from 2014,[7] and has 135 employees, most of whom work at the head office in Stockholm, with local offices also in Spain and Malta.

History

The company was founded in 2008 in Stockholm, Sweden, and signed contracts that same year with the first Internet retailers. A first investment round was completed in 2009, and development of a second generation technical platform was launched. The company underwent a geographical expansion in 2010 after which its revenues grew by more than 200%.[8] The first office outside of Sweden was opened in Malta and over one million transactions were processed the same year. The second generation platform was launched in 2011, and 25% of the company was sold to the investment group Alfvén & Didrikson.[9]

The company entered into a strategic partnership with Groupon in 2014[10] as well as PayPal[11] and the Payout Express product was introduced. The 10 million transactions mark was reached and the risk capital firm Bridgepoint Capital (BDC) invested €23 million to gain a minority stake.[12][5]

The Swedish FinTech company ranked #242 on the publication’s first ‘FT 1000: Europe’s Fastest Growing Companies’ list in 2017 based on its 3-year growth in revenue and staff.[13]

In March 2018, the private equity fund Nordic Capital bought a majority stake, some 70 percent of the existing shares, in Trustly. Ahead of the deal the company reportedly got valued at roughly €700 million.[14]

Criticism

Trustly faced criticism in 2013 from a competing bank when they used client information to log into the client's Internet banking. The bank claimed that Trustly had gained access not only to the information required for performing the payment but also to information related to, for example, the client's mutual funds and shareholdings and therefore, banking confidentiality had been compromised.[15] The controversy has resurfaced in 2016 in Poland when PayPal switched to Trustly[16] and a number of information security related websites and banks pointed out that the Trustly's practice is inconsistent with PayPal's own guidance to avoid revealing the credentials to third parties.[17][18]

Trustly defended itself by saying that the company sets out a clear agreement for what information the company may access for performing payments and establishing identity, in the same way as banks. Like the banks, Trustly is under the supervision of the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority as a licensed Payment Institute.[15]

References

  1. ↑ "WebCite query result". www.webcitation.org. Archived from the original on November 1, 2015. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
  2. ↑ "WebCite query result". www.webcitation.org. Archived from the original on November 1, 2015. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
  3. 1 2 "Svenska betalningsföretaget Trustly ingår partnerskap med PayPal för att möjliggöra direktbanksbetalningar för PayPal-användare". Mynewsdesk. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
  4. ↑ "Trustly och Blocket vill skapa tryggare betalningar". www.ehandel.se. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
  5. 1 2 Erlandsson, Adam. "Trustly tar in 200 miljoner". SvD.se. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
  6. ↑ "The £4.8 billion float of the year is a pivotal moment for fintech in London". Business Insider. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
  7. ↑ "Trustly Group AB - Trustly revenues grew by 85% to EUR 20 million in 2015". www.trustly.com. Retrieved 2016-10-21.
  8. ↑ http://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/se/Documents/technology-media-telecommunications/fast-50-rapport-2013.pdf
  9. ↑ "Trustly Group AB | Alfvén & Didrikson". www.alfvendidrikson.com. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
  10. ↑ "Groupon adds direct bank e-Payments from Swedish Trustly as a payment method". Mynewsdesk. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
  11. ↑ "PayPal and Trustly join forces for online direct transfers". www.thepaypers.com. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
  12. ↑ "Bridgepoint / Bridgepoint Development Capital Invests in European online payments services provider Trustly". www.bridgepoint.eu. Retrieved 2016-02-02.
  13. ↑ "The FT 1000: The complete list of Europe's fastest-growing companies". www.ft.com. Retrieved 2017-05-01.
  14. ↑ Karlsson, Johannes. "Nordic Capital förvärvar Trustly i storaffär". Di Digital. Retrieved 2018-02-15.
  15. 1 2 "Storbankerna tar strid mot Blockets betaltjänst - DN.SE". DN.SE (in Swedish). Retrieved 2016-02-02.
  16. ↑ "Paypal oszalał i chce od Was danych logowania do banku". Zaufana Trzecia Strona (in Polish). Retrieved 2016-04-27.
  17. ↑ "Największe banki zaczynają blokować korzystanie z usługi Trustly". Zaufana Trzecia Strona (in Polish). Retrieved 2016-04-27.
  18. ↑ "Ostrzeżenie przed dopuszczaniem pośredników do rachunku bankowego w płatnościach internetowych" (PDF).
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