Case studies

fumopay helps Childsey speed up payments thanks to Xero integration

14 June 2023

Open banking payments solution fumopay was established by CEO Kevin Ludford in 2019 with the aim of helping consumers and businesses improve their financial wellbeing – whether that’s enabling businesses get paid faster or supporting consumers to manage their social finances.

Kevin said: “I started following the open banking initiative in 2018 and it became very clear that it was going to transform the institutionalised banking sector, enabling fintech firms like fumopay to bring innovation directly to consumers and small businesses.”   

fumopay, which is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, is an API-based payment platform designed to deliver a single ‘mobile first’ payment experience across all channels. For business users, it offers merchants and ecommerce retailers a frictionless and cost-effective alternative to card payments (and the associated fees), either by integrating it into their checkout process or by offering QR codes as a payment option in-store.

It also enables businesses to be paid more quickly by using open banking-enabled payments via a Pay by Bank link or simply using their business app, as an alternative to mobile card readers.

Integration with accountancy packages

The platform can be integrated with accountancy software such as Xero, and QuickBooks allowing firms to have their invoices paid directly via their customer’s bank account, or to share a payment link with a client and receive account-to-account payments in near real-time, helping to improve cash flow.

It is available via the Xero app store, enabling Xero users to add Pay by Bank directly to any Xero-generated invoice, allowing payers to quickly settle payment without the need to set up a payee with fumopay first. As well as streamlining the payment process, fumopay also makes it easier for firms to manage and reconcile payments as 100% of the invoice value is credited directly to the merchant.

Cheshire-based digital marketing agency, Childsey, has been using fumopay since 2020, after managing director Simon Childsey met Kevin at a business event.

As a qualified accountant, Simon immediately understood the value of offering clients an additional way to pay, that also helped him get paid faster, and which offered his business cost and time savings by not having to reconcile accounts.

The company, which acts as a ‘marketing department within a box’ to clients across a range of industries, works on a retainer basis.

Simon commented: “The value of our invoices is quite large. We’re a bespoke service, so a credit card payment doesn’t really work. And I don’t want it sitting in a payment processing platform for a few weeks before I’m able to get my hands on it, then have to tally it all up.”

It also makes it easier for clients to make a payment, and minimises the risks of an invoice getting lost.

“Open banking seemed like a good fit. It’s easier to ask someone to hit a nice, big ‘Pay now’ button than to type in all their bank details and just go through a quick process to pay.” He also appreciates the accuracy of using a ‘Pay By Bank’ link.

He said: “From my side it seems incredibly secure. I’m concerned that, one day, someone will pay me an invoice and may put a digit in incorrectly. It seems almost impossible to make a mistake throughout this process.”

Simple to set up and connect with Xero

Simon explains that it was easy to get started with fumopay – it took a matter of minutes to connect the platform to his Xero accounts, which was a valuable benefit to him as business owner.

He continues: “My expertise is in marketing. The more time I can spend doing that, and supporting my clients, the better. I charge my time out, and my team’s time out on a day rate, so the less time I spend chasing invoices, getting invoices paid, and worrying about finances, the better.

“It can also give your clients flexibility, helps you get your cash flow in a good place, and gets payments through the door quicker. And you have the reliability of a good payment method.

“If I can eliminate some of the worry about getting paid that’s only going to benefit me. It’s about mitigating risk on the financial side of things, and hopefully speeding up the [payment process]. That’s why I’m using it and that’s probably why some other business owners should too!”

fumopay’s Kevin summarised the benefits of the platform as follows: ‘Speed, security and cost. These are the three key benefits that resonate with every merchant we work with.

“Speed makes it easy for customers to pay and provides immediate receipt of funds. Security: people know that a payment can normally only be initiated by the payer authenticating the payment via their own bank’s security protocols. Cost: it can be expensive to get paid, open banking eliminates many of the associated legacy fees, so our customers benefit from those savings.”

Notes to editors

Open Banking Limited does not endorse any of the products or companies mentioned here.

If you would like to share your organisation’s experience of open banking, please email us at marketing@openbanking.org.uk.

If you would like to talk to one of our team about how open banking could help your business, please email us at enquiries@openbanking.org.uk.

fumopay Ltd is authorised and regulated in the United Kingdom by the Financial Conduct Authority.