A Talk with Paysafe

The following is an interview conducted by Bob Jenisch Publisher of Digital Transactions with Denise Tahali of Paysafe.

While Paysafe has roots dating over 20 years, particularly in Canada and Europe, can you describe Paysafe’s strategy in the U.S.?

Over the past five years, we have significantly expanded our footprint in the U.S. market with several key acquisitions including Merchant’s Choice Processing Solutions and iPayment. Now a top-5 non-bank processor in the U.S., we’re focused on our partners; helping resellers and developers drive incremental value for their businesses by offering an unparalleled suite of payment solutions and value-added services designed specifically for SMBs. We also have a dedicated team focused on helping Financial Institutions attract and retain customers through our robust suite of value-added product solutions.

 What do you consider to be Paysafe’s most significant value proposition for Agents and ISO’s?

We have a tagline, Plug into Paysafe, and I think that is speaks really well to the value that ISOs and Agents receive when they partner with us. We’re a one-to-many relationship with a wide array of incremental specializations including petroleum, high-risk, and integrated payments. And that’s in addition to the actual products and services we offer, which range from point-of-sale to cash advance and pretty much everything in between.

How can Paysafe support and facilitate all of these unique verticals and portfolios?

I mentioned our one-to-many philosophy, which is really about offering our partners flexibility and choice and building customized programs to meet their business needs. In order for us to provide the breadth of options we do; we have multiple processor and bank relationships; expanding the options for partners to ensure that they have the right structure to support their individual needs. We also have subject matter experts in each of our core verticals, complimented by a dedicated team of partner account and support managers.

Seems like Paysafe truly understands what Agents and ISO’s are looking for – how popular are financial products and value-added services to your partners?

It’s funny because sourcing and product commercialization weren’t core to this space 10 years ago, but now it’s our responsibility to sort through the chaos and partner with or build products that enable our partners to be hyper-competitive in the market and provide them with the opportunity to increase the value of their portfolio. Solutions like Paysafe Capital™ or Paysafe Pay Later™ do just that and they are hugely popular with not only our partners, but also with the merchant customers as well.

 How much is Agent/ISO training, partner support and business enablement emphasized in Paysafe’s U.S. operations?

 I alluded to it earlier, but with vastly expanded products and services, we have also invested significantly in our partner support efforts. We now have regular live and on-demand product trainings, dedicated partner support teams, and a team of relationship managers. For growing agents, we also offer services like appointment setting; booking local appointments for agents to help them build their respective customer-base.

 Anything specific you’re hearing from your partners that they want to resell? 

Many of our Agent and ISO partners are transforming into more VAR-like businesses and also actively pursuing ISV relationships. And for others, they’re looking to monetize their portfolios with residual buyouts. In either case, we’re here to help and have programs for both. In terms of new products, consumer lending at the point-of-sale, which we offer through Paysafe Pay Later, is becoming more and more popular as well as small business bundles and stickier solutions that truly help SMBs manage and grow their business. In today’s space, we’re all focused on a much more consultative sale than ever before and, for us, that’s is what’s most exciting about the future.