WePay Takes its Payments-as-a-Service Tech to the U.K.

Payments-service provider WePay Inc. has expanded into the United Kingdom, a move that could make it easier for its clients to offer services internationally, WePay announced Tuesday.

WePay’s client list includes organizations such as GoFundMe, Meetup, Care.com, Fresh Books, and Constant Contact. Organizations like these rely on crowdfunding payments. WePay provides an application programming interface to site owners that enables them to offer online payments, while letting WePay handle processing, fraud mitigation, and chargebacks.

WePay selected the United Kingdom because “the U.K. is the fifth biggest global economy in the world and the third biggest digital economy in the world,” a spokesperson says. “London’s thriving [financial technology] community is considered among the most effective outside Silicon Valley and the heart of FinTech innovation in Europe,” Bill Clerico, WePay chief executive, says in an email to Digital Transactions News.

The U.K. move means WePay can offer a white-label payments service to platforms wanting to serve the U.K. market, WePay says.

Clerico says WePay works much the same in the United Kingdom as it does in North America, providing a unified payments platform on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. WePay has been in tests with some U.K. clients. It would not provide more details about these tests. WePay says its U.K. operations are regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, the primary financial services regulator.

WePay opened an office in London to focus on business development and an office in Rhode Island to provide customer support during U.K. and U.S. business hours. The shared language and business practices often make the U.K. a first stop for many North American platforms eyeing international expansion, Clerico says. The recent “Brexit” vote that would see Britain leave the European Union has no bearing on WePay’s commitment or ability to support platform payments in the United Kingdom, WePay says.

In addition to providing an online payments service, WePay introduced a white-label mobile-payments service earlier this year. Clients can use a mobile card reader, which plugs into iOS and Android devices, that accepts magnetic-stripe and EMV chip cards.