UK-based bank NatWest has announced a strategic minority investment in Icon Solutions , a payments technology and consultancy services provider. As per the information detailed in the press release, the investment and ongoing collaboration between NatWest and Icon Solutions is projected to accelerate the bank’s strategic outcomes in the payment landscape, offer customers more choices, and develop the foundation for future payment innovation. The investment follows NatWest’s decision from September 2023, when the group selected Icon Solutions’ Payments Framework (IPF) to accelerate its payments modernisation strategy.

Additionally, the move was set to allow NatWest to leverage a Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) processing engine together with ready-made scheme packs, including the SEPA Instant capability. Introduced in 2020, IPF is a low-code payment framework that focuses on allowing business payment participants to develop improved workflows, along with enabling software engineering teams to extend and create customisable integrations into existing bank systems. NatWest’s investment in Icon Solutions The current move is part of a payment platform modernisation strategy which aims to build on the bank’s existing relationship and advance its capability to respond to the ever-evolving payment market.

By conducting strategic investments, NatWest continues to develop its long-standing collaborations to increase innovation for customers and the overall financial environment. According to NatWest’s officials, the bank’s relationship with Icon Solutions supported it in advancing its payment capabilities. The current investment is set to solidify the ability to deliver the bank’s modernisation in payment technology, which aims to enable it to better serve its customers and maintain its position in the industry. Furthermore, by merging the scale of a bank with the efficiency and innovation of a fintech, NatWest intends to provide additional payment services to its customers safely and conveniently.

Representatives from Icon Solutions underlined that the two organisations have been collaborating since 2019, with both of them intending to modernise payments. Icon Solutions and NatWest share a commitment to adopting low-code technologies to offer new payment systems with a lower cost profile. By overcoming vendor lock-in and enabling in-house builds with the company’s IPF, NatWest is set to be able to create new revenue streams, anticipate regulatory modifications, and respond to market changes.

The investment supports both organisation’s objectives to offer payments that are safe, immediate, and flexible. .