As part of its combination of payments and banking solutions, fintech company Priority continues to expand and enhance its services with a focus on helping clients streamline the collection, storing, lending, and sending of money. That includes recent enhancements to Passport, the company’s treasury and banking solutions product. Priority founder Thomas Priore says it’s part of the company’s goal to better meet the needs of businesses of all sizes.
“That’s the expectation now of a modern service provider in payments: that providers become equipped to the nuances of banking,” Thomas Priore said in a recent interview.
Passport is one of the key components in this area. It integrates payments, treasury, and banking services on a scalable platform. The end result for businesses is the ability to accelerate cash flow, streamline transaction reconciliation, and optimize working capital.
Thomas Priore said this type of commerce solution is what clients demand. He added that the ongoing expansion and enhancement of Priority’s products is designed to meet needs voiced by clients who say, “I want to see money pick up velocity in my system, in the way I receive it, the way I store it, and then the way I send it.”
Priore is on the leading edge of this emerging trend in which fintech companies, often in collaboration with traditional banks, offer embedded finance and banking solutions in addition to a payments platform.
Thomas Priore and Priority Announce Enhancements to Passport
The Passport product is a key component of what Priority calls the Priority Commerce Engine. This term encompasses all the services Priority offers its clients, allowing them to centralize the movement of money throughout their organizations. The Priority Commerce Engine provides businesses a way to eliminate silos, accelerate the flow of cash, optimize working capital, and reduce operational costs.
In a recent announcement, Priority discussed enhancements to Passport that will increase its value for businesses.
For example, Passport Cash Builder allows customers to passively grow their funds in a Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.-insured savings account that offers competitive interest rates. Passport Cash Builder integrates an advanced embedded yield API, enabling users to invest in professionally managed options like money market funds, U.S. Treasury-backed securities, and short-term investments. Those who want higher returns while maintaining liquidity can choose Cash Builder+, an account that provides excellent rates for qualifying deposits.
In another Passport enhancement, individuals can now open a Passport account that offers a full range of banking solutions, including receiving funds (including direct deposits), paying bills, and ATM access. Passport accounts also integrate with Apple, Google, and Samsung wallets. These accounts are available through employers and organizations that have a relationship with Priority. The accounts allow for fast and seamless money transfers between the organization and its members.
“Nothing rivals Passport’s simple integration, ease of use, and functionality,” Thomas Priore said in a news release. “With every enhancement, we’re perfecting the value of this powerful tool for businesses of all sizes.”
Priority Sees Embedded Finance as the Future for Payments Companies
Established in 2005, Priority bills itself as a payments and banking solutions company. It has emerged in recent years as one of the more notable fintech payments companies to provide a wider range of services to businesses of all sizes. The company’s platform combines payables, merchant services, and banking and treasury solutions. The firm also works with clients to develop strategies that help them build momentum and grow.
In a recent panel discussion, Thomas Priore talked about how innovations in software have driven changes in the payments industry in the past few years. He sees those changes continuing as more businesses embrace the idea of using embedded finance products through their payments partners.
“We really see embedded finance as this convergence of payments and banking, and creating that experience in a bundled application,” he said. “It’s actually one of the more exciting times to be in fintech.”
While not a bank, Priority has spent years preparing itself as a leader in banking solutions, often collaborating with traditional banks to offer its services. Many companies in the fintech sector tried to do the same, but there’s been a slowdown as smaller players with unproven technology have fallen away. Now, banks have become more selective in choosing partners, looking for fintechs that have proven their value proposition.
Thomas Priore said Priority reached that point by focusing not only on the capabilities of technology, but also on having the resources to provide consistent, reliable products and the ability to meet any future regulations for companies that provide banking solutions. For example, the company has money transmission licenses nationwide.
“We actually want regulation, we want a rigor around operators in the space because many of the players don’t meet the quality of rigor that will make them viable,” he said. “You know, that’s just reality.”
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