German corporate credit card startup infinnity financial technologies GmbH d/b/a Pliant has received an e-money license in Finland, Finance Forward reports. This will make the FinTech founded by Malte Rau and Fabian Terner more independent of partners and enable it to offer its services in 25 countries. Just recently, the company had raised 26 million euros. Until now, Pliant cards are issued via the MFSA-regulated Transact Payments Malta Limited.
Pliant will be able to rely on an e-money license in Finland in the future, as founder Malte announced in the Finance Forward podcast. As a so-called Visa partner, Pliant is thus allowed to issue its own credit cards, and in the future the corporate credit card provider also plans to offer multiple currencies. In addition, the fintech is more independent of partners and can expand in 25 countries through a so-called passporting.
Before signing up, Pliant looked at several European countries to apply for a license, he said. Finland was chosen, he said, because the regulator is innovative and there is no need for video identification – which is the case in Germany. Instead, there is an automated tool. That was one of the important points that spoke against a license in Germany, Rau says: “We’re not fans of video ident.”
The move by several startups abroad had also caused a stir in the past within the authority, as Finance Forward and Finanz-Szene reported. Video-Ident would have slowed their growth, as CEOs sometimes had to wait several hours at service providers when there were thousands of registrations in the crypto or gamestop hype – there was no special service, Rau says.
In the spring, Pliant had still received 26 million euros from backers, with Japanese venture capitalist SBI stepping in. The money should provide enough buffer to now grow strongly with its own license.
