Ingo Money, Inc. Closes on Acquisition of Fuze Network, Accelerating its Technologies to Digitize Cash
Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) March 30, 2015 -- Ingo Money, a leading mobile payments technology and service provider, and the pioneer of instant, guaranteed mobile check cashing, announced today the substantial extension of its platform resulting from its acquisition of Fuze Network, Inc. Once fully implemented, Ingo Money’s transaction platform will enable consumers to access funds from almost any source immediately—cash, checks and cards—and push funds to almost any destination account, including debit, credit and prepaid cards. Any consumer with a smartphone can snap a picture of a check, convert it immediately into guaranteed and available good funds and push the funds to the card accounts they choose. In addition, Ingo Money now offers retail distribution and functionality acquired in the purchase of Fuze Network through which consumers can fund or pay an account with cash simply by presenting cash to a teller or store clerk and swiping almost any card in their wallet. Funds are pushed to the receiving card quickly without cumbersome forms or special codes.
“Ingo Money’s vision is to empower people with real-time funds access and money movement capabilities on digital payment platforms to improve their financial health and lift them out of the cash economy,” said Drew Edwards, founder and CEO, Ingo Money. “Achieving our vision requires us to virtualize not just the initial check cashing transaction, but the second, third and fourth transactions spawned by the check. It requires us to support the rapid aggregation of funds from all sources to help consumers meet their financial obligations and achieve their financial goals. The acquisition of Fuze Network enabled us to accelerate these capabilities to market for our clients and their customers.”
Banks, credit unions, card issuers and retailers can now support their customers’ primary and subsequent transaction needs through a single vendor relationship on a unified platform and with an integrated customer experience in-person, at ATM, and within a fully virtual, mobile self-service environment. Mobile servicing can extend a client’s real-world, retail footprint to millions of consumers nationally, using the regulatory structure of the Ingo Money mobile service. Funding transactions originating on Ingo Money’s platform are guaranteed funds backed by its industry-leading risk management capabilities, generating low-risk fee income for its clients at a low price point for consumers. Today more than 120 prepaid card programs have enrolled in Ingo Money’s platform and are in various stages of implementation and market launch.
The cash economy in the United States is estimated at $2 - $3 trillion in cash-based financial transactions annually. For millions of consumers and small business owners, recurring cash use is often a consequence of liquidity problems. Cash flow issues undermine the utility of traditional banking products and their technology-enabled extensions. Customers who lack the cash reserves or credit access to meet their financial obligations cannot wait for a check to clear or an electronic bill payment to post. They resort to cash banking services to meet their just-in-time financial needs, reducing their utilization of provisional deposit products and impeding their adoption of mobile deposit, electronic bill payment and mobile payments technologies. According to the Center for Financial Services Innovation, 43% of Americans struggle to pay bills, and data collected by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis indicates that personal savings rates have sustained at levels below 6% for all but two of the last sixty months.
“A challenging consumer financial reality has created tremendous demand for Ingo Money services, said Will Sowell,” president and chief operating officer, Ingo Money. “Extending the breadth of our services improves the ease with which our clients can consume them, simplifies retail service delivery and offers an integrated experience—one vendor, one user experience—at retail and across digital self service platforms, accessible to millions of consumers. Ingo Money delivers meaningful incremental fee revenue for our clients, increases their ROI on a host of digital banking technologies and helps them better serve their customers.”
One such client, Pay-O-Matic, a leading provider of alternative financial services in New York, offers first-hand experience. “Consumer adoption of the services we deliver in partnership with Ingo Money has been overwhelming,” said Brian Hodgdon, senior vice president, Business Development, Pay-O-Matic. “Our customers count on us to provide access, convenience and instant liquidity to help them manage their financial needs. Over the past two years, transaction volume across our stores has increased 4X with a repeat usage rate of more than 80% across the full suite of money movement services provided by Ingo Money. Card swipe-based funding and payment transactions have significantly reduced transaction processing times because the transaction is easier for store employees and for their customers. What used to take a few minutes is now down to less than a minute due to the card swipe functionality, and time is money—for us as a retailer and for our customers. Everyone wins when the transactions flow faster and easier.”
Ingo Money closed on its acquisition of Fuze Network, Inc. on February 19, 2015, and the entire Fuze Network team has joined Ingo Money. Additional details of the transaction are not being disclosed.
For more information, contact Matthew Frye at matthew.frye(at)ingomoney(dot)com.
About Ingo Money
Ingo Money, Inc. is a leading digital payments company focused on expanding and accelerating the flow of funds between monetary instruments to provide immediate, guaranteed funding and payment services that fuel consumer adoption of new and existing digital payment platforms.
Ingo Money owns and operates two lines of business. Ingo™ Network Solutions, operated in conjunction with First Century Bank, N.A., is a consumer-direct network accessible via mobile and retail channels. Ingo™ Enterprise Solutions is an omni-channel commercial platform that enables independently licensed financial services firms to deliver immediate, non-provisional funding and payment services to their customers.
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Matthew Frye, Ingo Money, Inc., http://www.ingomoney.com, +1 (678) 736-7012, [email protected]
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