Insights

Milan, June 8th, 2020 – TAS International SA, the wholly-owned subsidiary of TAS S.p.A., has today signed a binding agreement for the acquisition of the Swiss company, Infraxis AG, and its British subsidiary, Infraxis Ltd (UK).

Infraxis is a leading company in the Swiss and German payment markets, where in the latter its PayStorm processing solution currently authorizes payments for approximately 30% of all issued credit cards. PayStorm supports both card and instant payment solutions within a microservice, omni-channel framework, where ultimate flexibility, scalability and reliability are assured for deployments within private and public cloud networks. Infraxis also provides quality assurance and testing solutions based upon its enterprise-wide, on-demand testing solution IQS, which offers simulation and testing for all aspects of payment infrastructure.

With this acquisition, TAS Group increases its market coverage in both Switzerland and Germany, where it is already present within the Capital Markets sector. TAS will now offer agile processing solutions across all verticals of the payment market, increasing its offerings within existing countries of operation, such as its home market Italy, and empowering its expansion internationally.

The integration of the two companies is expected to result in significant growth for the combined business, primarily due to an increase in turnover at an international level. Significant synergies are envisaged linked to both cross-selling opportunities and platform rationalization in the areas of card program management, credit, debit and fuel card issuance, mobile payments and fuel payment processing.

President Dario Pardi commented: "This acquisition forms part of the strategy laid out in the 2020-22 Business Plan, approved in March, where international expansion is one of the fundamental growth parameters. The acquisition of Infraxis is certainly an important step for TAS Group considering that with the new skills and solutions acquired, TAS will now play a primary role in the digital payments sector at a European level. The confident investment in the capital of TAS International by the current shareholders of Infraxis further confirms the validity of the business plan, and guarantees a combined contribution towards a successful and fruitful Business Integration".

CEO Valentino Bravi added: “We are now entering the concrete phase of the new TAS following the complete financial restructuring and the strengthening of our organisation. TAS is now a completely transformed business, capable of seizing every opportunity that our market offers. The acquisition of Infraxis represents a continuation of our rapid progress and it enriches us with new solutions in the world of Digital Payments, with unique specificities such as the one dedicated to the Fuel Card sector. Furthermore, it allows us to expand our presence in countries with high payment digitization rates, such as Switzerland and Germany. We view this acquisition as being the strategic starting point for further international momentum".

Manfred Thomi, CEO of Infraxis concluded: “The bringing together of Infraxis and TAS marks the start of the next exciting chapter for us. We at Infraxis are looking forward to offering our customers the benefits of a wider combined set of complementary payment solutions, which are backed up by a strong corporation with an international outlook. We are now perfectly positioned to better serve existing customers and to expand the TAS business internationally.”

Read the entire Press Release in the Investor section

TAS Group suppors the NGO "Rise Against Hunger" since 2014 sharing its core value: an upcoming world without hunger is possible. This belief is also strengthened by the UN being enclosed into the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). TAS Group employees meet every January for a big charity reunion: collecting and crafting high nutritional meals to be donated to schools in remote African villages. Ensuring at least a daily high nutritive meal is of a fundamental importance to eradicate both child labor and hunger: poor families won't be obliged to carry their children at work letting them go to school instead. We are really pleased to know that although the Covid19 crisis is hindering transport and communication, the food donated by TAS Group reached the Africa soil where the Feed The Hungry UK volunteers are distributing it to the children of the The Joseph Foundation Zimbabwe Learn more about Rise Against Hunger 

PecunPay, Spain’s largest e-money Institution, has decided to further boost its flexibility and agility to support strong business growth by migrating to CARD 3.0 IE, TAS Group’s state-of-the-art card and digital payments management platform. The migration is scheduled to take place before the end of 2020. This is not the first time that PecunPay has put its trust in TAS payments technology, having already adopted its cashless 3.0 platform four years ago. Upgrading to our newest platform will allow the Spanish fintech to manage the entire authorization process in-house, giving it better control over the 750,000 cards it manages and the 2,500 digital and card-present payment terminals it supports at merchants throughout Spain and beyond. PecunPay is licensed by the Bank of Spain to operate throughout the SEPA area, and is already exploring different options to enter the South American market. Discover more about CARD 3.0 IE Visit Pecunpay website

Employees donate hours of work which the company transforms into a double donation to the IRCCS Policlinico Foundation “San Matteo” in Pavia and the National Institute of Infectious Diseases  “Lazzaro Spallanzani” in Rome. CARIPLO Foundation in turn doubles the allocation to San Matteo.

Milan, April 14, 2020 – During this period of great tension and concern for the health of all citizens, also TAS Group is driving a charity initiative in favor of the fight against COVID-19. The company has chosen to contribute to research into the new coronavirus, donating to two centers of excellence that are conducting some of the most advanced studies in Italy: the IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo Foundation in Pavia and the Lazzaro Spallanzani National Institute for Infectious Diseases in Rome. TAS Group employees involved in the initiative have chosen to either donate hours of their gross salary or an amount of leave to the cause. To encourage donations, the company has committed itself to doubling the amount raised, and has also involved the Cariplo Foundation in the initiative, who committed to doubling the donation for the San Matteo institute. The funds raised will go towards the purchase of scientific equipment (sequencers, freezers, thermal cyclers, processors and screens) necessary for a specific COVID-19 research project carried out by the Infectious Diseases Unit of the Pavia hospital, which has since the beginning engaged daily in the treatment of hundreds of infected people. A further contribution was sent to the Spallanzani Institute in Rome to finance a similar initiative. “We believe that in this time of global difficulty, which endangers the health of people as well as the economy, it is fair that all those who have the possibility, as individuals but above all as businesses, give their contribution for the resolution of the crisis. Among all the initiatives worthy of help, we have chosen to support the one that we feel is closest to our corporate spirit, that is, the search for solutions that allow us to face and manage critical situations that are changing rapidly. It's what we do every day for payment systems, today we want to do it for a bigger cause,” declares Valentino Bravi, CEO of TAS Group. “We proposed the initiative to our employees and it was immediately warmly welcomed with a large take up. This makes us feel even more united as a group and part of the common effort to get out of this crisis as soon as possible.” Download the press release

TAS Group joins the PRETA Open Banking Europe initiative as a Service Provider through its Global Payments company to foster and accelerate innovation in digital payment and identity solutions. Leveraging the technological leadership already demonstrated at domestic level with our TAS TPP enabler platform, we are now pleased to offer our contribution at European level in helping banks and PSPs to take an active role in the increasingly challenging scenario introduced by PSD2. TAS TPP case studies to date include NEXI - recently awarded the PSD2 active phase by CBI Globe – the Italian Banking Industry collaborative platform with over 300 participating PSPs and over 50 connected TPPs in the role of AISP /PISP / CISP . OBE's spirit, in line with TAS Group’s, is to be a community-led initiative, aiming to facilitate a standardization path for XS2A services based on consensus and priorities shared among market stakeholders. to know more about the partnership, visit Open Banking Europe

The consolidated 2019 financial statements of TAS Group, approved yesterday by its Board of Directors, show that all the indicators have increased compared to the previous year with a double-digit increase in core revenues of 24% totaling 56.4 million Euros compared to 45.5 million the previous year, a more than doubled EBITDA margin, and net profit amounting to 9% of revenues. The 2020-22 multi-year Strategic Plan was also approved, which reaffirms the goal of consolidating market leadership with the Group's core offering (Payments, Treasury & Capital Markets) and the conquering of new business areas thanks to regulatory compliance (in particular PSD2 and T2/T2S consolidation) as well as the expansion of its presence on the international market with greater geographical coverage and the development of its global partnerships. This plan, prepared prior to the COVID-19 crisis, provides for a CAGR of turnover in the related period of more than 13% and, at the end of the period, an EBITDA margin corresponding to 35% of revenues. With regard to the COVID-19 situation, all Group companies confirm that they are fully operational due to the adoption of smart working. President Dario Pardi and CEO Valentino Bravi expressed their satisfaction with the balance sheet results which show the fruits of the strategic path started in 2016 with the Management Buy Out operation led by the two managers, as well as the investments made over the last five years in R&D to ensure an ever-more innovative offering. TAS Group proves to be an increasingly strategic player within the sectors in which it operates, principally that of digital payments and capital markets, with advanced platforms able to proactively address new market developments. These platforms include the new microservices platform for TPPs operating in the post-PSD2 era; the Aquarius platform, aimed at Financial Institution Treasuries, which transforms the Consolidation T2/T2S project requirements into an opportunity for digitization and optimization of intraday liquidity; and the GPP (Global Payments Platform), now in an advanced development stage, one of the world’s first cloud-native integrated solutions for managing digital payments – both card and account-based – and fraud prevention, with its microservice technology guaranteeing maximum modularity and scalability. Read the full press release in the Investor section (Italian version)

 

Temenos customers, from digital-first challengers to established banks, will now be able to design, issue and manage innovative payment products and enjoy unparalleled flexibility and time to market.

 

TAS Group has joined the Temenos MarketPlace making its card and digital payments solution, CARD 3.0 IE, available to Temenos customers around the world. With the addition of CARD 3.0 IE, Temenos clients can leverage a flexible, modular and scalable card issuing, acquiring and processing platform that can be deployed either on-premise or on the cloud. Card 3.0 IE enables banks to intelligently manage the entire card and digital payments value chain, including physical and virtual card issuance, card & PIN production, transaction processing, Apple and Google payments and payment analytics.

The Temenos Marketplace mission is to help banks find and connect with innovative fintech solutions from around the world in order to better meet customer needs. Through this ecosystem of incubators, banks and fintechs, Temenos accelerates innovation by giving new fintech solutions the exposure they need to financial institutions of every size. The addition of this powerful end-to-end card payment platform to Temenos MarketPlace enables banks to deliver a complete digital and mobile payment user experience, whether they are a digital-first challenger looking for a swift and easy deployment and short time to market, or an established player seeking to embrace digital transformation and keep pace with customer expectations.

Read the press release on Temenos website

Download the press release

Learn more about CARD 3.0 IE

Following the new decree signed yesterday, 8 March, by the Prime Minister on " Urgent measures for the containment and management of the epidemiological emergency from COVID-19 ", we wish to reassure our customers that we have taken all measures to guarantee full operational continuity of our services. In particular, as of the end of February, we have set up a special crisis committee, which is now operational, and coordinating organizational procedures to ensure the company’s business continuity.

The crisis committee constantly monitors national, regional and local directives concerning the «Covid19» infection (the so-called «Corona virus»), as well as the company situation in order to

• give timely instructions to all company structures and external suppliers, also in relation to the rapid evolution of directives issued by the relevant authorities
• and to monitor the evolution of events, to ensure an effective and efficient response to the rapid change in general and business conditions.

We also confirm full availability of the Sales and Operations teams to resolve any problems that may arise in the coming days.

You can contact us at the numbers and email addresses found on our "Contacts" page

TAS Group, leader in Italy in the supply of software and services for banking and financial applications, has been successfully applying smart working practices for already 10 years. Thanks to this approach, the company is able to guarantee its customers maximum efficiency in managing digital payments, to the benefit of consumers and businesses during the ongoing emergency. Milan, March 4, 2020 – The health emergency that many countries around the world, and in particular Italy, are experiencing brings to the fore two themes that can be invaluable in dealing with the current crisis, without compromising company productivity and the economic exchanges between firms and consumers: smart working and cashless payments. Smart working is something that has already been successfully adopted in many European countries, especially those in the North (with an adoption rate of 31%). The benefits of this approach, in which the worker has the possibility of operating from home connecting remotely to company servers, has the positive effect of a significant reduction in CO2 emissions as well as allowing a better balance between private and professional life, increasing the well-being of the person and consequently his or her productivity. To reduce the spread of the virus, the Italian government is urging companies to encourage smart working, thus pushing companies and workers to get used to a new way of working as part of the culture. In fact, only 2% of companies in Italy have so far adopted smart working policies, compared to an average of 11% at European level. TAS Group can be viewed among the pioneers in this regard. It started to adopt this work policy in 2011, progressively involving the entire production staff distributed in its offices throughout Italy (8 in 6 distinct regions), Serbia, Switzerland, France and Spain (2 operating offices). Before the arrival of the Covid-19 virus in Italy, TAS Group had typically about 30% of its staff working from home, a percentage in line with the European average. Recently, following the preventive directions issued by the national authorities, TAS Group has further increased the percentage of its staff in smart working, without requiring any changes in management approach or negatively impacting work capacity. "In the last few years we have appreciated the validity of smart working in many situations; for this reason, the government guidelines have not caught us unprepared: we already had organizational tools and procedures well established to allow employees to work easily from home without compromising productivity, teamwork or the quality of project delivery”, said Guido Isani, Human Resources Director of TAS Group. “This emergency will hopefully increase the adoption of smart working by proving its benefits and bringing Italy in line with other European countries". Another area in which TAS Group is helping to thwart the epidemic is through the digitalization of payments, which it at the core of its business. Close contact between people when paying in cash, as well as the cash itself, are moments and tools that can be a vehicle of contagion. As is well known, cash moving from hand to hand is one of the means of a potential spread of pathogens, even under normal circumstances. In recent weeks, the increase in remote, mobile, web and kiosk payment transactions has been sudden and clear. Many banks have experienced exponential growth in the downloading of payment apps, the use of cards and customer interactions with unattended channels (ATM, Internet and Mobile Banking). The sudden increase in volumes through these channels was made possible by the availability of highly resilient and scalable technological infrastructures. “This is precisely the core business of TAS Group”, commented Massimiliano Quattrocchi, Director and General Manager of Global Payments SpA, a company dedicated to the payments sector, entirely controlled by TAS, “making mission-critical platforms and technologies available to Payment Service Providers, capable of enabling new digital payments with maximum safety and agility. In the emergency caused by the Covid-19 virus, our mission therefore also has a connotation of social responsibility, given that we contribute to guaranteeing economic exchanges in a ubiquitous and cashless way, while reducing the risks created by human contact. It is a source of pride that our constant work on technological innovation today concretely supports the country's economic dynamics in a time of difficulty." TAS Group has been operating in the FinTech sector for over 35 years, and is today a Preferred Partner selected by leading Italian and international banking operators to face the challenges of the digital payment revolution, from Open Banking to Instant Payment, Fraud Prevention and Real-time bank liquidity management. "The ongoing emergency is a further challenge that our customers must and can face, relying on the technologies enabling digitalization”, says Valentino Bravi, CEO of TAS Group. “In times of crisis the strength of strong and loyal partnerships emerges, and TAS has all the required characteristics needed to continue enabling this technological change, constantly improving the performance of its solutions, in line with the expectations of our customers. It is important to underline how these elements have allowed the growth of TAS Group in recent years, leading the Group to have a very positive outlook for the future ". #TASdoesntStop Download the press release