Luup today launches the first universal mobile payments platform. The launch is the result of the integration of the Temenos T24 core banking application and Microsoft BizTalk with Luup’s mobile payment services platform.

Luup CEO, Martin Wilson, explained: “We believe that Luup’s new payment platform heralds a major shift in the mobile payments sector. Through Luup, banks have the opportunity to serve corporate and retail markets using a single universal mobile payments platform. They can now offer mobile payment services in developed and emerging markets anywhere in the world through any mobile device and on any network. This is an industry first.”

The integration of market leading applications with Luup’s platform enables Luup to provide the most advanced mobile payments managed service available. It combines the scale to deal with large transaction volumes with the mission critical standards that banks require to meet regulatory and security requirements.

Martin Wilson continued: “Financial institutions require the capabilities, reliability and scalability of a bank-grade platform to capture a significant share of the predicted $426 billion market. As the only independent global provider of mobile payments, we have created an international remittance eco-system for banks and corporates, connecting senders and receivers of funds across the globe.”

For its solutions Luup has further developed leading technology from Temenos and Microsoft, including Microsoft BizTalk, to provide several business-enhancing functions.

Mark Gunning, Global Director, Banking Solutions at Temenos explained: “T24 is the most technically advanced core banking system available, used by hundreds of banks worldwide. Its integration into Luup’s universal platform for mobile payments means that financial institutions now have the unprecedented opportunity to get the mission-critical standard they expect – on the ubiquitous mobile channel. This co-operation between Luup and Temenos creates the most flexible, cost effective and scalable mobile solution on the market, which enables Luup’s customers to meet the challenges and opportunities of tomorrow.”

In addition, Luup’s managed service model enables banks to implement the service easily and at low cost and to scale-up as customers’ demand for mobile payments increases even further. There are already over 5 billion mobile phone users worldwide and the figure is constantly growing.

Karen Cone, general manager of Worldwide Financial Services at Microsoft Corp., commented on the announcement: “Mobile payments are set to change the shape of the payments world. Microsoft technology is used throughout the payments value chain – from payments channels like Windows Phone to mission-critical processing workloads. By running its solutions on Microsoft’s SQL Server and BizTalk Server, Luup provides its customers with workflow management and dynamic interfaces that offer enhanced management of payment services.”

Luup operates in developed and emerging markets, and offers financial institutions and corporates the opportunity to reduce costs and introduce new income streams. In global markets, Luup enables banks to offer new mobile services for their corporate customers, whilst amongst large unbanked populations in emerging countries, a branchless mobile banking service is being created to address the financial inclusion agenda.

Martin Wilson concluded: “Our independence, continued innovation, global reach and the desire to continue to deliver products that meet the needs of banks and their customers means that we are in the perfect position to help financial institutions capture new revenue from the rapidly growing opportunities available from mobile payments. Our expertise and strategic partnerships means that Luup is ideally placed to develop and extend its leading position in this market.”

Source: PR Newswire