Payment transactions are, in a way, part of the economic infrastructure. If this infrastructure is simple, fast and low-cost, this will result in more transactions, which in turn grows the economy. In 2015, the EU adopted the PSD2 directive (Payment Service Directive) to achieve exactly that.

PSD2 directive went into full effect in 2019 and European banks that operate in the SEPA area (Single European Payment Area) now have to make certain data and functionalities available to third-party companies free of charge. This has laid the foundation for so-called open banking, which enables fintech companies like Montonio to develop new low-cost alternatives to traditional SEPA transactions.

PSD2 directive forces European banks to make their data and functionality layers available to third-party companies like Montonio. This has enabled us to create a payment initiation service (PIS), also called an “account-to-account” solution. At its core, it works just like a regular bank transfer.

The checkout process is simple:
Step 1: The customer chooses their bank as a payment option in your store checkout.

Step 2: After clicking on the “Pay now” button, the customer is redirected to a login page of their selected bank.

Step 3: After logging in, the customer is automatically taken to a pre-filled transfer form. This information is transmitted securely through API.

Step 4: After submitting the transfer, the customer is redirected back to your store.

Step 5: You will immediately receive an order status update that the transfer has been completed.

As a young company, we have built a sustainable structure to cope with revenue from low fees from the very beginning. We offer fair prices and thus deliver immediate value and savings without “buying” the market. We consider our payment service a necessity product and finance our growth through optional value-add services.

Reason 1: The credit card
Credit cards were the first internationally widespread means of payment on the internet. When brick-and-mortar businesses started expanding online, the classic “3%” card payment fee model established itself as a benchmark for all future payment methods. Despite efforts made by the EU and regulation through interchange fees, price reductions were passed on to merchants only in part or not at all.

Reason 2: Payment is like water
On closer inspection, individual payment methods hardly differ. Regardless if it’s a wallet or BNPL (buy now, pay later), there’s always a credit card or SEPA transaction behind it. With these so-called homogeneous goods, companies are forced to spend large budgets on marketing and sales, otherwise they would struggle to distinguish themselves from competition. This results in maintaining expensive sales teams and high premiums.

Reason 3: High margins
Payment service providers origins come from banking, expensive corporate cultures, and salary benefits. This requires high margins, as well as supporting high costs of marketing. Almost always, payment providers can be seen as main sponsors of sporting or ecommerce events, or hosts of various exclusive events–all this comes at a price.

The basis for trust is security, especially with online payments.

Data safety
Our company is headquartered in Tallinn, Estonia. Estonia has been a member of the EU since 2004, which means we are subject to the same GDPR requirements as German companies. You can read our Privacy Policy for more details.

Compliance
We hold a payment initiation service (PIS) license no LB0020077 issued by the Bank of Lithuania. This guarantees that all of our activities are audited regularly.

Infrastructure
Montonio fully follows ISO standards in all critical processes.

You can read our Terms of Service for more details.