NatWest has announced a strategic minority investment in Icon Solutions, a leading fintech provider of payments technology and consultancy services. The investment follows the news last September that NatWest selected Icon Solutions Payments Framework (IPF) to accelerate the bank’s payments modernisation. 

Launched in 2020, IPF is a low-code payment framework that empowers business payment experts to create industry-leading workflows, along with enabling software engineering teams to quickly extend and create highly customizable integrations into existing bank systems.

The investment and ongoing partnership with Icon Solutions is expected to accelerate NatWest’s strategic outcomes in the payment space, provide customers with more choice, and lay the foundation for future payments innovation.

It forms part of a payment platform modernisation plan which will build on the bank’s existing relationships and accelerate its ability to respond to the rapidly changing payment market.

By making strategic investments, NatWest continues to build on its long-standing partnerships to drive innovation for customers and colleagues. 

Mark Brant, Chief Payments Officer at NatWest comments:

“Our relationship with Icon Solutions has already helped us to bring our payments estate to life. This investment is fundamental to the delivery of our modernisation in payments technology, which will enable us to better serve our customers and to remain at the forefront of the payments industry.

“We continue to play a major role in developing payment innovations for the future, embracing new technologies, standards and capabilities to shape the future of the payments landscape while improving customer experience.

“Combining the scale and resilience of a bank with the speed and innovation of a fintech like Icon Solutions means we can bring new payment services to our customers quickly and safely.”

Tom Kelleher, Co-founder and Director of Icon Solutions comments:

“NatWest and Icon have been on a journey together since 2019 to modernise payments at the bank, inspired and led by Ian Povey and Mark Brant. We have a common belief in the adoption of low-code technologies to deliver new payments systems quickly and safely, with a significantly lower cost profile.

“Overcoming vendor lock in and powering in-house builds with the Icon Payments Framework (IPF), NatWest can now drive change from within. Building new revenue streams, anticipating regulatory change, responding to market changes or competitive pressures. Today’s investment is much more than an investment, it’s a commitment to a future where payments are safe, immediate, and flexible.”