FinTech company Square has launched a new ‘Instant Deposit’ service for UK businesses.
The announcement was made by CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey at London’s British Library last night. The digital payment company hopes the product will help small businesses manage their cash flow more efficiently.
Square, which has raised $590.5m to date, began by producing white card readers, to allow SMEs such as food trucks or clothes boutiques to accept card payments. It also offers an app to enable consumers to send and receive money. With the launch of Instant Deposit, sellers will now be able get their money into their bank account in 20 minutes by using the Square app, the company says.
Jack Dorsey, who is also the co-founder and CEO of Twitter, spoke about the launch: “Since our founding, we’ve heard that cash flow is a major pain point for small businesses. Our products were all built to provide fast and predictable access to funds to help businesses of all sizes remain competitive and agile.
“We believe our sellers should have the ability to access the money they’ve made as fast as possible, so we’re thrilled to provide this new service to businesses across the UK,” he added.
Previously, businesses using Square would get their money the next working day. Now, to get Instant Deposit, businesses will have to link their bank account to their Square account. Each Instant Deposit will cost 1% of the deposit amount in addition to Square’s standard card processing fees. The current fees are 1.75% for face-to-face payments and 2.5% for payments made over the phone, online or via digital invoice.
Square is hq’ed in London, but has offices in the US, Canada, Japan, Australia and Ireland.
Today’s news comes after the chancellor failed to announce any significant measures to help businesses battle lay payments from third party suppliers in the Spring Statement last week.