Finaro

Originally established as Credorax in 2007 by Benny Nachman, the company rebranded to Finaro in late 2021 to reflect its evolution in the payments industry. Igal Rotem, who previously founded and sold Power Design to Microsoft, has been the CEO since 2016. In March 2022, Finaro entered into an agreement to be acquired by Shift4, a US-based payment and commerce technology company, for approximately $575 million, a deal that was finalized in October 2023. As of November 2023, Finaro officially operates under the Shift4 brand name.

Finaro functions as a cross-border payment provider and a fully licensed bank, catering to merchants engaged in international e-commerce. The company addresses the challenge of high transaction cancellation rates in online shopping, particularly for customers in distant countries, by acting as a clearing-focused bank that can approve international transactions more readily than traditional large banks. Its client base spans various industries, including retail, digital services, travel, and mobility, serving over 5,000 merchants globally. The business model centers on providing comprehensive payment processing services, including managing foreign currency exchange, cross-border risks, and offering access to digital wallets and various alternative payment methods.

The core of Finaro's offering is its proprietary gateway technology, Source™, an all-in-one platform for payment processing and acquiring. This technology is designed to streamline the entire payment lifecycle, from a digitized onboarding process to efficient transaction clearing and settlement. Key features include a smart 3-D Secure solution developed with Netcetera that uses artificial intelligence to mitigate fraud while ensuring compliance with regulations like PSD2 and Strong Customer Authentication (SCA). Finaro's system supports over a hundred card types and local payment methods, providing merchants with optimized approval rates, advanced anti-fraud protection, and business intelligence tools. The acquisition by Shift4 is set to expand these services, integrating Finaro's global infrastructure to support Shift4's international growth and unified commerce experience across both card-present and card-not-present verticals.

Keywords: cross-border payments, payment service provider, merchant acquiring, e-commerce payments, fintech, payment gateway, transaction clearing, payment processing, Shift4, Credorax, licensed bank, international commerce, multi-channel payments, fraud management, risk management, 3-D Secure, payment technology, currency exchange, digital wallets, global payments