Veteran fintech Assembly Payments rebrands as Zai following CurrencyFair merger

Assembly Payments has completed its merger with Irish cross-border payments marketplace CurrencyFair and rebanded as Zai.

The Melbourne fintech announced the merger in April this year, which went ahead following regulatory approval. It’s the second rebrand for Assembly Payments, which was founded in 2013 as PromisePay by Darren McMurtrie, Simon Lee and Simon Jones.

The Westpac-backed payment platform opened offices in Melbourne and San Francisco the following year before expanding into Singapore and the Philippines. It rebranded as Assembly Payments in 2017.

The rebrand to Zai heralds a shift beyond domestic and cross-border payments to provide a core suite of broader integrated financial services to businesses in Australia and beyond.

Former CurrencyFair boss Paul Byrne is now the CEO of Zai.

“Our vision with Zai is to boldly transform the future of financial services. The Australian market is very close to our hearts – both Assembly Payments and CurrencyFair were founded by Australian innovators,” he said.

“We are ramping up our activity in Australia significantly –  Zai was first to market with NPP and we expect to remain at the forefront of innovation.

Byrne said they plan to launch ‘PayTo’, the new digital way for merchants and businesses to initiate real-time payments from their customers’ bank accounts, in mid-2022.

“We’re already seeing the benefits of expansion as we forecast a second successive year of 60% growth in processing volume to US$6.5 billion in 2021,” he said.

 Zai’s expansion plans are underpinned by backing from SC Ventures, the VC arm of Standard Chartered. The British banking multinational announced plans last year to launch a joint venture company with Assembly Payments to develop next generation payment solutions for the US$29 trillion e-commerce sector.

Byrne said the business will focus on addressing businesses pain points.

“Zai will continue our tradition of being customer-centric, solving problems and adding value around our five core capabilities – payments, global payment accounts, partner ecosystem, lending and settlement, and services – addressing the myriad growth opportunities in the US$2 trillion revenue market for payments,” he said.

The company is focusing its mid-market and enterprise-level offering initially on the Australian market. It’s also looking to launch in the UK, USA and Asia in 2022 and with the number of employees expected to grow from 170 currently to 450 by 2025.