Lloyds Bank has agreed a major expansion to its partnership with UK-based payments company PayPoint.

The expanded partnership, which will go into pilot in the second quarter with a full launch expected in the third, will see Lloyds Bank Cardnet become the main card acquiring partner across the PayPoint Group’s network of over 60,000 SME and retailer partners.

PayPoint said that the partnership will offer merchants a “market-leading banking and card services proposition combining card payments”, along with a 12-month fee-free Lloyds bank business account and a connected commercial card offering.

The company also said that the partnership will provide its customer base with benefits such as earlier in the day settlement, faster onboarding experiences, a new merchant app, additional customer data and insights, and wider access to Lloyds’ business banking and lending products.

As part of the agreement, which will extend to Northern Ireland as a new territory for the Handepay business, PayPoint said there will be “significant investment” into Lloyds’ Cardnet business to “enhance product development and data analytics for merchants”.

Nick Wiles, chief executive officer of PayPoint said: “We are confident this partnership expansion will deliver an enhanced proposition and experience which will strengthen our market position, accelerate the growth of our merchant network and provide better tools and support for our SME and retailer partners as they look to grow their own businesses.”

Melinda Roylett, managing director of Lloyds Bank Merchant Services added: “Our partnership with PayPoint is incredibly important for our next stage of growth and leveraging the significant investment we are making in the Lloyds Bank Cardnet Merchant Services business.

“We have always been committed to being by the side of all of our business customers, and this expanded partnership with PayPoint will enable us to continue to be true to that commitment.”

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