equensWorldline SE, a subsidiary of Worldline [Euronext: WLN] and European leader in the payments and transactional services industry, has entered into a partnership with ecolytiq, a Berlin-based impact fintech that offers a comprehensive Sustainability-as-a-ServiceⓇ solution. This solution is based on the use of payment transaction data to positively influence banking customers' behaviour by raising awareness around their environmental footprint. This partnership intends to support banks and their customers in the transition to a greener economy by delivering transparent and relevant data - all with the aim of encouraging more sustainable behaviours in the fight against climate change. This is the first step in equensWorldline's strategy to provide a comprehensive set of sustainable banking services.

The concept of green banking is fairly new within the banking sector. A key feature of this growing market trend is the commitment of financial institutions alongside specialised fintechs to help implement in-demand sustainability services. equensWorldline embraces this approach and strives to offer banks and other financial organisations the opportunity to provide additional sustainability-oriented services to their clients, such as personalised sustainability advice based on financial data, among other offerings.

One of the use cases that equensWorldline has identified to leverage the banking data made available thanks to PSD2 regulation was how to best offer clients suitable solutions and additional value to help combatting climate change.

"We have decided to focus on the CO2 footprint issues and want to enable banks to evaluate their clients' emissions based on banking transactions. To do so, we looked for a partner who could support us and would be complementary to our services. ecolytiq's technology is immediately available with some solid references, which makes them a perfect partner to increase our contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)." says Mathieu Barthélémy, Lead Product Manager Digital Services at equensWorldline. In addition, ecolytiq partners with the German non-profit Organisation for Sustainable Consumption (OfnK), whose work promotes transparency for country-specific carbon emissions calculations through their "Open Payment Standard".

Carbon footprint service

equensWorldline's Open Banking platform provides access to data from more than 3000 banks in 18 countries across Europe. In order to expand their portfolio and meet market demand, equensWorldline will offer this carbon footprint calculation service in collaboration with ecolytiq.

"We are honoured to be part of equensWorldline's strategy to create more awareness around sustainability within the banking sector," says ecolytiq's co-founder and CEO, Ulrich Pietsch. "Through combining the wide reach of equensWorldline's network of thousands of banks all over Europe with our state-of-the-art technology, we will create a great opportunity to improve our efforts in the fight against climate change. Together we can comprehensively inform banking customers of their impact on the environment and provide them with essential insights."

Sébastien Mandron, Worldline's CSR Director says: "This partnership with ecolytiq is a perfect illustration of our CSR ambition in the business area to offer our customers sustainable solutions. For the years to come, we intend to leverage on that partnership to strengthen our position in the field of green banking and to secure new business opportunities to provide solutions with a positive impact for the environment and society at large."