The work has been undertaken to ensure its partners are insulated from the impact of a possible hard exit from the EU.

“Businesses have to prepare for a ‘no deal’ scenario. Despite the recent transition agreement, a hard Brexit remains a very real possibility,” said Adam Sharpe, CEO, Cardstream. “As the largest independent white label payment provider in the UK, it was important that we were first to take the necessary steps to ensure business as usual for our partners and their customers.”

The company’s preparations have been focused on the three key areas of platform mobility, customer data compliance and tax jurisdiction. As a result, should the country face a hard Brexit, Cardstream’s EU partners and UK partners with cross-border operations can rest assured that their payment operations will remain fully compliant with EU law.

Ben Cohen, Managing Director of Cardstream partner Fidelity Payment Processing said “Payments can get complex, particularly when dealing with cross-border transactions in an environment that is continuously shifting. The uncertainty around Brexit increases that complexity even further. We appreciate that Cardstream is always working to keep things simple and ensure we are one-step ahead. It’s particularly important that they’ve been working to help de-risk the impact of a hard Brexit for companies like ours that need to make sure there’s a dial-tone of payments irrespective of what happens.”

For partners with business split between the UK and EU, Cardstream’s smart real-time routing technology will enable transactions to happen in the most cost effective, tax conscious and compliant manner. For EU partners, Cardstream’s platform mobility will ensure payment transactions are processed inside the EU; customer data is held inside the EU; and the tax-point of the payments through the platform will be inside the EU.

“Politicians may be playing a high-stakes poker game, but business can’t afford to do so. The implementation period, although welcome, does not reduce the threat of no deal. We’ve ensured, no matter the outcome of the Brexit negotiations, that our partners can be certain that their payment services will continue to be delivered seamlessly,” said Sharpe.