Sionic has partnered with Unfiltered Ink Media to bring its Instant Bank Pay account-to-account payments to hospitality businesses.
US-based Sionic, a provider of real-time bank-to-bank payments for commerce, has formed a strategic partnership with Unfiltered Ink Media, a consulting and media company focused on the hospitality industry. The partnership aims to connect payment resellers serving restaurants, bars, and other hospitality businesses with Sionic’s real-time account-to-account payments, reducing the cost and friction associated with card payments. Unfiltered Ink Media will act as a referral partner, using its network to connect hospitality merchants with resellers that can offer Sionic’s Instant Bank Pay. Merchants can then accept real-time payments at checkout and receive funds within seconds.
Real-time rails at checkout
Instant Bank Pay uses the FedNow Service and the RTP network through Sionic’s banking partners to move money in real time. Consumers paying directly from their bank account through Apple or Google wallets can also receive perks from participating merchants. The service is designed for online, mobile, and in-store commerce, and is also available through the Microsoft Marketplace alongside Sionic’s Fraud Detection Service.
Chloe Howard, Co-founder and Creative Director of Unfiltered Ink Media, stated that the hospitality operators the company advises are looking for practical ways to protect margins, strengthen operations, and improve customer experiences, and that Sionic’s offering addresses all three. According to Howard, Instant Bank Pay gives hospitality businesses another way to accept payments and move money faster, while reducing the costs associated with traditional payment methods. She added that the company has previously warned operators about unexpected and inflated payment processing fees.
Distribution through hospitality resellers
Ronald Herman, founder and CEO of Sionic, stated that Instant Bank Pay was built to bring the speed, economics, and convenience of real-time bank-to-bank payments to everyday commerce. According to Herman, Unfiltered Ink Media’s relationships and referral network across the hospitality sector, combined with its understanding of operators’ challenges, will make it easier for hospitality businesses to offer customers a new way to pay while improving their own operating efficiency.
The partnership comes as hospitality businesses look for technology that can streamline operations, improve customer engagement, and reduce payment acceptance costs. Rather than selling directly to merchants, the arrangement relies on resellers that already serve the hospitality sector, giving Sionic a route to merchants that may otherwise default to card acceptance at the point of sale.
