Interview with Dima Kats, CEO at Payments Solutions Provider: Clear Junction

In 2016, I spotted a need in the financial market for high-quality payment services and solutions – this is when Clear Junction was born. We power financial companies, enabling them to capture and connect to new opportunities by accessing the tools, networks and knowledge they need. Financial institutions that work with us can access new global markets faster, harness technology for a competitive advance, navigate and understand risk and compliance, and improve customer service levels.

Our team of 60 fintech experts have years of experience in the payments space and extensive knowledge of risk and compliance. This, coupled with our proprietary technology and banking relationships, helps empower businesses to realise potential in the areas traditional service providers cannot or are not willing to unlock.

An example of a client we work with is Monobank, one of the most successful challenger banks in Ukraine. Monobank were looking to expand their payments services across Europe to improve their customer offerings. Ukraine is not currently part of the European Union, but a considerable number of Ukrainians work in the EU, so the ability to receive cheap and fast payments from the eurozone was crucial for Monobank’s success in the market.

Thousands of households in the country depend on such transfers from Ukrainian migrant workers residing in neighbouring EU states. Through partnering with Clear Junction, Monobank’s customers are able to receive an IBAN (International Bank Account Number) which enables them to receive inbound transfers via SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) or SEPA Instant, new bank transfer technology that allows for euro transactions to be processed in seconds, from relatives residing in the EU.
 
 

 

How did you come up with the idea for the company?

 
I have always wanted to work in fintech. I went to the University of Tel Aviv, where I studied Computers and Economics. After university I spent a substantial portion of my career in the Israeli fintech space and then worked for various financial companies as a consultant. During my time consulting, I noticed that companies did not need my advice, they needed high-quality payment services and solutions – this is where my idea for Clear Junction originated.

The financial services industry is enormous and there are many ways to provide services. At Clear Junction, we decided to go after a particularly challenging and niche area of the market that other service providers avoided, due to the perceived risk involved. We built risk management capabilities into our propriety technology to navigate this, so we felt more comfortable taking risks. This is what makes us unique.

We provide the foundations behind the finance industry and work with some big names and well-respected financial institutions. Knowing that we built this company from scratch in 2016 and now, five years later, we are processing payments for companies worldwide always astounds me.
 

 

How has the company evolved during the pandemic?

 
As a company, we went through the same things that most companies have, such as prioritising employee safety and requiring everyone to work from home. Due to the pandemic, which caused changes in consumer behaviour and restrictions for financial institutions with various lockdowns, we saw a rapid increase in mobile banking and digital payments.

The rise in mobile banking provided a unique opportunity for our customers, however, to grasp this opportunity, businesses and banks need to make sure they are working with payment experts who have experience managing online transfers across the world safely and securely. Therefore, demand for our services grew enormously – our transaction volumes increased by 9136%.

To continue delivering quality services and meet the needs of our customers throughout the pandemic, we have been changing how our products work and innovating our proprietary in-house technology around international digital payments. The growth of mobile and digital banking is set to continue after the pandemic and we will continue to evolve as the industry does to best support our customers in overcoming the barriers of digital transformation, both now and in the future.
 

What can we hope to see from Clear Junction in the future?

 
Due to our rapid growth, we have undergone a complete rebrand and have done quite a lot of hiring and have several open roles currently. We increased our team to 60 people this year, which is a 20% increase compared to six months ago. We plan to continue hiring across sales, marketing, client services, business development and more. In the fintech industry right now, there is no shortage of opportunities available. Brexit, the US election, the introduction of new regulations across countries…all present an opportunity in the finance world. The challenge is ensuring that we are ready to take those opportunities and capitalise on them.

We are continuously looking at ways to improve the services and solutions we offer to our customers to meet their needs based on the fast-moving changes happening in the industry. We certainly did a great job of this over the last year and expect to see continued growth. As a business our revenues are multiplying every year and we are in a strong position financially. It’s an exciting time at Clear Junction and we are looking forward to the future.