Swedish fintech company, Qred announced on Thursday that it has received a payment services license from Sweden’s financial regulator, the Financial Supervisory Authority (S-FSA).

According to the startup, the PSD2 license issued by the S-FSA will allow it to develop ‘new and innovative financial products’ for small businesses and offer payment services.

The license includes both Payment Initiation Service (PIS) and Account Information Service (AIS).

Mentioning the importance of the new license and future plans, Qred CEO, Emil Sunvisson said: “The PSD2 license is a huge opportunity for fintech companies who want to challenge the traditional banks with new and innovative payment solutions.”

“Now, we gain access to the banks’ interface and can offer our customers to initiate payments from Qred’s platform. Long term, we believe that the customers’ loyalty will transfer from the banks to new companies who deliver added value based on technology and innovation.”

Targeting Small Businesses

Launched in 2015, Qred focuses on small businesses. The company is specifically focusing on various markets as, according to it, the demand for small business payments are very high in the region. The Stockholm-headquartered fintech startup now has a presence in six countries: Sweden, Belgium, Finland, Denmark, the Netherlands and Brazil.

The company gained the Swedish license only a month after it entered Belgium, and now has plans of further expansion in 2021.

“We have many European markets in the pipeline for 2021, so this will indeed be a very exciting phase for the company,” Sunvisson said earlier.

Additionally, Qred attracted investors’ attention and bagged more than $59 million over the years in multiple funding rounds.