OakNorth partners Shieldpay for digital escrow accounts

OakNorth is partnering with payments security firm Shieldpay to launch escrow accounts for borrowers looking to make high value, secure payments.

The FinTech has partnered with Shieldpay, founded in London in 2016, to develop a digital escrow account to secure high value transactions between two parties.

The new product, the first instance of a FinTech launching an escrow account, will enable OakNorth to hold borrower’s funds securely in Shieldpay’s Vault facility and only release funds when all parties are in agreement.

The partnership is built upon OakNorth and Shieldpay’s integrations with ClearBank, and comes as OakNorth continues to build its financial partnership ecosystem to improve the customer experience.

As OakNorth continues to grow its loans book in the UK, the partnership will ensure that the bank’s borrowers are able to keep track of capital within the business and that all funds are being allocated appropriately.

Shieldpay’s platform will also provide OakNorth with detailed analytics and insights into borrowers’ cash flows, building an additional layer of risk management and control. OakNorth said that several of its clients have already signed up.

Shieldpay’s patent pending payments process fully verifies the identity of both sides of any transaction, holds funds securely and only releases them once both parties confirm they are happy. It guarantees the security of payments, streamlines the process and provides visibility for both OakNorth and its customers.

Amir Nooriala, chief strategy officer of OakNorth, said: “This will be particularly useful for our property developer clients where there are often numerous parties involved in a project - architects, project managers, contractors, sub-contractors, designers, etc - and it can be challenging keeping track of all funds and ensuring that all parties are being paid the right amount at the right time.”

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