Travel payment system eNett is predicting a large jump in business in part following the closure of MoneyDirect but also as it embarks on an aggressive growth plan.
eNett, a joint venture between Travelport and digital payment provider PSP, reckons it will double transaction volumes from its current $1 billion/year level for the virtual card processing system vNett over the course of the next 12 months.
The main eNett platform could also double volumes from the existing $2 billion mark as well, CEO Anthony Hynes predicts.
The forecasting came as rival payment provider MoneyDirect, a joint venture between Travelport rivals Amadeus and Sabre, shut its doors earlier this week, claiming the backers wanted to return to their core GDS and technology businesses.
eNett stepped in within hours to offer virtual payment technology through vNett for MoneyDirect's mostly Australia and New Zealand-based customers.
This will obviously boost eNett's customer base and volume levels (although other payment providers are also likely to try and snap up many of the 8,500 MD clients), but it is the growth of vNett elsewhere around the world from where most of the growth is expected to come.
The payment gateway space is "pretty crowded", admits Hynes, but the company is plotting on a significant growth strategy concentrating on Europe and North America, where it will add up to 15 currencies into the system over the next few months.
Headcount is expected to increase by 2-30% from the current 50 by the end of the year.
Interestingly, in stark contrast to proclamations from MoneyDirect executives over the years, eNett is under no illusions that it can create some kind of payment system standard for the travel industry.
"There is not an aspiration to be the industry standard [with the technology]," Hynes admits, claiming that there are too many and varied systems already on the market, all with different protocols, technology and already heavily-regulated procedures.
Hotel Technology Next Generation helped coordinate a payments standards working group.
"The workgroup is currently in maintenance mode, and additional efforts are now being formulated for hosted payment capture and an overall security framework for hospitality," says HTNG CEO Douglas Rice.