The accounting provider Xero increases their financial product offering in the UK with the launch of a payroll feature (The Paypers). The feature was built in cooperation with banking-as-a-service provider Modulr. The two companies have been partnering already since 2023, when Xero launched an accounts-payable feature for their customers. With this feature, companies could make batch transfers for their incoming invoices, and thus, reduce time.
The payroll feature enables companies to process single or batch payroll payments. This allows them to decrease errors, reduce payroll processing times by up to 80%, approve payments via a mobile app, and consolidate multiple payments to a single recipient, potentially lowering transaction fees.
For companies like Xero, adding a payroll feature can have a massive impact. It does not only increase stickiness and improve user experience, but it can also generate substantial revenue. Xero is likely in a good position to cover all types of embedded finance products, perhaps at some point even insurance and investment products for SMEs. Personally, I would be very surprised if they were not able to make a majority of their revenue from financial services in the next few years.
