Dutch payments unicorn Mollie says UK/EU reset would be “greatly received” by payment firms and merchants

A Dutch payments unicorn has welcomed the prospect of closer ties between the UK and the EU, saying it would be “greatly received”. 

The new managing director of Mollie’s UK business, Dave Smallwood, says warmer ties between the UK and the EU, following Brexit, would benefit payment firms and merchants.

Smallwood, a former PayPal and American Express executive, has replaced Mia Hunter in a role overseeing a key market for Mollie, where it has a Payment Institution licence and a growing team of 26 based out of its London office.

Smallwood was responding to comments by UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer who says he wants the UK to have a closer relationship with Europe, saying he wants to reset relations. 

For example, Starmer has said he would look to seek a better deal on trade with the EU than the one Boris Johnson struck.

But it remains unclear whether Brussels would be open to significant changes to the existing trade deal, set to be reviewed in 2026. Starmer has ruled out re-entering the single market and customs union.

Following Brexit, the UK and EU payments industries have remained interlinked, however businesses offering payments between the UK and EU have been hit with additional fees and data requirements.

Smallwood said, following Brexit, it was "quite hard” for Mollie to get a Payment Institution licence in the UK, and said that there were European PSPs (payment service providers) and embedded finance providers which did not get a UK licence or didn’t apply for one.

Smallwood added:

“I do think that a better Euro/UK relationship would be better for merchants full stop.

"The merchants that are selling internationally and working to sell goods from the UK into Europe would love that because that hasn’t been easy for them to deal with over the last few years.

“The extra bureaucracy that Brexit caused the merchants selling something from the UK into Europe, or Europe into the UK, you know customs forms, all that type of stuff. It makes things harder, reduces the opportunity for our customers.

“Anything that can lift that and make it better for them would be greatly received by us and many others."

Mollie, whose partners in the UK include Mazda and Gymshark, says it has seen triple-digit year-on-year growth in the first quarter of this year in the UK.

It has offices in the Netherlands, Portugal, Italy, Germany and France.

Mollie's last public valuation was around $6.5 billion in 2021, amid a buoyant fintech market which has since depressed.