The opportunity
With a mission to use employee benefits as a lever for social and environmental impact, Regional Hero spotted an opportunity to go beyond the traditional setup of expense management and benefit cards.
The solution
Regional Hero embedded banking features into its employee benefits solution. With their employee benefits card, companies can offer their employees tax-free benefits while also supporting the local economy.
The impact
Supported by Swan's reliable banking infrastructure, Benefit Cards powered by Regional Hero encourage sustainable consumption through locally limited payment controls. The result is a perfect pairing of tax-free employee benefits and stronger local communities.
Creating social impact through business expenses
Founded in 2020, Regional Hero created an engaging employee benefits platform fueled by a mission to shape a better future for local communities. Nowadays, to remain competitive in the talent market, there are high expectations when it comes to employee benefits. But moreover, there’s a booming demand for more sustainable, socially beneficial, and environmentally friendly consumption.
Layered on top of these evolving expectations, innovative HR solution providers are integrating banking features to streamline critical HR operations and financial management into a single platform. This reduces administrative complexity for HR and finance teams while boosting employee satisfaction and retention.
With this landscape in mind, Regional Hero brings the next generation of employee benefits to the market. The company offers tax-free, non-cash benefits for sustainable purchases that are fully digital, making the process as smooth as possible for businesses and their employees.
Strengthening local communities with employee benefit cards
Regional Hero wants to not only reward employees but also drive sustainable, local economic growth. Recognizing that traditional benefit models were no longer fit for the future, the company reimagined employee benefits through a creative and sustainable lens.
Regional Hero knew they needed to enable money to flow into local communities through different parties in the local ecosystem. They created a no-brainer proposition with tax-free allowances encouraging local spending with user-friendly payment experiences.
But payments and the banking systems around them can be complex. So the challenge was to find a reliable financial solution that offered a sophisticated and flexible infrastructure, delivered in a user-friendly way. This is where embedded banking and Swan came in. Pascal Schreiber, Founder & CEO or Regional Hero shares;
“Swan's embedded banking features have enabled us to focus on developing comprehensive regional benefit products. The scalability of their infrastructure is an invaluable advantage and offers enormous growth potential. At the same time, we offer companies a simple method of providing tax-free benefits in kind to employees, making us and our partners even more competitive in an increasingly crowded market.”
Scaling sustainable employee benefits with Swan’s embedded banking
Regional Hero saw the potential of embedded banking to enhance their portfolio and support local communities. They wanted to integrate crucial financial features such as benefit cards to empower employees to make meaningful purchases.
With their mission to support local communities, three key factors shaped their decision-making process. Firstly, the ability to control where and how these card payments are made. Secondly, a commitment to a seamless user experience for both companies and employees to drive card adoption and usage. And lastly, a desire to ensure the security of funds without a heavy compliance burden.
With this in mind, Regional Hero chose Swan as their banking partner for their employee benefit solution. The Benefit Cards powered by Regional Hero are available as physical or digital cards. They are issued by Swan and branded as either Regional Hero, a partner, or a company card. Swan’s technical infrastructure allows Regional Hero to ensure that tax requirements for benefits are applied and card usability is regionally limited.
By embedding banking features with Swan, Regional Hero built an experience that delights their business customers and employee users. On top of that, they also attract other benefit providers. These providers are not only integrating the local benefit solution on their platforms; they also use the complete technical infrastructure of Regional Hero to provide a smooth and convenient solution for their customers without the need for any development. Importantly, Swan takes care of all the regulatory and compliance operations—including Know Your Customer (KYC) and transaction monitoring—so Regional Hero can focus on their core mission.
Benefit Cards powered by Regional Hero contribute to the sustainability and strengthening of the local economy by allowing employees to spend their tax-free credit with regional businesses and service providers. Money flows directly into the local economy, helping to secure jobs, support local companies, and create a more circular economy. More than 200 companies already use Regional Hero's services with over 15,000 non-cash benefit cards having been issued to employees. And Pascal Schreiber, Founder & CEO or Regional Hero, is excited for the growth to come.
“Swan's embedded banking solution and the collaboration with Mastercard has unlocked a rapidly scaling B2B2B business model in the HR space and especially for our benefits offering.”
Regional Hero’s partnership with Swan is an important collaboration to showcase how everyday business operations such as employee benefits can be used as a force for social impact. This is just the next step in Regional Hero’s journey and we look forward to helping them build the future of employee benefits.
