Bankable Opens Middle East & Africa Hub in Dubai

• Bankable and Visa announce strategic collaboration within the CEMEA region.
• Bankable opens an office at the Dubai International Financial Center.
• The office will serve 50+ markets in the Middle East & Africa region.

Dubai, United Arab Emirates – November 25th, 2019 – Bankable, the global provider of “Banking as a Service” solutions, and Visa today announced a strategic collaboration within the Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMEA) region. Bankable aims to work with Visa to accelerate the digital capabilities of financial institutions’, build and launch digital banks, reduce cash usage and increase Fintech sponsorship in CEMEA. To accommodate this collaboration, Bankable is opening an office at the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC), which will be Bankable’s Middle Eastern hub.

Bankable’s presence in Dubai will allow the company to engage with the Dubai International Financial Centre, the leading financial centre of the Middle East, Africa and South Asia, comprised of more than 2.000 active registered firms. Bankable will complement and address the already strong fintech ecosystem in the region. The company will look to foster partnerships that enable faster time-to-market and relevant digital banking initiatives.

“Our decision to invest in Dubai is a natural extension for us. Bankable has served prestigious global clients headquartered in Dubai for the last three years. Following our global partnership in April 2019 with Visa, Bankable is committed to increase its alignment with Visa. Not only is Dubai home to global head offices and Visa’s CEMEA base, but some of our existing clients in Europe and North America are now looking to expand in the region. We will be able to support our clients directly and Visa’s CEMEA financial institutions members as well as provide European and US access to UAE based organisations.” said Eric Mouilleron, CEO and founder of Bankable. “Partnering hand in hand with the DIFC, Bankable has the ambition to design, federate and operate a fintech magnet supported by pre-approved regional bank sponsors to facilitate the onboarding of global scaleups and contribute to strengthen the DIFC ecosystem.”

Otto Williams, VP Head of Strategic Partnerships, Fintech & Ventures CEMEA at Visa, said, “Our recent ’Stay Secure’ survey revealed increased preference for digital payments among consumers in the UAE and other key markets in the region. That and the efforts of visionary governments to develop connected cities make it a very exciting time for Visa, as an enabler of the payments ecosystem, to be bringing in new players like Bankable. Our strategic partnership with Bankable represents a great opportunity to further accelerate digital payments innovation in the region, and we look forward to bringing this partnership to our fintechs and bank clients to deliver innovative consumer experiences.”

Salmaan Jaffery, Chief Business Development Officer, DIFC Authority said: “We are delighted to welcome Bankable to the DIFC. Bringing efficiency to the payments industry is a critical piece of DIFC’s FinTech strategy, which provides firms a critical platform for innovation amid the world’s largest remittance corridors.
Investment in FinTech in our region is twice the rate globally so we will continue to support the ‘Banking as a Service’ model pursued by Bankable.
Jaffery added: “Not only will Bankable enjoy being strategically located in the 8th ranked financial centre globally, but DIFC will also provide Bankable access to an international network of strategic partners and financial institutions, reinforcing the DIFC’s commitment to the Future of Finance.”

-ends-

Notes to Editors:
For further information, please contact:

Sara Malinowsky at Bankable

sara@bnkbl.com / +44 20 3948 6034

About Bankable:
Bankable is a global digital banking and payments platform. We help financial institutions, corporates and FinTechs deploy, orchestrate and operate highly differentiated payment solutions with quick time-to-market.

We provide an exhaustive range of digital banking and payment solutions under a “Banking as a Service” model. Our core digital banking platform is available in white-label or via APIs, enabling our clients to quickly deploy banking solutions – including digital banking solutions, virtual account solution, payment processing services, card programmes and mobile wallet services. Our client base includes both regulated financial institutions (Banks, Electronic Money Issuers, Payment Institutions, Insurance companies…) and non-regulated global corporates and FinTechs who use our platform and Partner’s Ecosystem to deploy digital banking and payment services and generate new revenue opportunities.

Our motto: “quick time-to-market”
Bankable’s rapid implementation approach enables clients to generate revenues faster, increasing their valuation and attractiveness. By promoting pilot-based-experimentation, Bankable allows its customers to quickly launch, test and validate a new service before moving towards a seamless deployment.

About Visa Inc.:
VISA Inc. (NYSE: V) is the world’s leader in digital payments. The company’s mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, reliable VISA’s secure payment network – enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. Our advanced global processing network, VISANet, provides secure and reliable payments around the world, and is capable of handling more than 65,000 transaction messages a second. The company’s relentless focus on innovation is a catalyst for the rapid growth of connected commerce on any device, and a driving force behind the dream of a cashless future for everyone, everywhere. As the world moves from analogue to digital, VISA is applying their brand, products, people, network and scale to reshape the future of commerce.

”Trust is something you must gain”

A discussion about collaboration and trust a couple of weeks ago in London could not have benefited from better timing. During the Innovate Finance Global Summit, we were featured in a panel showcasing trust and collaboration. Together with our partner Liesbeth Righter from Moneyou, as well as representatives from NorthRow and Toronto Financial Services alliance, we were on stage in front of 350 engaged attendees, elaborating around the collaborative economy and who you can trust. A discussion that evolved around the following topics: FinTechs need to be more efficient in the way they collaborate with other actors and need to have better ways to promote trust.

Bankable and Moneyou together built a fully digital bank in the record timespan of 6 months – something that was made possible thanks to our focus on building a mutual partnership through transparency, trust and collaboration.

During the panel, Eric, CEO and Founder of Bankable recommended that one of the keys to nurture collaboration is to be organised for partnerships, highlighting the procurement process. With Moneyou, we had one single interface, which enabled us to move fast and made it possible to deploy a solution within 6 months.

However, Eric admits that not all procurement processes have been as swift as the one set up with Moneyou. In several processes, we have had to project-manage our own vendor approval. “But it’s not that I don’t like it, this is just how it is. It’s a challenge to work with large corporations, but that’s what we are organised for and we have a strong board behind us to support our mission. If I didn’t like what I did, I would make pizza instead. There are no regulations in that.”

How do you get to collaboration?

“It’s about culture. There are people in a bank with a collaborative mindset, but the culture of the bank is generally not collaborative. That’s why I like to work with start-ups and scale-ups”, says Adrian Black, CEO of NorthRow.

“We try to find the intrapreneurs of companies, people who do the same job that we do. They are here to change their company and we are here to help them. We don’t say ‘Dear client, let’s meet in 5 years, after you spent billions on replacing your core banking system’ We say, ‘Let’s start now, let’s do a pilot to start seeing transactions’”, says Eric Mouilleron, at Bankable.

“Liesbeth, we met 2 years ago, 1 year later we had a solution ready. So, there is hope, we can move fast with banks”, Eric continued.

What are the keys to collaboration?

“Trust is something you must gain from your customers and partners. It comes down to being true to what you do and being truthful in how you communicate it. If all of this is consistent, you can be faster and lean – then you can really start working together. The organisational structures are there to make it complicated, but we (Moneyou) are trying to make it lean again. One way of doing this is to take it in smaller units and compartments and change it from there.” Liesbeth Rigther, CEO of Moneyou.

“Traditionally people trust banks because they have the authority as an organisation. But I think this is about to change. And we all have to learn to deal with what happens when their trust disappears” Liesbeth Rigter, CEO Moneyou continues.

Have FinTechs really changed the stagnant infrastructure?

“It’s consumer demands that will determine the change. But already today 85% of banks know they will partner with FinTechs. It’s down to how quick you can shift due to regulations” said Jenifer Reynolds, Toronto Financial Services Alliance.

“We don’t know what banking will develop into, but it’s time to start finding that out. I really think that all this pioneering and exploring will lead to new business models, and when the market is open, the banks will have to change too.” Said Liesbeth Rigter, CEO Moneyou.

How can banks adapt rather than being protective?

“It used to be hard to set up a bank, but it’s not that hard anymore. Now it’s easier to introduce new competitive financial services solutions”, said Adrian Black, CEO at NorthRow.

“85% of the IT budget in a bank goes to maintain the legacy system. But I’m not too hostile against legacy, since that shows you have a history. When we work with incumbents; we take legacy into account but we’re not converting the whole thing. You need to adapt, or you don’t stay. The real issue is the management of the banks as many bank managers today are close to retirement. You’re not going to innovate near retirement, this is when you want to make sure that your package is the best it can be. The layer underneath top management can be dangerous too, they are the ones that made the legacy system, and they don’t want to change something they built”, said Eric Mouilleron, CEO at Bankable.

“I met a bank executive a couple of days ago, he told me that he doesn’t want to hire anyone over 40”, Jennifer Reynolds at Toronto Financial Services Alliance, reacted to the fact that an employee close to retirement will not innovate.

“We are developing with customers that are below 40 years old. If you want to innovate you need the customers under 40, because they grew up with the phone in your hand and they don’t know a world without internet. To be honest, our customers over 40 are too nice to us!”, Liesbeth Rigter at Moneyou answered.

“I employ loads of millennials, they show me things that I couldn’t imagine. We need diversity since that is also how our clients look and what they look for. Diversity is good for business!” Eric Mouilleron, CEO and Founder at Bankable finished.

You can watch the whole panel on YouTube.

Insights from a week dedicated to FinTech

week of FinTech in London. Fruitful meetings, inspiring talks and visions to establish London as the FinTech capital of Europe. As one of the founding members of the association, Bankable firstly attended the Innovate Finance Global Summit, a two-day-event where we both exchanged with varied visitors in our booth and participated in a panel with our partner Moneyou. We also spent a day discussing FinTech with challenging people at the International FinTech Conference hosted by HM Treasury at the London Tobacco Docks.

FinTech week really aimed to position London as the FinTech capital of Europe, with business leaders and policy makers backing up the same vision. We have heard announcements from policymakers, such as Bank of England, that are currently setting up new FinTech initiatives:

“We have set up a new FinTech hub that will sit at the heart of the Bank, to consider both how the Bank understands and how they apply FinTech, relevantly to its mission,” said deputy governor of Bank of England, Dave Ramsden.

Even the British government revealed their own take on the matter by releasing their first FinTech scenario ever: Philip Hammond, Chancellor of the Exchequer, unveiled a new FinTech strategy as the government is looking to support this fast-growing sector ahead of Brexit. Through the automation of regulatory compliance, they aim at “reducing costs for financial services firms, and removing a key barrier for FinTechs”, Philip Hammond said. He also stated that the United Kingdom is the best place in the world for FinTech companies – and will remain so after Brexit.

Policy makers were not the only ones making strong statements during the week – we listened to and took part in several interesting panels that discussed the future of FinTech (on the topics of Brexit, banking innovation, etc). The overall theme is easily summarised: it was all about collaboration. That is, collaboration between incumbents and FinTechs. We heard the word on every stage, with many of the panellists specifically stating that the ones that succeeded with collaboration and great partnerships are the ones that will succeed in the future. As Megan Caywood, COO and co-founder of Starling Bank said:

“The bank that partner the best will be the winner in the future”.

Also, the Chief Customer and Innovation Officer at Santander UK, Sigridur Sigurdardottir, said that

“[Banks] collaborating with FinTechs and start-ups is very effective; they get resilience and we get speed – with customers at the centre. There are challenges on the way: infrastructure and time-to-market”

The FinTech landscape is getting more mature, as we can see that more and more partnerships are being shaped between banks and FinTechs – something that Deutsche Bank’s Head of Strategic Investments, Richard Smith, also stated:

“We have large technology departments within the bank, but FinTechs bring speed and agility to launch quickly when we may not always have the bandwidth to hire quickly internally. With FinTechs, we are able to work more efficiently.”

Liesbeth Rigter, Moneyou and Eric Mouilleron, Bankable

Although the talk was about the future of partnerships between incumbents and FinTechs, we did not see many showcases of partnerships that have been fruitful and successful. Therefore, we are even prouder to have been on stage together with our partner Moneyou at the Innovate Finance Global Summit, to talk about trust and collaboration. Our CEO Eric Mouilleron and Liesbeth Righter, CEO of Moneyou, discussed the collaborative economy and who to trust, together with representatives from the Toronto Financial Services Alliance and NorthRow. Eric and Liesbeth elaborated on the key elements that made (and continues to make) the Moneyou-Bankable partnership successful – and hopefully inspired others to work for such rewarding and prosperous partnerships. (If you want to hear more about our partnership, listen to this podcast) As our CEO Eric put it:

“It is not fashionable to be alone these days”.

This week showed that we have an exciting year 2018 ahead of us – and quoting Liesbeth Righter’s conclusion to the panel:

“We do not know what the banking industry is going to develop into. But it is time to start figuring this out”

Eric also wrote an article on the topic of FinTech Nation 2018 that was published just before the event; you can read his article “The Rise of the friendly FinTech” here.

Eric and Liesbeth summarised their panel and the Innovate Finance Global Summit after their panel, listen to their key takeaways in this video.

 

Ditto Bank, the new French bank dedicated to customers without borders, selects Bankable to provide API access to the UK Faster Payment Scheme

Ditto Bank, “the Bank that travels with you”, is a new generation French bank with global ambitions that offers a unique multi-currency model. Ditto Bank holds its own banking license and manages to combine the reliability of a bank with the flexibility of a FinTech. Designed for those who need access to multiple currencies on a regular basis (frequent travellers, expatriates, online shoppers, etc), Ditto Bank customers can use their app to open current accounts in different currencies, manage their money, make transfers and complete foreign exchange transactions, all from a mobile app created for and with the customer, who always remains at the centre of a seamless experience.

Ditto Bank was launched in Paris on February 15, 2018. Two weeks after the launch, Bankable is selected to provide Ditto with real time API access to the UK Faster Payment scheme. This allows every Ditto customer to have a UK Sort Code and Account Number from which they can send and receive GBP payments to and from other UK bank accounts. A step in the right direction to help Ditto towards their ambition of becoming a borderless bank.

“We chose Bankable among other candidates to access UK Faster payment via API, says Sylvain Pignet, founder and CEO of Ditto Bank. We are committed to promote and leverage open banking. Bankable’s prices were competitive but we also felt both organisations were culturally aligned. This partnership with Bankable is a first step, other joint projects may follow.”

Bankable’s proprietary API based “Banking as a Service” platform provides turnkey payment solutions with account/card issuance and management, transaction processing, as well as compliance and ancillary services. Apart from access to the UK Faster Payment scheme, Bankable is currently also providing access to SWIFT, SEPA STEP2, TARGET2 and soon SEPA Instant Payments. Bankable’s platform enables customers to focus on their brand, distribution and client acquisition instead of reinventing the “infrastructure wheel”. With accelerated time to market and faster revenue generation, Bankable customers increase the value and attractiveness of their business.

“We are very excited to partner with Ditto Bank, says Eric Mouilleron, founder and CEO of Bankable. Ditto has an original vision, a strong management team and prestigious financial backers (UAE Exchange and Travelex). Travelex has always been an inspiration for me. Prior to founding Ditto, Sylvain Pignet was Group Company Secretary of Travelex Group, working along Lloyd Dorfman, CBE, Travelex Group founder, to build the world’s largest retailer of foreign exchange. Given Sylvain’s vision and track record and the quality of Ditto’s management team and backers, we believe that Ditto Bank will become a dominant player.”

About Bankable:
Bankable is a global provider of “Banking as a Service” solutions. Our digital banking platform is available in white-label or via APIs enabling any financial institution, fintech or corporate to deploy a full array of digital banking services, including but not limited to: account services, mobile banking, domestic and international payments, real-time clearing solutions, FX services, e-wallets, and virtual & plastic card programmes and processing.
Bankable also provides access to major clearing systems such as SEPA STEP 2 & TARGET 2, UK Faster Payments & BACS, and SWIFT.
Eric Mouilleron is the founder and CEO of Bankable, headquartered at Level 39, Canary Wharf, London.
More information on www.bnkbl.com

For more information about Bankable:
Sofia Bressler | Head of Marketing and Communication | +44 203 725 7653

About Ditto Bank:
Ditto Bank is the first digital bank dedicated to currency management. Using the Ditto app, the customer can create multiple accounts in different currencies, all linked to a unique Mastercard Gold card, allowing them to make payments, withdrawals and transfers all over the world at no additional cost. Whether the client is an expatriate, a cross-border business traveller or simply a tourist, it is now very easy and transparent to manage their currencies abroad. The €9.90 monthly subscription includes all the account management fees and the exchange margin will not exceed 1% of the transaction amount. Sylvain Pignet is the founder and CEO of Ditto Bank, part of a credit institution ruled by the French Prudential Control and Resolution Authority.
More information on www.dittobank.com

For more information about Ditto Bank:
Jiwon Kim | Head of Marketing and Communication | +33 (0)1 75 60 05 65
Amélie Gillot | PR Consultant | +33 (0)1 44 82 54 56

Are you our new HR Administrator & Office Manager?

Bankable are growing and we’re looking for new talents to join us. Are you a recruiter within Financial Services or IT, a self-starter and looking for a role that you can develop as you grow with the company? Sounds interesting? Then this might be the role for you. Read more about the HR Administrator & Office Manager role and apply.

“When I launched Bankable no one knew what FinTech stood for”

Bankable logoOur CEO Eric Mouilleron in a talk with Payment and Cards magazine about the journey of Bankable. From the start, with Eric attending a Mastercard conference in 2007 realising that the payment industry was a growing market and filled with opportunities. When the regulations changed in November 2009, Bankable was launched. Today, 7 years later, we’re in the middle of our exponential growth in a booming industry that is disrupting the financial industry with innovation.
Read Eric’s story on page 19 in the latest issue of PCM.

Bankable And Moneyou: Friendly Fintechs Challenging The Status Quo

European retail online bank Moneyou has announced today that it will be diversifying its portfolio to leverage Level 39 payments service provider Bankable’s multi-wallet and multi-card technology to target millennials in the Netherlands and in Germany. Moneyou understands the changing needs of the customer in a unique way and is continuously improving their products and services to meet these needs. Branded the friendliest fintech to incumbents, Bankable is renowned for its rapid implementation and in turn, the ability to generate revenue at a faster rate.

To read the full article, click here.

ABN Amro turns to Bankable platform for digital unit Moneyou

Bankable’s Banking as a Service platform powers Moneyou BV, the fully digital consumer subsidiary of ABN Amro. The service is now opened to selected customers in the Netherlands.

Moneyou is a financial service provider launched by ABN AMRO under a separate brand in 2001 and active in 4 countries in the EU. Moneyou provides savings accounts to more than half a million customers and is now diversifying its offering by leveraging Bankable’s latest generation multi-wallet and multi-card technology to launch a full product portfolio targeted at millennials in the Netherlands and in Germany.

For the full article, click here.

Bankable va fournir à Moneyou, filiale digitale d’ABN Amro, un service de comptes courants

Les Echos, France’s leading financial news paper, highlights Bankable’s Banking as a Service platform powering of ABN AMRO Bank’s fully-digital consumer subsidiary, Moneyou.

“Encore balbutiante en Europe, la distribution de briques de services bancaires par des jeunes pousses de la finance passe un cap. Ce ne sont plus seulement d’autres fintech désireuses de croquer des parts de marché plus rapidement qui se montrent intéressées : les banques européennes, elles-mêmes, signent désormais aussi des partenariats avec ces nouveaux spécialistes de la « banque Lego ». Moneyou, filiale d’ABN Amro spécialisé dans l’épargne, va ainsi annoncer ce mardi la signature d’une alliance avec Bankable. Cette jeune pousse britannique a vocation à fournir un compte courant aux 500.000 clients détenteurs d’un produit d’épargne chez Moneyou aux Pays-Bas, en Allemagne, en Belgique et en Autriche. « Avec ce partenariat, nous n’accédons pas seulement à un produit de banque au quotidien centré sur le paiement. Nous allons bénéficier d’une plate-forme bancaire très agile, qui va nous permettre de construire avec Bankable des services adaptés aux nouveaux besoins de nos clients », se félicite Liesbeth Rigter, directrice générale de Moneyou.”

Ninon Renaud

For the full article in French, click here.

Bankable partners with Starling Bank to provide UK Agency Banking access to its clients

Money 2020, Copenhagen, June 28, 2017 –

Bankable signed a direct strategic partnership with Starling Bank, one of the UK’s leading challenger banks, to provide real-time Faster Payments.

Bankable will integrate its Banking as a Service platform with Starling’s state of the art API set.

Bankable’s proprietary API based Banking as a Service platform provides turnkey payment solutions with account / card issuance and management, transaction processing, as well as compliance and ancillary services. The partnership will allow clients to send and receive Faster Payments all in real-time through Starlings API.

The Bankable-Starling Bank partnership complements Bankable’s existing relationship with Arkea Business Service providing access to Step 2 and Target 2 Euro clearing systems. This partnership will provide a turnkey solution for ambitious cross-border Challenger Bank initiatives originated by Incumbents or FinTechs. Our clients will be able to focus on their brand, distribution and client acquisition instead of reinventing the “infrastructure wheel”, in turn translating to accelerated time to market.

Bankable has successfully delivered projects for demanding Tier-1 banks and FinTechs for the last six years. Bankable’s speedy implementation approach enables clients to generate revenues faster, increasing their valuation and attractiveness.

By promoting pilot-based-experimentation, Bankable allows its customers to quickly launch, test and validate a new service before moving towards a seamless deployment.

Julian Sawyer, Starling Bank COO, commented: “We are very excited to partner with Bankable. This partnership will allow their customers to access the Faster Payments infrastructure and to complete payments all in real-time. Bankable have a strong presence within the European banking market with their innovative payment solutions enabling a complete Banking as a Service model. We believe this partnership will continue to improve the experience for customers and continue to drive innovation within the financial ecosystem”.

Eric Mouilleron, Bankable’s CEO and founder commented: “We have followed Starling Bank since their inception. We decided to partner with Starling Bank immediately after they became the 13th UK Faster Payment member in January 2017. Starling Bank is different from other Challenger Banks as they started by building a strong back end and are led by former bankers who have contributed to different banking innovation waves over the last 30 years along a strong diverse team. We are excited to partner with a technology focused and client centric Bank who delivers real-time access to payment schemes, as opposed to the file-based systems made available by Incumbent Banks.”

About Starling Bank

Starling Bank Limited was founded in 2014 and granted its licence in July 2016 by the UK’s Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Starling Bank is a mobile only bank offering current accounts within the UK. Starling Payment Services is a new division within Starling Bank, focused on providing payment solutions to organisations. The division is run by Julian Sawyer, Starling Bank’s Chief Operating Officer. Starling Bank offers connectivity to all the main payment schemes within the UK, which include Faster Payments, BACS and Master Card Issuance.

Website: https://www.starlingbank.com/paymentservices/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/11118750/

About Bankable

London based Bankable is an enabler of innovative, global payment solutions providing “Banking as a Service”. Our core account and card management platform is available in white-label or via APIs enabling any regulated or non-regulated organisation to quickly deploy payment solutions – including light banking solutions, payment account & e-wallet services, virtual & plastic card programmes, as well as virtual ledgers and reconciliation solutions. Our client base includes both regulated financial institutions (Banks, Electronic Money Issuers, Payment Institutions, Insurance companies…) and non-regulated global corporates and FinTechs who use our platform to streamline their payments processes and generate new revenue opportunities.

More info on www.bnkbl.com
@wearebankable

For more information, please contact:
BANKABLE: hello@bnkbl.com