Ukrainian Bank Partners With Swedish FinTech

Ukrainian bank UKRSIBBANK, part of BNP Paribas Group, is teaming up with Dreams, a financial wellness FinTech startup based in Sweden.

“Our financial wellbeing platform — which is built upon behavioral science and personal finance management principles — will provide the perfect tool for UKRSIBBANK to help its customers make better financial choices and become more sustainable in the way they handle their finances,” Henrik Rosvall, chief executive officer and founder of Dreams, said in a statement on Tuesday (Nov. 24). 

Rosvall added that its “mission of helping millennials save more and feel better about their money” makes Dreams an “ideal” partner. The collaboration will also help UKRSIBBANK stay ahead of the competition and “futureproof its digital banking offering” as challenger banks and FinTechs crowd the personal finance landscape.

UKRSIBBANK’s more than 2 million customers will have access to the Dreams Platform. The integration will give customers the ability to set up automated savings and long-term goals using special features and shortcuts. 

“I believe that banks have a role to improve their customers’ lives. Planning and saving for important life events improves our quality of life by reducing stress levels, and we wish to make our customers feel more confident and in-control of their lives,” said Konstantin Lezhnin, head of retail, UKRSIBBANK BNP Paribas Group. 

Lezhnin said that Dreams is “the best European player in behavioral savings” and has proven itself “in Sweden and Norway based on scientific research.” 

Dreams launched in Sweden in 2016 and Norway in 2018 and has a 16 percent market share of all 20- to 39-year-old consumers.

Dreams recently teamed up with the banking software firm Silverlake Symmetri, its first enterprise partnership. The collaborations coincide with a new department in Stockholm that will be tasked with facilitating business-to-business partnerships for Dreams. 

Before the second wave of the coronavirus hit, European banks had been grappling with $26 billion in second quarter loan losses.