Mastercard Partners With Aion Bank For FinTech Express Program

Mastercard has chosen Aion Bank, powered by the Vodeno Cloud Platform, as a strategic partner for its Fintech Express Program.

“During the time of accelerated digital shift, financial services’ users seek technological innovations. We know that there is a heightened appetite for online solutions, with many Europeans expressing an interest in switching from physical banking to digital platforms,” Jason Lane, executive vice president, market development Europe, Mastercard, said in a press release emailed to PYMNTS.

Lane added that “innovative market players” collaborate with new FinTech products “fast and at scale” and have the support of the “right partners.” 

The newly combined entity will offer Aion Bank’s cloud-native digital banking services to new European FinTechs that will be able to leverage the bank’s Vodeno Cloud Platform (VCP) technology. The bank’s VCP tech is among one of the most comprehensive banking platforms operating entirely in the cloud, according to the release.

A full-service licensed digital bank based in Belgium, Aion Bank offers individuals and business owners a combination of banking technology and services akin to a legacy financial institution. Aion was also the first Belgium bank to use NFC chip technology for onboarding new retail and small business members. 

As part of the onboarding process — fully compliant with AML/KYC banking regulations — Aion also makes use of facial recognition via its app in order to validate NFC data. Overall, the process gives new customers the ability to open accounts in about 10 minutes. Qualifying members can get loan processing reduced to 20 minutes.

Wojciech Sobieraj, CEO of Aion Bank, said the company is looking forward to extending its Mastercard partnership and also said this cooperation “was born out of a long-standing relationship with Mastercard Europe.”

“The combination of Mastercard, Vodeno’s technology stack and Aion Bank’s fully-regulated charter will accelerate European FinTechs looking to develop a broad range of products and lending services across multiple sectors,” Sobieraj said.

Aion Bank COO Krzysztof Czuba said in a PYMNTS interview that Aion is looking at the particular challenges that small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) in the region face. The bank has also explored how FinTech and banking solutions need to have a local and global approach to help SMBs recover.