Digital Banking Partnerships Gain Traction in the US

In the continued linkups between banks and FinTech upstarts, new markets beckon across various borders.

Among the latest examples, N26, which is a digital-only bank based in Europe, has entered the US market through partnership with Axos Bank in order to offer FDIC insured accounts.

As reported by crowdfundinsider.com, the joint efforts bring the digital bank to a market that is dominated by financial sector marquee names, and where N26 becomes the first European challenger bank to launch on these shores. The company has raised $500 million to date in VC funding.

The partnership also includes the joint launch of a debt card, and N26 has said that it has 3.5 million customers spanning more than two dozen markets, with presence in the UK, France and Germany, among other markets. The firm says that it adds more than 10,000 users in Europe daily.

There exists a 100,000 customer waitlist, according to the site and among features advertised are the absence of FX fees on international purchase and two free withdrawals at ATMs on a monthly basis. As has been reported Monzo is entering the US market as well.

Separately, but also in Europe — with additional evidence of bank and FinTech pairings — Lloyds Bank is pairing up with a direct debit application programming interface (API) partnership with Blue Motor Finance. The partnership will provide motor dealerships with real time loan payments through the commercially oriented debit program.

The API is being jointly developed by the Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking API Lab. As was noted in a release Monday, the API “taps the Faster Payment rails to deliver instant loans” to clients tied to the automotive industry — and which are clients of Blue.  Blue has said that in four years the company has lent more than one billion pounds to 100,000 customers.

Blue Motor Finance Chief Technology Officer Charlie Barker said in a statement that “for the first time, it will mean that our customers will be able to make critical investment decisions, including at a vehicle auction, for example, with the knowledge that they’ll receive cleared funds in their account, potentially within two minutes.”

Beyond that news, last week InstaReM, which operates as a FinTech focused on cross border money flows, and is based in southeast Asia, has debuted an API platform that will help firms launch branded cards without the need to obtain multiple licenses across countries.  The cards can feature loyalty points, or can be issued as virtual cards, embracing peer-to-peer (P2P) or other payments.