The Bank-FinTech Tie-Up Streamlines Access To Finance, Data

As banks look to streamline access to finance or make it easier to safely share financial information with apps, Barclays Business Banking and Wells Fargo are joining forces with FinTechs on digital initiatives.

Also seen in this week’s roundup of the newest collaborations is an open banking partnership between Ebury and Nexi that will allow Nexi’s partner banks to bolster their offerings for small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and corporate clients.

PYMNTS rounds up the latest partnerships and initiatives below.

Barclays & Propel

In Barclays’ newest bank-FinTech collaboration, Barclays Business Banking will team with asset finance provider Propel to provide vehicle and equipment finance through a digital platform to SMBs.

Relationship managers at the bank will link with Propel’s digital portal that offers fast credit decisions for as much as 100,000 pounds (approximately $130,000) for SMBs that bank with the institution.

“[SMBs] are the lifeblood of the U.K. economy, and we’re proud to be working with Barclays to help drive further growth,” Propel CEO Mark Catton said in an announcement.

The tie-up is the newest of many strategic FinTech partnerships Barclays has announced in recent times, with MarketFinance providing invoicing financing products and Nimbla providing invoice insurance.

Wells Fargo & Envestnet

In a milestone on its path to create application programming interface (API)-based data exchange deals with third parties, Wells Fargo has inked a deal with financial information aggregation and analytics platform Envestnet | Yodlee, according to an announcement.

The bank’s clients will have the capacity to easily and safely share their financial information with over 1,400 third-party financial programs on the Envestnet | Yodlee Financial Data Aggregation Platform that will assist in bolstering “their overall financial wellness,” according to the announcement.

Wells Fargo will start to roll out the experience with select Envestnet | Yodlee clients this year.

“We are thrilled to come to this agreement with Envestnet | Yodlee and take this big step toward achieving complete API-based financial data sharing for our consumer and small business customers who want to manage their finances on the platform of their choice,” said Ben Soccorsy, a senior vice president in Wells Fargo’s Strategy, Digital and Innovation group, in the announcement.

Ebury & Nexi

Italian PayTech firm Nexi has inked a partnership with FinTech Ebury, which offers international transaction banking services to companies, according to an announcement.

Ebury, which was started in 2009 and has offices in more than 20 nations, becomes a part of Nexi Open with the deal.

Nexi’s partner banks will have the capacity to offer the complete suite of Ebury services to customers, which encompass foreign exchange (FX) risk management, import/export financing and global cash management.

“The collaboration with Ebury allows us to support Italian banks that want to expand their global transaction services to [SMB] and corporate clients, who are increasingly looking to compete cross-border,” Nexi Head of Digital Banking Solutions Renato Martini said in the announcement. “Our bank partners will be able to offer relevant services for Italian [SMBs] that are importing and exporting and strengthen the relationship with their clients by seamlessly integrating Ebury’s services into their digital offering for businesses.”