In a boon for small business (SMB) banking, Redwood Bank has teamed up with Insignis Cash Solutions to offer savings accounts to Insignis’ SMBs through the Insignis Cash Platform, according to a press release. As of mid-February, clients of Insignis can put funds into a Redwood Bank savings account, which will offer competitive interest rates, and provide greater protection eligibility when depositing funds via the platform.
“Our banking panel is carefully selected so that we can offer clients a well-rounded product offering that we know will give them exceptional service,” said Paul Richards, chairman of Insignis. “To be able to offer a wider variety of rates to our [SMB] and charity clients is welcome. We’re looking forward to working with Redwood Bank.”
Gary Wilkinson, CEO and Co-founder of Redwood Bank, echoed that sentiment.
“We are passionate about supporting British [SMB] businesses and charities, helping them navigate the ever-changing financial and business landscape. We pride ourselves on exceeding customer expectations, and we’re proud to be providing a service to Insignis clients, who we hope and expect will see the value in investing in Redwood Bank,” he said.
In other small business banking news, rising Know Your Customer (KYC) and other risk mitigation regulations have pushed the ecosphere into a closer look at digital identity technology, a market that is expected to hit $12.8 billion in valuation by 2024.
Even though technology continues to progress, and automation improves via the adoption of digital technologies, traditional identity verification tools are still widely used. Knowledge-based authentication (KBA) tools, which include security questions and passwords, are still just as common as they were a decade ago.
However, some smaller firms want to start using other forms of identification besides KBA, even though it’s difficult to move away from such tools. At the time, Nav Co-founder and Chief Legal & Compliance Officer Caton Hanson said that KBA has serious shortcomings, but it’s important to cover all bases.
“You can’t be negligent in trying to verify or determine the authenticity of users before they access consumer credit,” Hanson said.