SMB Banking-as-a-Service Ushers In Bank-FinTech Collaboration

Small business Banking-as-a-Service rises to the top in this week’s roundup of the latest bank-FinTech collaborations and open banking initiatives. Two SMB BaaS companies secured new funding, while FinTech Wise says it is ushering in a new definition of open banking with its embedded banking functionality. Meanwhile, Prime Trust launches a new portal for banks to manage crypto, and Radius Bank releases its own API-powered developer sandbox.

Prime Trust Debuts Fractional Assets Platform For Banks

Prime Trust, which provides financial infrastructure as well as technology for custody and settlement of alternative assets, has rolled out a new core banking platform with support for cryptocurrency and other fractional assets. In a recent announcement, Prime Trust said its new core accounting and customer asset management platform is designed for banks, FinTechs and trust companies to access a range of capabilities, including payment processing and transaction settlement. The Software-as-a-Service tool also includes support for adding custody of fractionalized assets, including crypto, real estate and securities. In a statement, CEO Scott Purcell said that while more banks are interested in stepping into the crypto arena, many face struggles “once they realize that their legacy core systems … are not built to handle the precision requirements of fractional or digital assets.”

BizCapital

Brazil’s BizCapital offers banks and other financial institutions (FIs) a range of solutions they can provide to their own small and medium-sized business customers. The company revealed last week that it raised $3 million in funding from the Netherlands’ Oikocredit, lifting BizCapital’s Series B investment round to $15 million. The new funding will go toward expanding BizCapital’s product offering for banks, which today focuses on financial inclusion in lending.

StreetShares

Another small business Banking-as-a-Service FinTech to secure funding last week is StreetShares, which raised $10 million from Motley Fool Ventures, Ally Ventures and various angel investors, the company said. StreetShares offers small business lending technology for banks and credit union. While the product only launched last year, the company said the COVID-19 crisis has greatly increased demand for its solutions, as more financial service providers and small business customers seek digital solutions for funding. The company is currently expanding its platform to offer a suite of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) lending services for its bank and credit union users.

Wise Raises Funding For Embedded Biz Banking

With $12 million in Series A funding announced last week, Wise is looking to accelerate its efforts to integrate banking capabilities for its clients’ customers. The company allows businesses like Software-as-a-Service firms to embed banking services within their own platforms to address the corporate banking needs of their clients. In a recent interview with PYMNTS, Wise Co-founder and CEO Arjun Thyagarajan said the technology is like a form of open banking. “It’s not just about opening up the account origination experience, but fully managing and servicing it,” he explained. “That’s the piece that non-FinTech companies are not comfortable with … the market is really big, and different companies are taking different approaches.”

Radius Bank Rolls Out Developer Sandbox

Radius Bank is expanding its Banking-as-a-Service offering for its commercial customers with the launch of its Commercial API Banking Platform. The company revealed that the platform, the result of an ongoing partnership with Treasury Prime, includes a developer sandbox for product development and testing. Fueled by APIs, the technology allows developers to wield Radius Bank’s existing technologies for their own applications. In a statement, Commercial API Banking Senior Vice President John Relyea said there is a significant opportunity “to streamline the process of working with businesses, startups and developers who are building applications.”