Independence in S.C. Details Plans for Tech Innovation

Independence Bancshares (IEBS) in Greenville, S.C., will need to raise more capital to fund its development of new payments platforms.

The $109 million-asset company, which does business as nD bancgroup, said in a regulatory filing Monday that it will need more funding as it researches how to create services that could include digital banking, payments and transactions services. The filing did not detail how much capital would be needed.

Independence said it could expand or introduce prepaid debit programs, decoupled debit and real-time processing capabilities and debit card issuance programs to generate additional interchange income. The filing also said that the company would develop accounts and channels to reduce fraud, credit and settlement risks.

Potential products could include cloud-based platform services, customized mobile wallets, financial planning and savings apps and integration web services. Independence also said it could expand its offices in Greenville and New York, or expand into other markets, in areas such as sales and marketing, treasury, funding, risk management and customer support.

The goal is to generate revenue through a customer fee-based model, the filing said. Such revenue could come from maintenance and relationship fees, transaction fees, membership fees, licensing fees, currency related fees and advisory fees. The company said that, in some instances, it could share the revenue with partners and distribution channels.

The company, led by former Citigroup (NYSE: C) executive Gordon Baird, has already announced plans to go live this summer with a real-time payments platform.

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