Digital bank in a box: Fintech offers branding tool

The core systems provider Nymbus is offering a new product for bank customers that want to get in on the burgeoning trend of having a stand-alone, digital brand.

Dubbed SmartLaunch, the offering enables financial institutions to create a digital brand under their existing charter in as little as 90 days, according to Nymbus. The product is built on Nymbus’ cloud-based SmartCore platform, and the company says it provides banks that use the service with all outsourced operational and technological requirements to run the digital bank. Also included are client support, digital marketing and website services.

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According to Nymbus, financial institutions can use their established brand for introducing a digital bank with SmartLaunch, or choose to create a new digital-only brand that targets a niche consumer audience. For example, by working with affinity partners or within specific occupational fields of membership, banks can establish a stand-alone digital brand that leverages those alliances.

One bank already planning to tap the service for that purpose is Surety Bank in Deland, Fla.. Surety, a Nymbus client, earlier this month told American Banker it was exploring the idea of creating several different “affinity banks” that would be entirely digital in nature and might attract customers from around the country.

Across the industry, the idea of creating digital-only, separate arms of existing banks has been gaining steam.

JPMorgan Chase, for example, last fall announced it was creating a digital-only brand called Finn by Chase, which is designed specifically for the millennial demographic. Several other banks have also created similar digital arms, including Flushing Financial, which established the online-only BankPurely last year; and MUFG Union Bank, which created PurePoint Financial in early 2017.

“The race is on to capture today’s digital banking customers, but legacy technology, operational risk, and a lack of resources and expertise make it difficult for financial institutions to deliver the exceptional Amazon-like experience customers have come to expect,” Nymbus President David Mitchell said in a press release. “SmartLaunch makes this all possible with no core conversion needed, no additional staff to be hired, and everything operated under a bank’s existing charter.”

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