It has been several months into the Coronavirus outbreak, and the world is still reeling from its impact. Different institutions and sectors are feeling the impact in multiple ways, and the financial markets are no different. Financial institutions have had to adopt new processes to deliver their customer services and it looks like these processes will remain even after the pandemic has passed.
The world of consumer banking is currently undergoing a massive shift. Driven by the explosion of new technology, market changes and the far-reaching impact of the pandemic, retail banks are forced to compete in an environment with thin margins and tough regulations. As such, banks need to have an extremely agile and flexible platform that enables them to fend off competition and accelerate growth. Finastra’s Fusion Essence 2020 responds to all these market challenges. Partnering with Microsoft Azure for cloud enablement and Power BI for data analytics, this comprehensive solution helps banking institutions optimise cost, mitigate risk and continually meet the changing needs of customers.
Just recently, Finastra was awarded Winner, Best Core Banking Software Suite at the recent Global Retail Banking Innovation Awards 2020 (GRB Awards) by The Digital Banker.
“Finastra unlocks the potential of people and businesses in finance, creating a platform for open innovation. Fusion Essence 2020 is a next- generation core banking platform that forms the foundation for Finastra’s digital suite of applications. With all key banking services built-in, including mobile and internet-first digital access, the solution helps banking customers drive growth, innovation and security, making it an invaluable solution in today’s highly competitive environment,” said Nirav Patel, Managing Director at The Digital Banker during the awards presentation.
“Finastra unlocks the potential of people and businesses in finance, creating a platform for open innovation.”
Next-generation core banking platform
Fusion Essence 2020 is a next-generation core banking platform that forms the foundation for Finastra’s digital suite of applications. All the key banking services such as party, accounts, deposits, loans and payments are built-in, with a rich set of web services that boost business functionality. This translates to high levels of STP because the solution is delivered with pre-configured processes aligned to banking best practices. The solution also includes optional components such as Islamic banking, teller, and analytics using Microsoft’s Power BI.
Fusion Essence is an advanced core banking system that is digital to the core, customer-centric, and cloud-enabled for next-generation banking, covering retail and commercial banking whether conventional or Islamic.
- Available with pre-integrated digital engagement capabilities for mobile, internet and branch to drive a superior frictionless and tailored customer experience to support banks’ go-to-market campaigns.
- Seamless 24×7 capability removing the operational risk and cost of more legacy solutions.
- Multi-entity, multi-currency, multi-lingual, multi-time zone, one central source of operation thereby reducing support and running costs.
- Has inbuilt standard banking processes and workflows to streamline operations, increase STP and reduce the cost of ownership.
- Includes a workbench and product launching capability; reducing time to market for new products by over 50% and putting the bank in control; avoiding increased vendor costs.
This next-generation banking platform has been recognised as a leader amongst retail banking solutions. “The Forrester Wave™: Digital Banking Processing Platforms Q3 2020” report illustrates that Finastra is leading the way by combining next-generation technologies with extensive business capabilities. It has also been recognised by Gartner in its Global Retail Core Banking Magic Quadrant saying, “No other core banking vendor has market-leading digital channels integrated with the core.”
“Fusion Essence is an advanced core banking system that is digital to the core, customer-centric, and cloud enabled for next generation banking, covering retail and commercial banking whether conventional or Islamic.”
Success with Digital Banks and Neobanks in Asia
Finastra’s Fusion Essence Cloud is revolutionising banking across Asia. TONIK, the first licensed digital-only bank in Southeast Asia, has selected Fusion Essence Cloud to power its end-to-end core banking capabilities. The move supports TONIK as it launches its retail deposit and customer loans services, giving it agility and the ability to scale quickly – and further revolutionise banking in the Philippines.
The key proposition for digital banks is providing a customer experience that traditional banks struggle to offer. This requires modern, cloud-native technology that facilitates innovation whilst future-proofing investment. Fusion Essence Cloud enables TONIK to benefit from a low cost of entry into the market, ease and speed of deployment, and the ability to increase business volumes and diversify its product set cost-effectively.
Greg Krasnov, Founder & CEO at TONIK, said, “The banking sector in the Philippines is ripe for digital disruption. The country has high internet usage, the majority of Filipinos are unbanked and research shows half of the people who do have bank accounts would be interested in switching to a neobank.”
On the other hand, Yoma Bank in Myanmar upgraded its Fusion Essence solution to enable them to leverage open APIs and collaborate with third parties, enhancing customer experience with a 7% increase in bank’s gross profit in one year. The suite of new digital banking offerings enabled Yoma Bank to reach out to more customers, increase its market share and make Yoma Bank a truly nationwide bank.
Other Fusion Essence users have also expanded their branch network, increased profit by business quarter, doubled transaction processing speed across all channels and reduced time taken to complete end-of-day processing.
>> To read more about this story and other exclusive features about the digital banking landscape, download the latest issue of The Digital Banker Magazine HERE.
