From 2017 to 2019, just two short years, the number of consumers using fintech platforms jumped nearly a third, from 33 percent to 64 percent. And you can bet that number has only risen more with the onslaught of cross-industry digital adoption ushered in by the COVID-19 pandemic. So how are traditional, long-standing financial services institutions benefitting from the excitement and rise of fintech? According to 60 percent of credit unions and 49 percent of banks in the United States, the secret lies with fintech ecosystem partnerships that empower both organizations to serve the modern consumer. 

In this article, we showcase three fintech partnerships making waves in the industry, from digital insurance to banking apps and beyond, as well as key business process considerations for setting up your own strategic partnership. From org merges and data migrations to collaborative partner portals, like those built on Experience Cloud, ensuring you have the right infrastructure in place to support visibility and collaboration across organizations is tantamount to the success of your new partnership. Keep reading to learn how partner management cloud solutions for relationships just like the ones in this blog can be done with the Salesforce platform and Simplus’ proven expertise.  

Quotall + Acrisure partner for a stellar digital insurance solution

Quotall, the London-based provider of cloud-based, full-cycle, comparative e-trading software for insurance distributors, has worked together with Acrisure, a US-based financial tech and insurance company, to create one consolidated solution for brands across all industries to leverage when they’re looking to launch digital insurance channels. The seamless digital insurance solution is creating a diverse revenue stream for various organizations. 

By partnering with Acrisure, Quotall is able to broaden its customer base for insurance solutions, and, simultaneously, Acrisure benefits with the chance to enter the UK insurance market with a tech-savvy approach leading the way. 

Key takeaways:

—Fintech solutions extend far beyond the payment and credit startups dominating the market; insurance is a rising niche play

—Distribution-focused + tech-focused partnerships offer strong strategic plays for insurance companies looking to expand 

Elevate + Central Pacific Bank make consumer banking app magic with Swell

In a joint venture between Elevate and Central Pacific Bank, the two organizations have launched a new fintech company called Swell to house their new consumer bank app. Through this app, users are offered checking, credit, and other services all through one account. 

Elevate brings expertise in the consumer credit tech platform realm to Central Pacific’s established banking practice, allowing the Elevate Blueprint platform to become the base for Swell’s personal lines of credit platform. This is helping Central Pacific’s long-term expansion goals across the mainland US with banking-as-a-service offerings. 

Key takeaways:

—Tech-savvy fintech companies are eager to share their innovations with more traditional banking establishments in unique consumer-facing ways

—App-focused partnerships are sometimes best suited to a net new brand strategy to catch consumer attention 

Lloyds Bank + Bink joint venture into retail banking channels

Lloyds Bank and Bink is another joint venture example. These two organizations are embedding Bink’s technology into Lloyds’ digital channels to offer more loyalty programs to retail banking customers. This is also helping to build a collection of extremely insightful customer data for both companies. 

Lloyds bank brought the vast pool of retail customers, and Bink brought the fintech platform for retail rewards—a match made in heaven. The Bink technology behind it works by linking customer payment cards with participating retailer loyalty programs, so users are automatically rewarded when they shop with the matching cards without any extra hassle managing various loyalty cards on their end. These loyalty points can then be accessed in the Lloyds Bank smartphone app so users can always access their rewards without carrying around physical cards. 

Key takeaways:

—Financial services organizations can benefit hugely by partnering with industries beyond just fintech

—Making a frictionless customer experience is a go-to goal fintech startups and banks alike can rally behind together

Setting a cloud foundation for your own strategic partnerships

With those three stories inspiring the why behind fintech partnerships, let’s take a look at exactly how all financial institutions can enable that type of collaborative, mutually-rewarding partnership within the regulatory environment of financial services. Cloud solutions shared in tandem will be the crux of any forward-thinking fintech partnership, providing the foundation for real-time collaboration and AI-fueled data processing. For some partnerships, this may mean merging existing Salesforce orgs for the relevant business units or migrating data from one org to another, especially if M&A talks are on the line. Clean data through M&A is critical for any business, and Simplus has been there many times before as the guiding light through the org merge process. 

For many other financial ecosystem partnerships, however, they will remain separate entities creating some entirely new offerings in a collaborative way. This is where robust partner portals built on the cloud can be your best-kept secret for future-proofing the relationship and new offering. Salesforce’s Experience Cloud provides a dynamic partner relationship management platform that puts accurate data in front of both partners in real-time, aligning processes and boosting visibility between the organizations as they reach new customers and build out new revenue streams.

The opportunities for financial services organizations to partner with strategic fintech companies and creative customer solutions like the partnerships here are limitless. But it does require a strong foundation of cloud platform connectivity and digital adoption to pull off. Reach out to Simplus for an evaluation of your current state and suggestions for how to make your innovative stretch goals a reality.