Metro Bank launches new online platform with Backbase
Metro Bank and Banking Technology discuss all things fintech
Metro Bank has launched a new online banking platform for its commercial banking customers. It is based on the Backbase Onmichannel Banking Platform.
The implementation of the new system has been underway for some time, and eventually all online and mobile functionalities of Metro Bank – retail and commercial – will be supported by the Backbase solution (deployed onsite). New mobile apps will be launched in early 2017.
Metro is also working on a project to enable customers to open accounts fully online, starting with current accounts, Martyn Atkinson, head of digital and change at Metro, tells Banking Technology.
The commercial banking functionality that has just been launched offers advanced search facility, providing clients with on-demand access to their transaction history, from the date the account was opened.
Payment limits and levels of verification and authorisation can be customised for individual users, e.g. self-authorisation, two-manager verification and authorisation sign-off, Metro says.
On the way out is a customised version of the Edgeconnect platform, developed by Edge IPK (now part of Temenos). The bank opted for the system in 2011/12 to replace Temenos’ ARC. Fatefully, Temenos acquired Edge IPK shortly after the Edgeconnect project started at Metro.
The bank is applying the best-of-breed approach to its architecture, Atkinson tells Banking Technology.
For its core banking processing, Metro uses Temenos’ T24, which is provided on a hosted basis. The system was installed at the bank in 2010 (when the bank opened for business), and was the vendor’s first outsourced delivery of T24 in the UK.
For middleware, Metro is using IBM Integration Bus (IIB).
The launch comes on the back of Metro Bank’s Q3 2016 results, which saw a 73% year-on-year increase in lending, with loans to commercial customers amounting to 35% of total lending. The bank also reported a 66% year-on-year growth in deposits to £7.3 billion, 52% of which was from commercial customers.
Watch this space! We’ll be publishing an interview with Metro’s Martyn Atkinson soon – lots of interesting points about the bank’s digital and physical presence strategy, new projects and more!
