New SME bank for “millennipreneurs” comes to Europe, BankUP
Interesting news, no waffle
BankUP, a new fintech venture based in Kontich, Belgium, looks to tap into the European SME banking market.
BankUp plans to launch in Q4 this year, co-founder Philip Lahey told Banking Technology at the recent Finovate conference in London. The start-up is currently looking for funding and bank partners.
The countries on its radar are Belgium, Germany, Spain and Poland.
Built “from the ground up”, BankUP promises a “purely digital experience” and an eight-minute onboarding using its “integrated online KYC and KYB process with absolutely no paperwork involved”.
BankUP does not hold a banking licence and will partner with an established bank instead. It will also white-label other banks’ and fintech companies’ products and services via its platform.
In addition, it offers its own development for banks and other entities to use on a white-label basis.
BankUP aims to be “an open ecosystem of fintech services”, addressing the needs of a younger generation of entrepreneurs – “millennipreneurs” (oh dear).
It will offer services such as current accounts (IBAN number), credit/debit cards, smart analytics, lending, accounting, FX, trade data etc – all via one digital front-end.
“BankUp’s mission is to reshape the SME banking landscape and financial services across Europe,” the company states.
SMEs get the love
The European fintech market sees a lot of potential in the SME space.
Tide has recently launched with its business account app for SMEs in the UK.
Also in the UK, Acorn Financial Partners (AFP) submitted a banking licence application for an SME bank last year.
Penta, a new digital bank for SMEs, is gearing up for launch in Germany.
Holvi, a Finnish SME-focused fintech (now owned by BBVA), has been rolling out its services across Europe.
IbanFirst launched Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) for SMEs in Europe last autumn.
