Challenger bank ME has announced a partnership with global tech consultancy Capgemini, outsourcing some of its core banking capabilities to focus on greater digital expansion.
The five-year deal will see Capgemini assist ME in getting new products and services onto the market a lot faster. The bank’s chief technology officer, Mark Gay, told the
Australian Financial Review that the consultancy will focus on technology that is “more of a commodity” to give ME the opportunity to then build on customer experience.
“All of the infrastructure and data and ownership of assets will remain with ME, and they will provide a managed service for that infrastructure. We've put in a contemporary platform ... so we were looking for a partner to run that as efficiently as possible.”
He added that the design and security elements of the core banking system would always be retained by ME.
“We are a small bank with all of the same technology and overheads that a big bank has. If we hadn't taken this approach, we were going to be spread very thinly, so by doing this we really believe that we can focus on the stuff that matters to customers.”
Technology is the centre of ME’s growth plans, Gay said, since technology will be the key factor to decide whether banks succeed or not in the future.
“It is our view that that the competition is going to come from banks that service their customers in the simplest way. Branches are an old way of doing business; the most important banking channel in the future is digital on a digital platform.”
Related stories:
New tech will streamline loan applications: TMB
Mortgage franchise partners with leading fintech
NextGen.Net launches enhanced Supporting Docs service
