E-Financial
Appzone Relaunches BankOne, Digital Core Banking Solution for Fintechs & Neobanks
Appzone, the Pan-African fintech software provider building proprietary solutions for the continent’s banking and payments industries, has announced the Pan-African launch of BankOne, its digital core banking solution now re-engineered to serve the continent’s leading Fintechs, neobanks and challenger banks.
BankOne’s relaunch follows Appzone’s Series A raise in April 2021, the largest locally led raise in Nigeria which repositioned the organization to roll-out new innovative offerings that help financial institutions function in a fully digital and automated way.
Having previously built out functionality to automate and run traditional Banking operations, Appzone is now deploying BankOne as a platform for technology-driven financial institutions intending to adopt a 360-degree digital approach that does not involve physical branches or human interaction.
Originally launched in 2011, BankOne is delivered and run by Appzone Core, a subsidiary of the Appzone Group. The platform played a significant role in the first digitization phase of Nigeria’s financial sector and came to further prominence and adoption as digital challengers and neo-banks began to emerge.
As Africa rapidly accelerates towards a fully digital banking future, BankOne is being positioned to provide affordable and purpose-built digital infrastructure to enable this transition.
Speaking on the relaunch of BankOne, the CEO of Appzone Core, Mr. Mudiaga Umukoro said: “For over a decade, BankOne has played an active role in driving the digitization of Nigeria’s financial services industry. The platform has now been repositioned to serve the continent’s growing number of Fintechs and neobanks.
BankOne’s major advantages are market fit and affordability which allow financial institutions deliver highly relevant products at a fraction of cost while leveraging our numerous integrations with mainstream payment systems to achieve instant interoperability with other industry players at no extra cost”
Buoyed by the economic and work-place realities emerging due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Africa’s financial sector has aggressively adopted digital banking, with more individuals and organizations bypassing physical structures, paper trails and physical cash in favor of self-service offerings on digital devices.
As the continent’s traditional banking system continues to evolve, embracing new platforms, technologies, and architecture, technology-driven offerings from Fintechs on the continent will revolutionize customer experience, crash operating costs and accelerate financial inclusion.
BankOne provides functionality that enables digital Banks to engage customers and deliver services without human interaction. BankOne provides digital equivalents of all product offerings including account opening, card issuance, deposits, payments, and loan origination amongst others.
The platform also provides an open platform with developer tools and robust APIs to support the level of innovation and agility required in a highly dynamic and rapidly evolving environment.
In addition, Appzone Core has positioned the new offering to support the digital transformation efforts of traditional Banks, many of which are still stuck with legacy systems that limit their ability to compete effectively.
With operations in Nigeria, Ghana, Gambia, and Kenya, BankOne currently hosts over 10 million customer accounts with balances totaling $105 million while managing over $650 Million in annual loan disbursements, and $2.9 Billion in total transaction value.
Asides managing customer records, loans, deposits, and accounting, BankOne provides an omni-channel self-service platform, USSD interfaces, Payment ecosystem integration, agent banking capabilities, and card management services.
These functionalities are available to Fintechs like digital lenders and neobanks, as well as traditional banks like MFIs, Mortgage Banks, Consumer Lenders and Commercial Banks.
Currently, challenger and traditional banks in Africa are limited to using foreign technology solutions tailored for Western markets, and many of these solutions are hindered by prohibitive pricing, poor market fit and a lack of local tech support.
BankOne’s major differentiation lies in its fit-for-purpose functionality and integrations with the local ecosystem of third-party services. These characteristics in addition to ease of customization and availability of local support ensure that the platform seamlessly plugs into the needs of African Banks and Fintechs.
Titan Trust Bank has selected Oracle FSS for its core and digital banking technology, it is understood.
The start-up bank recently obtained its license by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
It’s understood that Temenos and Infosys also competed for the deal.
The shortlist came down to the two most widely installed international core systems in Nigeria, Infosys’ Finacle and Oracle FSS’s Flexcube.
The Nigerian banking sector has seen a great deal of upheaval over the years, with many mergers, start-ups and closures. Flexcube is a well respected name since the late 1990s (the pioneer was Access Bank, now one of the country’s top five banks) and has been a commonly selected platform since then.
The new bank is believed to be one of five to have gained regulatory approval of late (Globus Bank is another).
Local media sources say the new licences stem from the Central Bank’s desire to attract new investments into the sector and better serve the country’s 50 million+ unbanked and under-banked citizens.
Titan Bank is said to be headed by a former executive director of Heritage Bank (which is a Finacle user).
Oracle FSS did not respond to request for comment.
International Monetary Fund (IMF), has appointed Tony Elumelu, Nigerian billionaire and group chairman of Heirs Holdings, owners of United Bank of Africa, to its advisory council on entrepreneurship and growth, convened by Kristalina Georgieva, the fund managing director.
The announcement was disclosed in a statement on Friday.
According to the statement, the IMF advisory council comprises global business leaders, policymakers, and academics dedicated to identifying and addressing regulatory barriers to entrepreneurship.
The IMF said Elumelu will be instrumental in ensuring that Africa’s entrepreneurship is central in policy making.
“Elumelu, Africa’s leading advocate of entrepreneurship and whose Foundation has funded, mentored, and trained over 25,000 African entrepreneurs since 2015, champions entrepreneurship as the engine for the economic transformation of Africa,” the statement reads.
“A self-made entrepreneur, Elumelu’s embracing of entrepreneurship is fundamental to his concept of Africapitalism, his belief that Africa’s private sector can and must play a leading role in the continent’s development, making long-term investments that deliver social and economic value.
“Elumelu will be instrumental in ensuring that Africa’s entrepreneurial potential is central to global economic policy making.”
Speaking at the inaugural meeting of the advisory council on March 26, Georgieva said the appointees would share their experiences on how macroeconomic and financial policies “can provide a supportive environment for innovation, entrepreneurship, and productivity — key ingredients for a thriving private sector and strong economic growth”.
Africa’s Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises, fintech industry, scaling remittances, and cross-border payments will be the driving forces behind the continent’s digital ballooning payments system, which is estimated to reach $1.5 trillion by 2030.
This is according to a MasterCard-commissioned study by Genesis Analytics, which states that the digital payments economy is growing faster on the continent.
This comes as the World Bank says Sub-Saharan Africa has shown significant growth in financial inclusion over the past decade, much of it driven by mobile money account adoption.
Dimitrios Dosis, president, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa at MasterCard, comments: “Africa is filled with immense possibilities, and its people have the potential to shape the global economy in the decades ahead.
“MasterCard remains deeply committed to driving digital transformation across the continent, working closely with entrepreneurs, merchants, banks, start-ups, telcos, and governments. By increasing our investments, expanding innovation, and fostering inclusion, we are helping build a more connected and accessible digital future.”
The payment technology company went on to say as a longstanding technology partner to Africa, its continues to strengthen its commitment to the continent’s digital growth through strategic investments, public-private partnerships, and innovation initiatives that drive financial health and economic growth.
In addition, it says trends in Africa signal a strong shift towards digital transactions, with businesses and consumers increasingly embracing contactless solutions, further accelerating economic participation and financial accessibility across the region.
“For over five decades, MasterCard has worked alongside African governments, businesses, and communities to advance financial inclusion and economic development.
“With Africa projected to host nine of the world’s 20 fastest-growing economies, we are focused on leveraging our expertise and a technology to support the continent’s continued digital transformation.
“Our investments today will help build a more resilient economy for the future,” says Mark Elliott, division president, Africa, MasterCard
By fostering collaboration with key stakeholders, MasterCard says it aims to enhance digital connectivity, expand economic opportunities, and enable millions of people and businesses to thrive in the digital economy.
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