As non-FIs gradually wake up to the possibilities of embedded finance, firms powering such programs on the back end are rushing to be on the scene. Among them are Helix by Q2 and BM Technologies, who have partnered to help consumer brands embed banking solutions into their user experience.
Embedding financial services has demonstrated its ability to help brands deepen their relationship with customers. More concretely, however, such offerings have shown to have a direct impact on revenue, helping open up new streams, and motivating existing customers to spend more. People value getting financial services where and when they most need them.
“Embedded banking has become mainstream in the fintech space, with well-known fintechs like
Betterment, Credit Karma and Gusto utilizing the Helix platform,” Paul Walker, Senior VP of Revenue and Partnership at Helix, told Tearsheet. “The next major stage of evolution for embedded banking is giving people access to the banking tools and services they
need through leading consumer brands.”
A Cornerstone study found that of the people who availed financial products from a non-financial company, about a third say it has led to them spending more money with the brand. Furthermore, some 30% said they now choose it over its competitors, and over a quarter said they are now more loyal to that brand.
The opportunity here is big not just for consumer brands, but also for firms that help them offer these financial services. And Helix and BM Tech, with their combined capabilities, wish to do just that.
“The challenge here is that, while many brands want to launch embedded finance, not all are
equipped to build the product and manage the business. This partnership allows brands to launch a fully managed product without having to stay within a strict box that limits their creativity,” Walker said.
Helix is an embedded finance platform supplying back-end programs to create banking functions like accounts, cards, payments, data and controls, administrative tools, and monetization solutions. It provides solutions to 13 million users and powers $40 billion in transactions annually.
BM Technologies is a provider of cloud-based back-office capabilities for embedded finance that help businesses to develop applications and serve over 2 million customers. The functionalities it provides include compliance, KYC, anti-money laundering, fraud management, assistance with daily operations, and customer care solutions.
The firms have tailored their offering for brands to offer banking services at scale to consumers, some of whom may never have had access to traditional banking offerings before.
This year’s Money 20/20 in Las Vegas became a timely stage to market this collaboration. Helix secured a booth with Jamie Donahue, CTO at BMTX, and Ahon Sarkar, General Manager of Helix, onsite for interviews and scheduling meetings. Post-Money 20/20, they plan to continue marketing the collaboration through sales channels and joint PR/marketing efforts.
“It’s a collaboration where our individual offerings come together in perfect complement to bring a combined next-level BaaS solution to the market for consumer brands looking to deliver truly differentiated experiences, which will drive long-term engagement and profitability,” Donahue told Tearsheet.
BMTX sees this partnership as forwarding its goal to better meet the needs of the rapidly evolving financial services market. Together with Helix, they seek to solve market needs around flexibility, scalability, innovation, and speed to market.
Helix, on the other hand, sees this partnership continuing its mission of “making finance human” by creating a strong value proposition and go-to-market strategy by allowing leading brands to offer personalized financial experiences to their customers.
In the long term, both firms see this as a catalyst for the adoption of embedded banking by consumer brands, as their turn-key approach makes it easier for brands to get involved.
As yet, BaaS is still in its early innings, according to Walker. “So much of BaaS today is cobbled together between legacy platforms and middleware in the market. Not having a modern core or controlling the entire tech stack will limit the number of players in the market.”
Helix wants to aid that by advancing its tech stack and unlocking the interesting use cases we are seeing in the market.
In the rapidly developing world of non-FI financial services, we expect to see many such partnerships form and come to the forefront. We also soon expect to hear news about such technologies being implemented in all sorts of industries, from FMCG to healthcare. The trend has begun, but it is yet to fully shape up.
