Starling Bank has signed Romania's Salt Bank as the first client for its Software-as-a-Service platform, Engine.
Salt Bank, previously known as Idea Bank, is based in Bucharest and is a subsidiary of Banca Transilvania Financial Group, the largest bank in Southeastern Europe.
Salt Bank has ambitions to disrupt banking in Romania by bringing a digital user experience to millions of customers who want to do all their banking on their smartphones. Its app, which is expected to go live in 2024, will be available to individuals and businesses.
Engine’s proprietary, cloud-based banking platform will be used by Salt Bank to onboard customers digitally, process payments and card transactions, and to manage its operations across customer service, finanial crime monitoring, loan management and payments.
Gabriela Nistor, CEO of Salt Bank, says: “Engine provides a best-in-class platform that will fit into our digital strategy. We were impressed by Engine’s success with Starling Bank in the UK, which has 3.6 million customer accounts and regularly tops the tables for providing the best customer experience.”
Separately, Starling has scored a win in Australia, with AMP pledging $60 million to build a new app-based banks based on Engine. Targeting sole traders and small businesses with 1-20 employees, the new digital bank division will offer transaction and savings accounts and is slated for launch in Q1 2025.