Poland's mBank is taking a leaf out of German banking peer Fidor's playbook, licensing its technology backbone to other financial institutions across Europe.
The bank has already secured the first deal for its mBox banking model from France's La Banque Postale. The license scope includes electronic platforms as well as product, process and sales know-how.
Alice Holzman, director of digital at LBP, says: "We have selected mBox because it will allow us to go faster to the market with a proven solution that will provide differentiation in customer experience and digital features."
Spawned from the internet platform of the former BRE Bank, mBank currently claims PLN 130 billion assets and serves 5.5 million customers in Poland, Czech Republic and Slovakia.
The bank, which has contracted with Accenture to act as integration partner for new licensees, says it is in commercial discussions with other prospective partners.
Maciej Szturmowicz, advisor to the management board of mBank, in charge of the mBox project, says: "Our initiative is dedicated to banks which want to establish their digital brands much faster than through multi-year transformation programs. What we are offering them is an integrated solution set with IT solutions and business know-how that proved to work well in practice. It’s a good choice for companies that face the challenge of digital transformation."
Beginning life as a digital challenger bank, Germany's Fidor has also moved into the banking-as-a-service arena, offering a suite of open APIs and hosted middleware that provides incumbent banks and new entrants with access to third party service providers and digitally-native online and mobile applications.