Financial app Douugh has sealed a Banking-as-a-Service arrangement with Railsbank to expand its footprint in Australia, followed by a commercial roll out to the UK, Europe and Southeast Asia.
Under the partnership, Railsbank will provide banking infrastructure, licensing, Bank Identifier Number (BIN) sponsorship with Mastercard services (Services) to support the operation of the Douugh platform, firstly in Australia and subsequently in other regions.
Douugh offers a subscription-based financial wellness platform, which helps customers with money management, paying off debt, saving more each month, and building up their wealth by using a 'smart' bank account and Mastercard debit card. The app went live in the US in November last year through a BaaS partnership with Choice Bank.
Railsbank will piggy-back off Volt's banking licence for the Australian launch. Railsbank is also both a regulated financial institution in the UK and Europe, and a principal card issuing member of Mastercard, which Douugh currently has a global partnership with.
Ben Smith, general manager of Railspay, says: “Railsbank provides a single technology layer through which Douugh can expand into a number of countries and add new capabilities and experiences to its consumers. From banking and payments through to cards and licencing. This will allow Douugh to focus on investing in its user experience and significantly reduce setup costs and time to market in new countries.”
Andy Taylor, founder and CEO of Douugh says that by working with Railsbank it can dramatically increase speed to market and reach economies of scale faster through a single codebase, rather than having to expensively integrate with individual processors and banking partners in each country.
“By partnering with Railsbank, Douugh will rapidly gain access to fully licenced ADI-issued bank accounts, connection to the various payment rails in Australia, and Douugh-branded debit cards," he says. "We will also be able to enter new markets much more efficiently and expand significantly faster.”
Douugh will pay Railsbank various fees in accordance with the feature or transaction type and frequency and interest on any outstanding fees payable at 4% pa higher than BBSY.
With the Railsbank partnership in place, Douugh anticipates an Australian launch by mid 2022.