The platform will include an online global FinTech marketplace and sandbox platform. APIX will accelerate financial services innovation and inclusion by enabling collaboration between financial institutions and FinTech innovators.

“Virtusa is honored to be leading the effort to develop and operate the APIX platform,” said Kris Canekeratne, chairman and CEO, Virtusa. “Our deep experience in Digital Engineering and extensive financial services domain expertise, coupled with our proprietary Digital Innovation Accelerator, will accelerate the APIX platform build out and ensure its market viability. We are proud to play a major role in the growing movement towards improving financial inclusion of more than 1.7 billion people across the globe, and the myriad of economic and societal benefits that accrue to it.”

The Virtusa-led team was selected by the ASEAN Financial Innovation Network (AFIN) to develop and operate APIX. AFIN was founded by International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group; the ASEAN Bankers Association (ABA); and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS). The global effort, led by Virtusa, includes Percipient, a data integration & virtualisation platform, and Fidor, a digital banking solution provider.

The APIX platform aims to improve financial inclusion through FinTech innovation. AFIN sets out to achieve this by connecting banks that need Digital Transformation with FinTechs that have built innovative solutions through the APIX platform. APIX provides a platform for financial institutions to discover and connect with multiple innovative FinTech solutions on its marketplace. It also enables financial institutions and FinTechs to collaborate and experiment to design unique solutions using a sandbox environment.

“We are very excited to be a part of this journey to develop the APIX platform. We believe that the only way to solve systemic societal issues like insufficient financial inclusion is through a combination of cross-organization and often cross-border collaboration and the leveraging of the latest and often disruptive technologies,” said Senthilkumar Ravindran, executive vice president and global head of xLabs, Virtusa. “We are delighted that our early investments in building next-generation Digital innovation capabilities will be fully deployed to build one of the world’s most ambitious and innovative financial innovation networks, connecting banks, FinTechs, regulators, and other participants to the benefit of millions of people.”

The APIX platform will be launched during the Singapore FinTech Festival in November 2018.