Synapse and Utoppia partner to offer cross border financial services in LatAm

By Edlyn Cardoza

Synapse Financial Technologies Inc., a banking-as-a-service (BaaS) platform that increases access to financial products, announced a partnership with Utoppia, a global U.S.-based FinTech, to offer passport holders from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico a suite of cross-border financial services.

Based on the Synapse platform, Utoppia offers a borderless account based in the U.S., designed for non-U.S. residents with global financial needs. Plans are also in place to expand these services to residents in more than 30 countries across five continents by the end of the year.

“We are excited to announce that Utoppia has joined our growing list of customers launching innovative solutions on the Synapse platform,” said Sankaet Pathak, CEO and co-founder of Synapse. “We are also excited that Utoppia is an early customer benefiting from our new, modular banking strategy.”

Through this partnership, Utoppia offers access to a 100% mobile and easy-to-use account in the U.S. for non-U.S. residents, which brings benefits and features that include the ability to store money in a stable currency, send and receive domestic and international transfers, and spend globally with a Mastercard debit card. Applicants can open an account in their home country without needing to travel to the U.S. All they need is a valid passport from a supported country. It is hoped that providing access to a stable currency and reliable, affordable financial services will establish a new level of economic stability and freedom for its customers.

“Our world has changed dramatically. Location no longer matters for workers in the digital economy,” said Stefano Angeli, founder and CEO of Utoppia. “You no longer need to travel, commute or live in a big city to improve your life and your economy. For global workers, cross-border families, and consumers, who travel physically or digitally, Utoppia’s borderless account delivers financial mobility and stability.”

Modular banking is an infrastructure developed by Synapse that sources specialised services across multiple bank partners to deliver these services collectively as a complete offering to its FinTech and enterprise customers. Through modular banking, not only is Utoppia gaining services across Lineage Bank, American Bank and Synapse Brokerage LLC, but they are also able to plug in their bank-of-choice for additional services into the Synapse platform, which they plan to do shortly.

“Beyond the scale and scope of its platform, we chose Synapse because of their unique abilities to handle identity verification and other regulatory compliance requirements that can get complicated when extending services beyond borders,” said Angeli. “We also chose them because of the flexibility of their platform and in particular, their ability to easily integrate a bank of our choosing.”