The Monday Roundup: what we are watching this week | Nov 18th

By Puja Sharma

The Monday Roundup sets the scene for the week’s biggest news stories, industry deals, and upcoming events. For Prime subscribers only.

Advancing digital factory

Backbase, the Engagement Banking Platform, has announced that Maritime Commercial Joint Stock Bank (MSB) has invested in the Backbase Engagement Banking Platform, with local implementation support from Backbase’s partner, SmartOSC, a premium digital enabler.

This marks a step in MSB’s journey toward customer-centric modernisation, advancing its digital factory and delivering seamless experiences that drive financial innovation in Vietnam.

By adopting the Backbase Engagement Banking Platform, MSB is unifying its in-house applications onto an anchor platform. This shift enables MSB’s digital factory to deliver a seamless, end-to-end digital banking experience by building on the platform, from onboarding and daily transactions to product holding. This enhances customer engagement, simplifies product bundling, accelerates unique feature development, and reduces cost-to-serve for MSB’s enterprise customers.

additiv, a global digital financial solution, has announced a collaboration with PT Syailendra Capital, one of the largest asset management firms in Indonesia.

This partnership aims to redefine the distribution of financial products in the country. It leverages digital solutions to make investing more accessible and cost-effective for a diverse group of clients. The partnership aligns with Indonesia’s financial inclusion goals and national economic development objectives.

By combining PT Syailendra Capital’s deep expertise in asset management with additiv’s platform, this partnership introduces a new distribution strategy that expands Syailendra’s reach to both individual investors and organisations.

This collaboration provides individual investors with access to investment solutions that align with their financial goals, delivered through digital platforms, mobile applications, and embedded channels to enhance their user experience. The partnership will enhance employers’ investment experience and provide access to products that support the financial well-being of their employees.

Surging demand for Soundbox technology

NatWest Group has expanded its relationship with NCR Atleos to transform its self-service banking channel, building a strong foundation for innovation.

NatWest Group, which includes brands such as NatWest Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, and Ulster Bank, has a long history of serving diverse customers and communities across the UK. As part of its commitment to modernisation and improving customer experiences, the organisation identified the need for a more agile and efficient self-service banking platform.

Through its collaboration with NCR Atleos, NatWest Group is upgrading its partner network of more than 5,500 ATMs and multi-function devices. This refresh will streamline NatWest Group branch and self-service operations, optimise availability and enable faster deployment of new transactions and services.

iServeU, a digital payment solutions provider to banks and financial institutions in India, and PAX Technology, a global electronic payment terminal, have announced a partnership to launch an all-in-one soundbox terminal capable of accepting QR-based payments, NFC, and EMV Dip transactions.

This collaboration aims to drive the next generation of digital payments in India, MENA and Southeast Asia markets.

As part of the partnership, iServeU will integrate its proprietary platforms, OCTAHub and iSwara, with PAX to enable the all-in-one soundbox terminal to accept digital payments and play audio notifications. OCTAHub, iServeU’s flagship payment orchestration platform, is used by banks in India, such as Kotak Mahindra Bank, NSDL Payments Bank, India Post Payments Bank, UCO Bank, etc.

Soundbox technology has gained significant traction in India in the last few years, primarily driven by the increasing adoption of UPI as a payment method. The convenience and security brought by sound boxes with instant audio confirmation, vernacular language support, low maintenance, and zero dependency on smartphones have enhanced the overall customer experience.

What is the Buzz

Klarna Group, the global leader in buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) services, has taken a major step towards going public. The company announced that it has confidentially filed paperwork to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for an initial public offering (IPO).

While the exact details surrounding the number of shares and the price range for the offering remain under wraps, Klarna’s move comes as no surprise, given its meteoric rise in the industry. The IPO, which could value Klarna between $15bn and $20bn, will proceed following the SEC’s review, subject to market conditions and regulatory approval.

The company said, “Today’s announcement is in accordance with Rule 135 under the Securities Act of 1933 and does not constitute a direct offer to buy or sell securities. All activities related to the offering will comply with the registration requirements of the Securities Act.”