Two US financial institutions have inked deals with Banking-as-a-Service (BaaS) start-up Unit to extend their embedded finance offerings.
The first deal has been struck with Vantage Bank, a Texas-based full service community bank with $4.2 billion in assets.
The bank has selected Unit’s financial infrastructure platform and technology to enable it to embed its financial services directly into the products of software companies.
Vantage will also leverage the start-up’s oversight tools, digital core, dashboard and white-label user interfaces to “streamline operations, manage risk, and enhance efficiency”, Unit states.
Jeff Sinnott, CEO of Vantage, says the bank has invested “considerable time and effort developing a robust governance framework to offer embedded finance”.
He adds that the partnership with Unit, which he describes as “our embedded finance accelerator”, will enable Vantage to “reach new customers” through partnerships with software companies.
Unit has also carved out a similar deal with Lincoln Savings Bank (LSB), a community bank founded in 1902 and based in Iowa.
Unit says the bank is also deploying its embedded finance infrastructure to “connect with a diverse array of companies that serve a wide range of use cases”, adding its tech will enable LSB to “rapidly develop and launch new financial products by reducing complexity and streamlining operations”.
Like Vantage, LSB will also make use of the vendor’s oversight tools as well as its data-driven insights to “optimise product performance, effectively monitor activity, and enhance user experiences”.
Reflecting on the selection, LSB CEO Sean Willett says: “We believe the future of finance is digital, connected, and embedded.”
The two new partnerships come just months after Unit revealed it would be laying off around 15% of its staff in response to “slower than expected revenue growth”.
