The Fintech space can be daunting, especially for an entrepreneur looking to build a business that can operate online. And this is what makes Bankoyo something of a saviour to small, and even large businesses looking to operate online. Bankoyo is quite simply, a digital banking ecosystem. Founded by three professionals with very different backgrounds, it’s the melding of perspectives and expertise that makes Bankoyo the powerful financial ecosystem that it is.
You may also like
The company offers a one-stop platform with a host of Fintech applications and APIs. These apps cover Banking, Money Transfers, Payments, and Compliance for financial institutions to combat anti-money laundering. But this is only scratching the surface. Diving one level deeper, the platform hosts several APIs that can be integrated into existing systems used by companies to extend their capabilities.
The impact of the Bankoyo ecosystem
At its core, Bankoyo brings several financial systems together in one robust accessible platform. Collectively they cover the entire breadth of the banking industry. Speaking to Arteculate, Founder of Bankoyo, Noel Suganthan shared that the various APIs provide a huge amount of freedom to financial companies looking to take their businesses online.
“Anyone who wants to come on board can choose from any of the individual apps or make use of the APIs to access our ecosystem that can be connected to their own systems,” Noel explained, “The entire process is quite straightforward. Whether it’s a small business wanting a product like Bankoyo Money Transfer or a larger company looking to integrate an API like TerraPay into their systems. Once the product has been customised for their needs, it’s ready to go.”
Open access to banking APIs paired with the use of innovative technologies like blockchain and AI make the Bankoyo ecosystem a powerful one. It’s easily adaptable to meet the needs of financial institutions of all sizes to eliminate several barriers to their growth. This level of flexibility was a conscious choice by design to help small businesses. Particularly, those in the transfer industry serving ethnic diaspora communities face challenges in sending money back home. By using innovative technologies, the platform’s flexibility helps easily eliminate these barriers to empower businesses and communities.
The minds behind Bankoyo
Bankoyo is the brainchild of Noel, who is joined by Shaseevan Ganeshananthan, and Adam Durrani as Co-Founders. Together, they bring years of expertise in innovation in their respective fields to the Bankoyo table. Collectively, they had identified the barriers within the banking industry. Thus, sought to utilise technology to remove them. Together, the trio forms a leadership team that allows them to tackle building, developing and growing the platform.
As CEO of Bankoyo, Noel has over 20 years of experience as an entrepreneur in the financial services industry. Noel got his start in finance by facilitating money transfers. He would go on to found several businesses specialising in management, infrastructure, communications, and technology. Serving as the Director of Product at Bankoyo, Shaseevan comes in as a Co-Founder through his startup EmbryoZ. He has over 10 years of experience in marketing and product management. In that time, he’s led international cross-functional teams to plan, build, launch, and manage world-class SaaS systems. EmbryoZ provides development, marketing and other support services to its startup companies. Likewise, as the Director of Banking at Bankoyo, Adam has over 30 years of proven experience in the financial services industry. He specialises in wholesale FX, supply chain management, and payments across a number of countries.
Breaking down barriers with technology
Any organisation, be they large or small can immediately begin offering financial services by using the Bankoyo platform. Bankoyo’s four core services – digital banking, money transfer, payments, and compliance serve different audiences. With many of them having a global reach, the platform serves as a powerful facilitator. Through its vast network of global partners, financial institutions are able to cut through several layers of red tape to expand their services. Naturally, these advantages flow down to consumers who enjoy a better overall banking experience.
All the while, Bankoyo delivers these benefits at a lower rate compared to other third-party financial platforms. Likewise, getting connected with the ecosystem is a quick and simple process. Noel shared that after selecting a licence, a company can easily get the app customised and running or the API integrated as needed. A far cry from many other players in the industry that’ll demand several forms of paperwork to be filled.
Of course, being a barrier-breaking financial ecosystem is not without struggle. For any fintech company, registering and building infrastructure is a heavy challenge. This is especially true for Bankoyo since their technology is so new and largely uncharted. Geography, despite the increasingly digital world we live in, does also prove a challenge, with some countries being much harder to break into and receive certification than others. To overcome these challenges, Bankoyo has formed global partnerships that widen its reach to build a cohesive ecosystem that financial institutions can tap into easily. By reaching these milestones Bankoyo has achieved an initial valuation of 5 million US dollars.
The future of Bankoyo
Bankoyo began with a core focus on making financial services more accessible to ethnic diaspora communities. Through its powerful ecosystem of products, the company empowered businesses offering services such as money transfers and payments to these communities. It has since expanded to cover the entire spectrum of the banking and finance industry. In essence, Bankoyo has allowed businesses large and small alike to focus on growing their business without worrying about the technical aspects of banking.
Moving forward, Bankoyo is committed to expanding its services to new markets to provide diaspora communities with flexible user-friendly financial services. To do so, it’s leveraging its expertise in technology to build a powerful ecosystem so as to position itself as a leading challenger bank. As Noel describes the vision, “Already we have a broader ecosystem compared to other players in the fintech space. In the future, we’re eyeing new technologies like blockchain for transactions and AI to enhance the experience while moving towards our mission of making financial services more accessible.” With Bankoyo on the (metaphorical) ground, infinity and beyond doesn’t seem too far out of reach, both for it and its clients.
