Integrated Finance: the advantages of using financial-infrastructure-as-a-service

Published On : 05/04/2022

Alistair Cotton, Co-founder at Integrated Finance

By Alistair Cotton, Co-founder at Integrated Finance

Today’s FinTech landscape contains a scattered range of companies across a breadth of different fields, many of which offer financial services infrastructure capabilities. For example, Fintechs now offer innovative solutions across connectivity, trading, authentication, compliance, payments. These back-end functionalities are increasingly important for companies building out financial services solutions. Incorporating existing technology and integrating solutions for complex processes using APIs is a valuable way to optimise development costs and reduce the amount of time it takes to get a product into the hands of customers.

When industries innovate quickly and disrupt incumbents at a breakneck pace though – the inevitable unbundling of services creates a fragmented development landscape which requires technical leads to integrate and manage a high volume of third-party technology that all feeds into the same product. This phenomena has subsequently caused technical leaders to look to platforms capable of bringing these third-parties tech solutions under a single roof, not unlike what Google and Firebase has done more broadly for technology companies looking to deploy product and scale their GTM quickly. In an industry as sternly regulated as the financial services industry, the advantages of platforms capable of re-bundling fintechs are even more keenly felt by developers:    

Re-bundling financial APIs and technology for developers 

Re-bundling refers to the process of taking multiple APIs and unifying them into a single platform. This has many benefits for developers, including; 

• Cutting down on development time: When you have to work with multiple APIs, each with their own documentation and distinct way of working, it can take a lot of time to get everything up and running. Re-bundling all of this into one platform makes life much easier for developers and can save considerable amounts of time when launching multiple services across the same platform.

• Speeding up time to market: A unified platform also helps speed up a FinTech product’s time to market. Developers no longer need to factor in the integration of multiple APIs; that’s all been taken care of. This can be a huge advantage when trying to get a product to market quickly.

• Simpler testing: Having a single platform also makes it much easier to test a FinTech product. Developers no longer have to worry about testing each API separately, they can just test the platform as a whole. This can save a lot of time and effort in the testing process.

• Greater scalability and flexibility: Re-bundling financial APIs into one platform also offers greater scalability and flexibility that can cater to customer demand. APIs can easily be added or removed as needed, without having to make major changes to the codebase.

Using automation to increase the effectiveness of workflows

Financial infrastructure offers workflows that are designed to be easily customisable and regulatory compliant, making it easier for banks, financial institutions and supporting products to connect with them. Automating these workflows also increases efficiency, and makes fintech less prone to human error.

Customer-centric user experiences

In the competitive environment of financial services and products, it is critical for fintechs to focus on user experience; after all, this is the gateway to both retaining and expanding any company’s customer base. Financial-infrastructure-as-a-service can modernise legacy systems, wrapping them within an application that improves efficiency and, ultimately, enhances the overall customer experience. By providing data feedback on what’s working, both developers and then customers can make more informed decisions on both what to develop and how to get the most out of a product.  

Integrating Legacy Banking Applications for Fintech

Legacy banking applications can be painful to work with. They’re often outdated, don’t interact well with each other, and can be difficult to integrate with modern fintech applications. However, these applications do often hold valuable historic data on customer behaviour that can be used to tailor products and improve customer experience. Integrating these is key; fintech companies can take legacy banking data and turn it into valuable insights. This allows for more customer-centric products and services that are tailored towards long-term demands and behaviour.

 This is a Sponsored Feature.

Wanda Rich

Wanda Rich has been the Editor-in-Chief of Global Banking & Finance Review since 2011, playing a pivotal role in shaping the publication’s content and direction. Under her leadership, the magazine has expanded its global reach and established itself as a trusted source of information and analysis across various financial sectors. She is known for conducting exclusive interviews with industry leaders and oversees the Global Banking & Finance Awards, which recognize innovation and leadership in finance. In addition to Global Banking & Finance Review, Wanda also serves as editor for numerous other platforms, including Asset Digest, Biz Dispatch, Blockchain Tribune, Business Express, Brands Journal, Companies Digest, Economy Standard, Entrepreneur Tribune, Finance Digest, Fintech Herald, Global Islamic Finance Magazine, International Releases, Online World News, Luxury Adviser, Palmbay Herald, Startup Observer, Technology Dispatch, Trading Herald, and Wealth Tribune.