Core providers are rolling out digital bank toolkits that can launch a new offering within 90 days, and Jack Henry is the latest contender to join that race with BankAnywhere, a cloud-based system for community banks.
Jack Henry is not the first core provider to roll out a “digital bank in a box” product for client institutions. Last year, FIS launched Core on Demand to roll out digital banks on the same schedule, and earlier this year, Temenos followed suit with its own solution.
An intuitive digital banking experience has become table stakes, thanks to platforms like Amazon, explained Stacey Zengel, president of Jack Henry Banking. “The war for deposits is on. If [community banks] want to gather deposits, this is a good way to do it,” he said.
Jack Henry’s solution is one for community banks that want to keep pace with customer expectations, according to Zengel A digital-only brand can help community banks reach customers beyond their geographic footprints, he said.
“I think we’ve really hit a chord with this,” Zengel said. “[Community banks] will say, ‘We want to be a national bank and gather deposits all over.’”
With BankAnywhere, Jack Henry clients can easily set up a new brand with minimal friction. The company also wants to help banks set up “sub-brands” as a way to target specific existing customers. Incumbent banks are setting up digital sub-brands at a rapid clip, including Wells Fargo’s Greenhouse, HSBC Direct and Citizens Access. Zengel said such new brands can help community banks reach digitally-oriented customers.
Jack Henry hopes to launch its sub-brand feature within the year. According to Zengel, Jack Henry offers more than 140 solutions that support functions in payments, risk management and information security. BankAnywhere supports all Jack Henry’s product solutions, and the clients can set up digital features like bill pay, remote deposit capture and electronic statements.
See also: Temenos to help US clients launch digital banks in 90 days
Jack Henry has a track record of setting up digital-only brands for clients, including River Valley Bank, which launched the digital-only IncredibleBank in 2009. River Valley was eventually merged under the IncredibleBank brand. With BankAnywhere’s rollout last week, Jack Henry is aiming to make the service broadly available to all its clients. According to the company, Jack Henry has seven banks using BankAnywhere, with 20 more in the queue.
Jack Henry, a publicly traded technology company based in Monett, Mo., was founded in 1976, and offers banking technology solutions for banks, credit unions and corporations. It has about 9,000 clients, including more than 1,000 banks.
With growing number of large core providers offering solutions that can create a digital bank in 90 days, startup providers might start to feel pressure from legacy companies offering easily deployed digital banking solutions.
Financial institutions “want to leverage the scale of core providers, their implementation experience and financial stability,” said David Albertazzi, a research director at Aite Group, in a recent interview with Bank Innovation. “Oftentimes, emerging fintech vendors do not offer all of those.”
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