Independent account app from neon with API technology from NDGIT enters extended beta phase in Switzerland
Zurich/Munich, 17 October 2018
Neon is the first independent account app in Switzerland. It combines innovative fintech functions with account and card products from partners. To achieve this, neon relies on NDGIT’s API platform. Its technology enables the quick connection to Finstar®, the open banking platform of Hypothekarbank Lenzburg, and the use of various user-friendly functions such as digital onboarding and personal finance management. neon is extending the free beta phase until the end of 2018.
The Swiss fintech neon is offering a new kind of app for a bank account and a card with no basic fees. With an attractive, user-oriented design and comprehensive functions for financial management, neon appeals to new target groups in the Swiss market. To provide the banking products and realise the technical implementation, neon cooperates with innovative banks and fintechs on the Swiss market. For example, neon connects the account and payment functions of Hypothekarbank Lenzburg AG (HBL) via its Finstar® open banking platform. It also integrates partner modules for digital onboarding with video authentication and personal finance management. Following the first phase, which has been in progress with hundred users since mid-August and has led to valuable, feedback-based product additions, neon has extended the free beta phase until the end of 2018.
API platform from NDGIT forms the technological basis
neon relies on NDGIT’s API platform for the rapid and expandable development of its app. The middleware makes it easy to connect to many different partners via APIs. Using the NDGIT technology, the Swiss fintech’s account app can access Finstar®, HBL’s open banking platform, which is also equipped with the NDGIT API. This allows neon to utilize all Swiss account and payment functions of Finstar®. Customers can automatically open a digital account with the bank in just a few clicks. What’s more, NDGIT enables neon to easily integrate innovative functions from other fintech companies: from convenient video authentication, which makes signing up as a customer simple and straightforward, to customer-oriented personal financial management.
Time-to-market and customer understanding as USPs
“NDGIT’s API platform is the technological bridge between our networked app and the banking world,” says Simon Youssef, CTO at neon Switzerland. “With the API experts, we were able to integrate all the customer account functions of our partner bank into our app in just a few months. With NDGIT technology, we also have maximum flexibility to efficiently and securely bring new banking products and fintech functions to our customers.”
“We are delighted to have assisted neon in bringing to market a comprehensive banking app featuring a bank account, credit card and leading-edge innovations from fintech companies,” said Oliver Dlugosch, CEO of NDGIT GmbH.
About NDGIT GmbH
NDGIT GmbH stands for Next Digital Banking and provides the first API platform for banking and insurance. It connects banks and FinTech companies with digital ecosystems. This technology enables banks to open themselves up to digital partners with open banking APIs and PSD2 solutions. In this way, the NDGIT FinTech platform forms the technological backbone for new applications and IT landscapes in banking and insurance. In 2017 NDGIT implemented the first open banking system for Switzerland and was honoured with the Euro Finance Tech Award 2017 for the best co-operation between a bank and FinTech.
About neon Switzerland
neon was founded in Zurich in 2017 by Jörg Sandrock, Simon Youssef, Julius Kirscheneder and Michael Noorlander. Together with its banking partner Hypothekarbank Lenzburg AG and other strategic partners, neon offers a deposit-backed bank account for everyday digital use. By consistently focusing on smartphone usability, neon seeks to offer an alternative for people who are tired of outdated banking apps, cumbersome processes and incomprehensibly high fees. To ensure its independence, neon completed a first round of financing of over one million Swiss francs in April 2018.
Further information can be found at: www.neon-free.ch
About Hypothekarbank Lenzburg AG and Finstar®
Hypothekarbank Lenzburg AG is a listed Swiss universal bank. With around 260 employees from 11 nations, it offers a full range of banking services. The bank was founded in 1868 as Hypothekar- und Leihkasse Lenzburg. Today, the bank operates 13 branches in the canton of Aargau and is thus firmly anchored in the region. In addition to its traditional business, the bank has recently focused more strongly on digitising its activities, making it an attractive financial partner for customers outside the region as well. Hypothekarbank Lenzburg has developed its core banking system Finstar® as a proprietary solution, which it also distributes to third-party banks and other companies. In November 2017, Hypothekarbank Lenzburg was awarded the “Euro Finance Tech Award 2017” for its open banking project in partnership with the Munich-based software firm NDGIT.
