Circle FinTech
Connect - Open Banking Platform
Connect - Open Cloud Platform is a cloud-based middleware that is purpose-built to host Banking and Service layer operations. It acts much like a Hypervisor where it offers separate spaces for clients so that they can host their products/services, extend their services to 3rd Parties or connect to 3rd Parties via a secure middleware layer. Clients/Partners can take complete control of their services, manage their collections, payouts, and settlements all from one dashboard. It is an API-based platform that can be utilized to roll out financial products and services in record times.
Who can use this platform?
You are an organization that is licensed and you looking to enable services on a digital ecosystem. Whether you want to use 3rd Party parties to extend your products or you want to enable 3rd Parties to access your services, Circle's Open Cloud Platform (Connect) can help you manage, reconcile and settle all your business operations in one dashboard.
MoneyClip
MoneyClip is the first of its kind in Bangladesh. It is a white-labeled Digital Banking Application. It is designed to help banks deploy App-Based Digital Banking services with relative ease. It is a tested product that can handle the rigours of modern banking.
BoardingBay eKYC
BoardingBay is a multi-facet registration service that can be moulded to any registration cycle. It supports BFIU Guidelines around Risk Assessment which means Banks, Non-Banking Financial Institutions and others can easily add these services to accommodate any registrations via this platform.
Banking as a Service
The Banking as a Service (BaaS) is a service platform that can enable authorised Banks, NBFI, Securities, Insurance to activate rapid service deliveries. Stacks such as eKYC, White labelled wallet/baking application, Trust/Settlement Management with third parties and Account Management are offered natively on top of this platform. Potential partners, can release the aforementioned service in as little as two months. This mode of service drastically reduces the CAPEX and OPEX costs.
On the other hand, Circle's Open Banking API can be provided to authorised FinTechs or Service providers to consume on their platforms thus enabling a seamless integration with potential partners mentioned above.
As a caveat, third party services can be hosted on top of the Open Banking Platform that takes advantage of cloud technologies thus enabling swift deployment of services.
API Publishing: Connect helps banks and FIs launch and monetize API banking platforms
We Go Above and Beyond
Lower the barriers to entry FS and Innovation in FS
Recently, there is a large interest in providing FinTech services in Bangladesh. Being the regulator of the Financial Market, Bangladesh Bank is receiving a large number of applications with varying business models all of which are trying to innovate and compete healthily in the market. While it is the sole discretion of the Central Bank to allow or disallow these applications in line with the National mandate, it is also true that Open Banking Platform such as Circle FinTech’s “Connect” will help streamline these processes in a much more accountable and secure format and help promote innovation and rapid growth to the economy at large by enabling them.
Have acute insights on the transactions that are taking place regularly
The Central Bank as its mandate has the right to request data of all the transactions their stakeholders enable. Connect can be an excellent endpoint for the Central Bank to access data collectively for its reporting as well. This can be a great opportunity for Circle and Bangladesh Bank to work together and help create insight-driven regulations which would be better for the overall positive growth of the Financial Industry.
Data of the customer belongs to the customer and not the service provider
Today customer data is perhaps the most debated area when it comes to safety and security. Rightfully so, how customer data protection is ensured is key to the trust that the Financial sector as a whole should work together to achieve and uphold. On the other hand, this mandate itself sometimes also is the reason to bottleneck innovation in the Financial markets. According to PSD2 in Europe and Open Banking initiatives by most countries today, the new norm is that the customer data belongs to the customer and not to the service provider. That being said, customers have to be given the right to share their data with authorized third parties safely and securely. It is not a 'want' anymore, in today's world, it is a need.
Need for a single standard for API
Banks in Bangladesh are getting ready to create their API to connect to FinTechs to offer different products and services, however, they all have different standards which makes it difficult for FinTechs as it puts them in the process of lengthy and expensive process flows.
Circle FinTech’s Open Banking Platform aims to alleviate just that. By creating a standard API structure on multiple formats such as REST, GraphQL, GRPC, it seeks to provide the authorized third party to enable fast and secure service endpoints and promote rapid deployment in their services verticals.
Having a Dispute Management System
At any given point if a customer, thinks that their data has been shared with any third party that they did not directly and/or indirectly share they should have the means to stop that immediately. If a transaction has already taken place due to an undesired input, there should be means through which the FI (service provider) can rectify it by the existing underpinning of Dispute Management set out by the Regulator.
Customer focus
Rebalancing the power to the customer by making finance better tailored and fundamentally smarter
In many cases, customers are dealt products with higher costs. Open Banking can help customers save on costs by offering better services more easily. By using Open Banking, the right intermediary can help customers by creating smart repayment plans on mortgages and help them get back to a better financial state of being for example.
m/SMEs are stuck with no access to FS because they do not understand the need for the necessary paperwork they have to provide to access these services in the first place. Furthermore, they do not know how to manage their data better to manage their cash flow better.
In hindsight, the demand side of the Financial Industry is stuck with very clunky processes that exist in FS in Bangladesh. Although we have service models by MFS or Digital Wallets trying to alleviate some of the issues, it is far from creating the same level playing field to offer new generations of FS to the market at large.