Raleigh-N.C.-based CUSO Constellation Digital Partners implemented its first open digital banking platform; and New York City-based fintech firm Narmi showcased apps aimed at helping members reduce bills and select home insurance.
Constellation Digital Partners announced the release of Aquarius, the first production implementation of its open development platform for digital banking since the CUSO launched in May 2017. The CUSO maintained the official release of the software marked one of the first online and mobile banking platforms built exclusively on Amazon Web Services.
Constellation founder and CEO Kristopher Kovacs realized there was a fundamental problem in modern digital financial services. Despite a recent boom of potential financial technology partners, credit unions, have not been able to access them because of the legacy structure of credit union relationships with current banking providers, he noted. Constellation's creation was the result of a three-year long research and development effort.
The CUSO affirmed the first implementation of its cloud-based financial services platform allows credit unions and members to choose the services to use inside a secure banking experience. The platform enables developers to create tiles or services and then credit unions can select from services within the marketplace.
"By utilizing Amazing Web Services, we have a degree of scalability and extendibility that other legacy providers simply cannot match, such as the potential to react to increases in traffic, new clients and new opportunities," Kovacs said.
The CUSO expects to unveil two additional software releases this year. Every subsequent software release will extend the services of the Constellation platform and include new capabilities, features and functions to financial technology developers, credit unions and members. Additionally, Constellation announced the launch of its new website that includes key features such as a blog.
Narmi hopes to close the technological gap between fintechs and credit unions with Billshark and Lemonade.
Nikhil Lakhanpal, co-founder of Narmi, explained "Currently, there is a huge disconnect between the fintech world and the credit union world. Many fintech companies have amazing technology and direct to consumer business models. Credit Unions have the desire to grow, implement new technologies and already possess an established user base. Narmi connects these two worlds through our beautiful digital banking platform and the member ultimately benefits the most."
Billshark helps consumers reduce monthly bills on cable, satellite TV, wireless phone, internet and many other categories. There are currently approximately 375 million monthly bills in America and roughly 80% can are negotiable, according to Narmi. Most consumers do not know how or when to negotiate. Furthermore, 72% of consumers who complain about high bills never attempt to negotiate.
Members can submit monthly bills for negotiation with just a few taps in their credit union branded mobile application. Narmi facilitates the information transfer from the account holder to Billshark, which take care of the rest. The average amount saved per bill is $280-300.
"Billshark is excited to partner with Narmi to bring our convenient, no-hassle approach to lowering monthly bills to their growing network of credit unions and banks. Our team of expert negotiators will make sure consumers never overpay again," Billshark co-founder, Steve McKean, stated.
Lemonade provides a mobile-first, artificial intelligence-infused way to obtain home insurance policies. The company focuses on homeowners' and renters' insurance, and policies start at $25 a month and $5 a month, respectively.
The value proposition focuses on removing the expense, pain and complexity of purchasing and managing property insurance. Narmi integrated Lemonade into its digital banking platform. Credit unions can offer Lemonade's products to members via their own institution-branded application. Consumers can receive insurance in as fast as 90 seconds; and claims paid within three minutes.
As part of Lemonade's business model. Consumers select a nonprofit when purchasing a policy. On an annual basis, Lemonade calculates any unclaimed money and donates it to the selected nonprofit.
Lakhanpal pointed out, "Credit unions need to move away from a transactional mindset when it comes to digital banking and instead build an emotional relationship with their members. Credit Unions accomplish this by offering the member unique and differentiated value propositions."
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