A group of Capital Region banking and software veterans are working on a fintech startup that they say can help banks keep up with changing practices and advancing technology.
The recently released product from BankWise Technology, called Happy Banker, is meant to help banks and other financial institutions streamline daily compliance and operations tasks.
There’s a shift in the finance industry to what’s known as open banking, which is the practice of institutions outsourcing technology systems and sharing financial data with one another, said Sergei Morgoslepov, BankWise co-president and CTO, who previously worked for 12 years at The Adirondack Trust Co. The other co-president is Joe Mastrianni, founder and former CEO of Happy Software.
A common problem is that different unrelated software systems might be used for different tasks. There might be one for the core system, one for selling mortgages and one for online banking.
"To make all those systems work together, there's usually a lot of manual labor involved — moving data by spreadsheets, very error-prone, very slow process,” Morgoslepov said. "We've taken processes that take multiple people and several hours of the day, and we can shrink those tasks to 20 minutes. The banks can increase volume, eliminate errors.”
Banks used to handle these operations fully in house, but outsourcing has come with increased compliance pressure, said Rob Ward, BankWise chief marketing and sales officer. He has spent 41 years in the industry, including nearly 16 years as vice president of marketing for The Adirondack Trust.
“That's where we feel the opportunity is for BankWise technology, is helping banks with their core systems and their integration,” Ward said. “There are lots of opportunities.”
A few banks have used the service, and now BankWise is ready to share the product with other institutions, focusing on community banks, financial services businesses and insurance companies.
The startup can also develop custom additions to the existing Happy Banker product when needed, which it would then add to its portfolio of modules available to other institutions, Morgoslepov said. The idea is to build a client base and then continue introducing new products as they are developed.
The startup designed a Bitcoin rewards system for one bank. It also developed software to deal with Paycheck Protection Program data. The company is also looking at developing a product for the secondary loans markets.
Besides its primary product, BankWise offers data warehousing services, robotic processing automation, custom development, data integration, consulting and more.
In the next three years, the goal would be to have 10-15 Happy Banker customers nationally. The model is to charge an initial licensing fee plus other charges for maintenance and additional software developments. There are six people on the team, and there are plans to hire more developers.
Morgoslepov said the startup has positive cash flow at this point, so the plan for now is to grow organically.
But the focus is not to get too big, Ward added.
"It's really providing outstanding customer service to those clients that we do have and finding new, innovative ways, not only to grow our company, but also to enhance their business."
