U.K.-based neobank Gravity has chosen the third largest fintech in the world, Finastra, to provide its end-to-end core banking capabilities, reports Ruby Hinchliffe of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).

The Fusion Essence cloud-based solution, built on Microsoft’s Azure cloud platform, will enable the challenger to deliver “an agile, customer-oriented service that will make business banking fairer and simpler,” said Gravity chairman, Tim Brooke.

“Small businesses in the U.K. continue to struggle when it comes to choosing a bank that can support their needs. Traditional banks are failing to keep up with the agility these firms require and instead restrict their access to capital, stifle them with bureaucracy, and provide little or no support.”

Gravity is still seeking authorization to serve SMEs with lending, credit card and deposit services, but looking forward with Fusion Essence the bank hopes to scale, offer a range of products, benefit from evergreen software updates and access a collaborative platform.

Finastra’s retail banking general manager, Anand Subbaraman, called Gravity “an aspiring new entrant in the U.K. business banking sector” who will be able to “differentiate its services from traditional banks” by focusing more on strategic growth and resulting timely return on investment.

This agreement follows closely behind Finastra’s deal with Manchester-based new bank, Revverbank, who also selected Fusion Essence for its end-to-end core banking capabilities.

Currently 90 of the world’s top 100 banks use Finastra technology.

Finastra (as Misys) demonstrated its FusionFabric.cloud technology at FinovateEurope 2017. Simon Paris is CEO.

Finastra has signed three global banks on its Fusion LenderComm platform: BNP Paribas, Natixis and Societe Generale, following a recent sign-up by NatWest, reports Henry Vilar of Fintech Futures (Finovate’s sister publication).

“All of these banks were part of our Fusion LenderComm pilot and the momentum that the platform has seen since then is nothing short of extraordinary,” said Grant Jones, VP, Fusion LenderComm, Finastra. “This brings global banks together on the platform in the live Fusion LenderComm environment, for seamless and secure information exchange.”

Fusion LenderComm is based on Corda Enterprise, R3’s commercial version of its open source blockchain platform, Corda. The firm says it is enabling banks to expose real-time credit agreement, accrual balances and position information data to lenders, directly from agent bank loan servicing platforms, such as Finastra’s Fusion Loan IQ.

Philippe Boulas, Global Head of Corporate Banking Operations at BNP Paribas, said: “With the creation of this community and a collaborative mindset we have a unique opportunity to tackle the operational pain points we have all been experiencing for years and that constrain syndicated loan market expansion.”

Finastra said that Fusion LenderComm integrates directly into the overall technology stack at the banks.

Cécile Bartenieff, COO of global banking and investor solutions at Societe Generale, said: “The Fusion LenderComm initiative will help provide greater transparency and operational efficiency to the syndicated loan market for the benefit of all participants, including the pool of banking lenders and our borrower clients. This is an illustration of how blockchain can help banks optimize the entire flow of financial operations in a standardized and secured framework.”

The product of a merger between Misys – which demonstrated its FusionFabric.cloud technology at FinovateEurope 2017 – and D+H two years ago, Finastra recently announced the appointment of Chief People Office Sharon Doherty. Named a leader in the IDC MarketScape: Worldwide End-to-End Corporate Banking Solution Providers 2019 Vendor Assessment report in March, Finastra has forged a variety of partnerships in the first half of the year, including deals with Al Taif Islamic Bank in Iraq and Silvergate Bank of San Diego, California.