In a new process called primary direct floor listing, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently implemented a rule that will help companies raise capital through direct listings.

A direct floor listing will enable companies to issue new shares to the public via an auction that matches buy and sell orders, establishing the company’s offering price. This process differs from the traditional direct floor listing method, which was exclusive to existing investors and did not allow the company itself to raise funds via the offering.

The new listing method serves as an alternative to the traditional initial public offering process and eschews formal marketing and shareholder lock-up. Additionally, the new process doesn’t require underwriters to price shares.

“Allowing for multiple pathways for private companies to achieve exchange listing would encourage more companies to participate in public equity markets and provide investors a broader array of attractive investment opportunities,” explained a commenter to the SEC’s rule change.

In some ways, direct floor listings will benefit the company, rather than the shareholders. For example, after going public, first day gains will go to the company itself, rather than new investors.

Minimum market value requirements for direct floor listings, which are imposed to ensure sufficient liquidity, are $100 million and, for primary direct floor listings, $250 million. This is more than double the minimum value requirement for IPOs, which is $40 million.

According to the Financial Times, two technology companies have already expressed a desire to take advantage of direct listings. Both Palantir and Asana have filed paperwork with the SEC for direct listings.

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Starting this week, NatWest is making it easier for clients to get the help they need to make their banking experience easier. The initiative is called Banking My Way and provides a single place for customers of the U.K.-based bank to input their preferences so that they are addressed across all channels.

The preferences are divided into two sections, About me, which addresses vulnerabilities or disabilities such as being visually or hearing impaired, and Support me, which focuses on how the bank can support the user, such as speaking slowly and clearly or not assuming a gender when addressing them.

“Banking My Way will allow you to tell us more about your current circumstances and the difficulties that you are facing with your banking,” NatWest explained on its website. “This will allow you to also tell us about the support you require, and we will ensure that this information is shared with our teams to support any further interactions that you have with us.”

Clients can input or change preferences online, in a branch, or via phone. In order to ensure information is up-to-date, users will be asked to review their preferences on an annual basis.

This is an amazingly simple idea, but because it is a pull, rather than a push approach, it may be lost on some consumers. That said, NatWest will have the best response rates with this system if it is implemented as part of the onboarding process, instead of being structured as a separate item customers need to register for.

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You’ve likely heard the phrase, “every company will become a fintech company.” That’s because the banking-as-a-service model has officially taken off and is helping companies across all industries offer their customers a variety of banking options.

Perhaps that’s what Alviere was thinking in creating its new flagship offering, The Hive Platform, which it distinguishes as a Financial-Services-as-a-Platform (FsaP) tool. Hive allows businesses to choose from a range of seven financial services offerings– including banking and treasury application services; payment processing and cross border transactions; debit, prepaid, and credit issuing services; identity, risk, and fraud management services, business intelligence and analytics, customer communication tools, and mobile technology– and enables them to easily integrate their own branded tools into their existing business via an API.

“We know from our own experience the pain it takes to get a financial service to market, so we launched Alviere and The HIVE to help companies like us to alleviate the pain,” said Yuval Brisker, co-founder and CEO of Alviere. “We’re excited to announce the launch of The HIVE, which is the most advanced and complete Financial Services as a Platform (FsaP) on the market today. It’s much more than Banking-as-a-Service, incorporating many more capabilities than similar offerings.”

The Hive Platform also solves one of the biggest hurdles for companies delivering financial services– regulations. That is because it is already designed to be deployed in any geography with any regulatory framework.

Offering businesses financial services is a good move because it allows companies to focus on their core competency while providing access to valuable financial services. In addition to keeping customers happy, delivering financial services helps businesses by creating a stickiness that will drive customers back to their business, website, or app more frequently.

Founded by Yuval Brisker and Pedro Silva, Alviere is now available to businesses in Canada and the U.S. The company plans to be available in more geographic regions by year-end.

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