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.