Giving the Banks a Run for their Money: Shot for Fintech Startups
Tags: Finance, Fintech, Open Banking, Cryptocurrency, Innovation

On the user-side of things, the only requirements are 5 minutes of spare time and an internet connection. People will no longer have to physically be present at the bank and fill in the paperwork in order to become a client. If banks are not quick to react it may lead to a ‘mass migration’ of people from one provider to another.

The Fragmentation

This movement is likely to create a subdivision within banks, where certain banks are better at providing one service in comparison to others. For example, perhaps the payment processing division of Nordea might be faster, cheaper and more effective than that of Barclays, Lloyds Bank, and others. This will attract customers who need such services to Nordea, increasing their user base.

Thinking outside the box, it is also likely that individual providers will also make their way into the market. These will be providers which are able to serve customers with a single service and do it in such a way that it will abolish existing competitors. To use another example, a company startup may have their focus on payment initiation or lending, thus making these particular processes very cost-effective. Although people would already have accounts with one bank, nothing will stop them from switching to the best alternative.

Crossing the Crypto Bridge

So open banking is all the rage, but what else is? That’s right, cryptocurrency!

Despite the ‘bearish’ market trends which have been visible lately, the services and future potential which crypto projects provide cannot be ignored anymore. Judging from the attention cryptocurrencies and the blockchain tech is getting from all layers of the society — it’s not going anywhere anytime soon.

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Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were originally intended to be used as a means of quick and efficient payment and transfer of value. Not that hard to recognize some similarities with Open Banking, is it? Blockchain concepts are all based on trustless networks where everyone owns a copy of a ‘ledger’ thus allowing a Peer-2-Peer system to take care of any discrepancies. As this industry grows, the focus is being shifted slightly, with each individual startup having its own primary goal whilst still making use of the relevant blockchain technology. Projects like Ethereum are making it easier for startups to enter the industry using the accessible ERC-20 blockchain.

And now it is clear that Open Banking is aiming to make it easier for startups to enter the banking industry. So just one question remains… “Who will be there to bridge the gap between banks & crypto?”

ORCA Platform

One of the European startups taking on the task is ORCA Alliance. ORCA is creating an Open Banking platform and has been eyeing this future roadmap for quite some time. Thus they are already a few steps ahead. Making perfect use of the PSD2 directive and Open Banking at just the right time, ORCA aims to provide customers with the best available services and making the user experience convenient.



On the banking and fiat side, ORCA will provide its users with options where they can choose which provider to use when processing payments, which provider to use when applying for loans, and which provider to use when depositing/withdrawing crypto.

On the crypto side, the platform will allow its users to select between largest exchanges such as Binance, Bittrex, Kraken when buying or selling. It will permit one to easily realize transactions and place orders on the market while benefitting from the cheapest available rates.