Welcome back to episode 9 of the new series Under The Hood from 11:FS and Synapse. In this series, we’re diving deep to uncover the banking infrastructure that is disrupting traditional banking models and shaking up the system to improve the financial lives of customers around the world.

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This week we’re looking at partnerships, how they can be strategically important and help with speed and transformation. We’ll also look at the technology used and how partner technology can integrate with existing banking tech. To explore this topic, the co-hosts, Simon Taylor, co-founder of 11:FS, and Sankaet Pathak, founder of Synapse are joined by guests Roisin Levine, Head of Banks at Flux, and Hrishi Dixit, CTO at Yieldstreet.

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The discussion kicks off with an overview of how and why banks partner with third-party providers up and down the banking stack. They discuss why banks may want to partner with a provider outside of their domain, and what partnering with legacy and challenger banks means for a fintech. They explore what makes a good partnership, naming focus, time to market, compliance, and ongoing management, maintenance, and upkeep as upsides.

“Are you essentially an accelerant or are you getting in the way? As soon as you start getting in the way, you’re out.”

- Sankaet Pathak

The group then begins to review the technology, discussing why APIs are so important and what other white label widgets are in demand for fintechs who are looking to ship quality products fast. They talk about the limitations of APIs in accessing large data and how they’ve met the challenges of managing data with legacy partners versus neobanks. They compare experiences of technology impediments with compliance impediments, recognizing that compliance has taken more effort in partnerships.

They continue with how partnerships are changing, believing that partnerships are evolving to become more strategic and embedded. The group finishes the session by highlighting three layers of partnerships likely to evolve in the future: productivity tools, enablement and intelligence, and delight or improving customer experience.