ClearBank – the first clearing bank to enter the UK market in more than 250 years – is using the Microsoft technology platform to handle its core operations.
Unveiled today, ClearBank will open its doors for business in autumn 2017 to financial services providers, FCA-regulated businesses and fintechs that require access to UK payment systems and core banking technology to support current account capabilities.
The bank’s technology platform has been built on a combination of public and private cloud infrastructure, and is specifically designed to handle core banking, clearing and settlement services. It has been built from the ground up on the Microsoft Azure cloud platform, and benefits from Microsoft’s cyber security shields.
“By embracing Microsoft’s cloud services, ClearBank is rewriting the rules on how financial services can be delivered in the UK,” said Cindy Rose, chief executive of Microsoft UK. “Through the power of Microsoft Azure, ClearBank has been able to create a robust banking infrastructure that is able to overcome substantial barriers to entry in a fraction of the time it has traditionally taken, and at minimal cost.
“Furthermore, by using Microsoft’s UK data centres, not only can ClearBank be confident that it has access to cloud services that offer world-class reliability and performance, it can also be assured that its data residency and regulatory requirements are fulfilled.”
Free from the constraints of legacy technology, ClearBank will deliver open access to payment, current account and transactional clearing services. Financial services organisations, from banks and building societies through to new challenger banks and fintechs will be able to process payments and offer new competitive transactional banking services more cost effectively and efficiently.
“There are thousands of new fintech startups and challenger banks improving choice, but the industry will never truly move forward while it’s constrained by the challenges of legacy operational structures,” said Nick Ogden, ClearBank’s executive chairman. “ClearBank was built specifically to create competition and aims to change the market dynamics radically. Figures from the Cruickshank Report indicate that, with the improved efficiency delivered by ClearBank’s built-for-purpose technology, between £2bn and £3bn could be saved from the annual costs that are paid for transactional banking in the UK.”
“We’ve built ClearBank on cloud technologies from the ground up, meaning that our customers can access faster, more efficient and more cost-effective solutions and payment processing,” added ClearBank CEO Charles McManus.