Astat, a new Norwegian neobank, chooses Enfuce to provide virtual cards integrated in the challenger bank’s full-featured digital product suite for local SMEs.
Well over 90% of all companies in Norway are small & medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with <50 employees, yet this segment is often overlooked by established banks. According to research by the Norwegian consultancy Itera, as much as half (49%) of SME banking customers do not get their support or advice requests followed up by their bank. What is more, the onboarding can take weeks, with high barriers in place even for something as simple as starting an SME bank account. Change is clearly needed.
It is difficult for the smaller firms to access quality business banking services with an excellent customer experience (from onboarding to day-to-day operations), simple pricing model, value-added features such as budgeting, accounting, and tax reporting tools – all with 100% transparency. Seeing a clear need for such a solution, Astat has been working to build a comprehensive digital banking product suite for Norwegian SMEs since the autumn of 2020. A team of 7 hard working professionals with tech, finance & legal backgrounds are rallying behind the mission, building Norway’s next leading neobank to be launched in 2021.
As a value-adding part of their digital banking offering, Astat finds it crucial to provide flexible virtual cards to small & medium-sized companies to make business expense management as smooth as possible. The challenger bank chose to partner with the leading Nordic payment services provider Enfuce for launching their card programme. Enfuce will deliver Astat a fully turnkey card issuing service, including key enablers such as BIN sponsorship and card scheme integration as well as fraud prevention and dispute management. With the Enfuce service, Astat will be able to ramp up their card business fast and start issuing tokenized, fully virtual business cards with a smooth and secure customer experience. Designed for SMEs, the Astat cards will be configurable by the business customer, supporting instant topup and latest digital payments features such as Apple Pay & Google Pay.
Initially they will be implemented for the Norwegian currency (NOK) with the option for easy expansion to multiple geographies and currencies. While Astat is currently focusing on growth within Norway, they ultimately plan to become the number one SME banking provider in the Nordics.
Source: Enfuce’s official website