Yes! We're obviously not the first to see the need!
I think there are many engineers who are frustrated knowing the data and capabilities that exist in banking that aren't exposed programmatically.
There are at least four (and I'm undoubtedly missing many!) interesting companies aiming to combine technology and a bank charter:
- Luna[0].
- M1 Finance[1].
- Column[2].
- Increase[3].
Building a bank involves reading, understanding, and respecting regulation. It invovles integrating with large financial networks. It involves rallying a team for a years-long adventure. Each of these is early days and it'll be a few years before any of us understands how this super large and important problem will be solved.
Our users are financial technology companies. They build things like payroll, loan servicing, business payments, consumer payments, investment platforms, and neo-banks.
When we built Stripe, one of the largest points of friction was getting a banking partner. It took months and only after signing were we even able to start assessing the technology. There are so many potential companies that simply don't make it past the partnership step. We want to fix that.
The US needs a bank (holding a bank charter) that's also a technology company. Increase certainly isn't there yet (patches welcome: [email protected]) but we already have integrations with the Federal Reserve, Visa, and The Clearing House. Our API already serves businesses you know and love.
We're early days and not quite ready for open sign-ups yet (sorry, known bug). We'll be more public over the coming weeks and months.
We're banking for developers; you can programatically create accounts, cards, and move money.
Our users are primarily financial technology companies.
We're a small team from Stripe, Robinhood, and Visa building the bank we always wanted. If this sounds interesting to you we're hiring: [email protected]
I think there are many engineers who are frustrated knowing the data and capabilities that exist in banking that aren't exposed programmatically.
There are at least four (and I'm undoubtedly missing many!) interesting companies aiming to combine technology and a bank charter:
- Luna[0].
- M1 Finance[1].
- Column[2].
- Increase[3].
Building a bank involves reading, understanding, and respecting regulation. It invovles integrating with large financial networks. It involves rallying a team for a years-long adventure. Each of these is early days and it'll be a few years before any of us understands how this super large and important problem will be solved.
0. https://www.americanbanker.com/news/former-square-exec-leads...
1. https://m1.com/blog/bank-and-board
2. https://column.com/
3. https://increase.com/