BankMobile can truly say it is more than just a bank — it’s a technology company, too.

It’s a common refrain across many industries to say your company is a technology company first and a bank/phone company/ice cream store/whatever second. But a few banks are taking this a step further and using their knowledge and experience to build actual technology companies, or offer technology created internally for sale.

BankMobile, the mobile-only bank brand from Customers Bank, is the latest, announcing yesterday it has created a tech company staffed by a dozen or so engineers called BankMobile Technologies. Another bank engaged in a similar enterprise is CBW Bank, with its Yantra Technologies unit. A few megabanks have taken to selling in-house tech on the open market, most prominently JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Goldman Sachs.

BankMobile’s effort differs from the others in that its technology is not intended to be sold outside. Rather, its technology is for BankMobile’s consumption only.

“True innovation has only been on the edges of banking,” BankMobile CEO Jay Sidhu told Bank Innovation. The task of BankMobile Technologies’ engineers, Sidhu said, is “to look at every single bit of innovation in the industry today and evaluate how it could be developed and implemented by us. The end user of what we develop will be BankMobile.”

BankMobile launched in Jan. 2015 as a mobile-only brand of Customers Bank, a Phoenixville, Pa.-based financial institution. CEO Sidhu, best known for his years at the helm of Sovereign Bank, is now turning his attention to “cracking the code” of acquiring customers, particularly younger customers.

“No one has done it yet, no has cracked the code,” Sidhu said. “How do you get millennials to your bank? You’ve got to experiment, put resources into it, to partner and to listen. You’ve got to provide exceptional experience, not products. Bankers still think in terms of products. Customers want an experience.”

Sidhu compared the newly launched company to an innovation lab with more independence. Working outside the bank walls, he said, would allow for “exponential development, 10x better innovation. Maybe one day we’ll sell products to other banks, but that’s not the reason. The reason for the new company is for BankMobile to succeed,” he said.

One company that has cracked the code, according to Sidhu, is free stock-trading service Robinhood. BankMobile is similarly looking for younger customers, and is investing social media, pushes at universities and in cities. No idea is out of bounds. But getting customers while they are young is one key — once billpay and direct deposit are set up, switching to a new bank becomes more difficult, he said.

In the U.K. and Europe, Sidhu pointed out, the government put regulations in place that make it easier to switch than in the U.S. by allowing, for example, customers to keep account number when moving to a different bank.

“We don’t have that here,” he said. “BankMobile hasn’t cracked the code, but we’re close.”

Jay Sidhu and daughter Luvleen Sidhu, also of BankMobile, will discuss mobile banking and millennials at Bank Innovation Israel November 10-11 in Tel Aviv. Request an invitation to this event here.