First Internet Bank has joined forces with Synctera, a banking technology platform that provides digital services and partners banks and financial institutions with fintechs.

The move bolsters banking-as-a-service (BaaS) offerings for the $4.3 billion bank’s partnered fintechs, including account opening, know your customer (KYC) procedures, anti-money laundering (AML) checks and card account management. Synctera will also provide a centralized digital platform for onboarding and managing the bank’s emerging fintech relationships, bank Chief Information Officer Craig Fortner told Bank Automation News.

“Synctera provides us with a BaaS tech stack that allows us to more efficiently provide key services, along with a central place to manage fintech partnerships” Fortner said. “Rather than doing a lot of custom partnerships, which can create more overhead and be harder to manage and onboard, Synctera will give us an opportunity to onboard in a more efficient way.”

Other banks Synctera has partnered with include Lineage Bank, CFSB, Regent Bank, and Coastal Community Bank.

The Indiana-based digital bank, which was founded in 1999, will use Synctera as a central platform for the financial service offerings of partner fintechs. Fintechs will manage their own mobile apps and digital platforms, with First Internet Bank functioning as the product’s support. Synctera will operate separately from the banks’ existing digital core, which Fortner says is intentional.

“It allows us to offer these services without the overhead associated with legacy technology,” he said. “Synctera is purpose-built to bring fintechs in and utilize a common API [application programming interface], so that fintechs can access the different services that we offer.”

Direct custom partnerships with larger fintechs will still be fostered as part of a “multi-layered” strategy, which Fortner expects will enhance the quality of services for both the bank and its customers.

“Our approach is to partner with them in their innovations and to ultimately enrich what we deliver to our customers through our digital banking services,” Fortner told BAN.

First Internet Bank released its fourth-quarter earnings earlier this month, reporting a $1.25 earnings per share, up 11.6% year over year, and a quarterly revenue of $31.2 million, a 1% decrease YoY. Technology spend was not broken out in the report. Shares of First Internet Bank [NASDAQ: INBK] were trading at $49.47, down 1.26% from market open.

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