Citizens Bank added a new Amazon Web Services plug-in to its tech stack in October, according to BuiltWith, which offers an intelligence tool that tracks technology adoption and use.  

Citizens is on track to migrate all its operations to the cloud and away from data centers by 2025, the $222 billion bank said during its third-quarter earnings call last month.

By 2025, 90% of the bank’s applications will be on AWS while the remaining apps will be on cloud service provider Equinix, Chief Information Officer Michael Ruttledge told Bank Automation News. 

Investment in technology has helped the Providence, R.I.-based bank improve returns over the “medium term,” and it expects more cost savings in the coming quarters, Chief Financial Officer John Woods said during the earnings presentation. 

Central Bank taps Envestnet for automated investing solution 

Jefferson City, Mo.-based $53 billion Central Bank is tapping wealthtech giant Envestnet for its automated investing solution for the bank’s customers. 

Banks are seeing outflows from their customer accounts to investing fintechs as more people jump into the equities market for better returns, Dani Fava, group president of product innovation at Envestnet, told BAN. On average, a customer withdraws $140 from their bank account to put toward other investing solutions, amounting up to billions of dollars for many banks, she added. 

With the solution, customers can direct where to automatically invest their money, Fava said. It also can park customer money in fixed-income exchange-traded funds (ETFs) or broad market ETFs. 

“This is a method for the banks to keep that money in their ecosystem and to drive engagement,” Fava said. “They can do their investing immediately inside of their mobile app or website experience.”  

Citi, Navan team up for travel expense management 

Citi and Navan, a travel expense company, are teaming up to provide a travel expense management solution for Citi Commercial Bank cardholders, according to a recent Citi release. 

Navan Connect, the travel expense management solution, will allow Citi customers to manage and report travel expenses easily, Gonca Latif-Schmitt, global head of Citi’s commercial cards, said in the release. 

“This collaboration provides an opportunity for Citi to grow its Commercial Cards business by partnering with our Commercial Bank, while also offering travel booking and expense management technology,” Latif-Schmitt said. 

Citi has more than 7 million cardholders worldwide and has more than $42 billion in annual transaction volume in the United States alone, the release stated. 

Wex picks up cloud payments company Payzer for $250M 

Fintech Wex has agreed to buy cloud-based payments company Payzer for $250 million, according to a company release on Oct. 26. 

Portland, Maine-based Wex provides payments solutions in travel, health care segments and credit card services to businesses and aims to expand its product suite by leveraging Payzer’s solutions like SaaS for its clients. 

Payzer, based in Charlotte, N.C., provides payment services to home improvement companies like Busy Bee, Forest City Heating and Air and Guidry’s A/C Refrigeration, according to its website. The acquisition will help Wex tap into the home improvement market. 

“Payzer’s top-tier service offering and feature set is at the convergence of SaaS and payments,” Melissa Smith, chief executive officer and president at Wex, said in the release. “Payzer is an example of us finding a high-growth market with a customer base that overlaps with our current customer footprint, with a great product and service offering to address the needs of these customers.” 

In Q3, Wex reported revenue of $651 million, up 6% year over year, according to the company’s earnings supplements.  

Catalyst Corporate Credit Union customizes with Constellation’s digital solution  

Catalyst Corporate Credit Union will offer cloud-native digital banking services provided by Constellation Digital Partners, specifically for digital check deposits.  

Constellation’s TranzCapture solution allows credit union customers to deposit checks via mobile phone, according to a company release. 

“We really liked the idea of a vendor-agnostic application universe where credit unions could go to create their own customized online banking solutions to suit their specific needs,” Diana Hennel, chief technology officer at Catalyst, said in the release. “As the number of physical checks continues to decline, so too do the updates and features for many other providers in this space.”

Visit Bank Automation News’ Transactions Database, which lists the technology selected or acquired by companies in the financial services industry, with a specific focus on technology that enhances automation.