Citizens Financial Group selected embedded pay-over-time provider Wisetack Thursday for its new consumer financing platform, Citizens Pay.

Citizens Pay will use Wisetack’s existing connections to merchants and software-as-a-service integration capabilities to offer customers the ability to finance home improvement purchases with low interest and individualized timetables, according to a news release. 

“Working with Wisetack, we’re able to extend our lending opportunities to countless small businesses, unlocking new possibilities for them while giving their consumers the opportunity to make more informed financial decisions,” Citizens Pay Executive Vice President and President Christine Roberts told Bank Automation News.

Wisetack focuses on small businesses, especially those that operate primarily in person, making it an ideal middleman between merchants, consumers seeking credit for large purchases and banks looking to offer a greater range of installment options, according to Wisetack co-founder and Chief Executive Bobby Tzekin.

“What we do is enable the smaller merchants to very quickly and easily offer installment payments to their customers,” Tzekin said, comparing Wisetack to companies like Square, which simplified credit card integration for small businesses.

Tzekin sees Wisetack’s ability to integrate with a range of software platforms and focus on user experience as its primary strengths, while partnering with banks like Citizens will provide it with a useful source of capital.

“We’ve built a network, we’ve built a technology and we’re saying [to the banks], ‘Hey, we’re built for you to be here,’” Tzekin said.  

Citi TTS taps UK’s Pismo to upgrade corporate demand deposit accounts

Citi Treasury and Trade Solutions (TTS) chose Pismo, a U.K.-based banking and payments software company, to upgrade Citi’s corporate demand deposit accounts (DDA), to clients worldwide. 

The partnership will allow Citi clients to operate DDA in real time with 24/7 processing, helping customers with better cash management decisions, according to a news release.  

Pismo’s technology will also allow Citi TTS to create a microservice-based ecosystem free of market-specific, hard-coded applications. The upgraded platform can be integrated across multiple products and provide a globally consistent experience. 

Citi TTS provides tailored cash management, trade finance services and global payments to its clientele, which includes multinational corporations, financial institutions and public sector organizations in 95 countries, and provides transactions in 144 currencies, per the company’s website. 

The upgrade of TTS’s technology is part of Citi’s core strategy for better scalability and increased processing volumes for clients globally. 

Pismo was selected “based on its core expertise and knowledge in cloud-based banking and payments capabilities,” said Stephen Randall, global head of liquidity management services at TTS. 

Pismo’s cloud-based services are initially to be deployed by Citi in the U.S., per the press release.

FIS acquires BaaS fintech Bond

Global payments behemoth Fidelity Information Services (FIS) has acquired the San Francisco-based startup Bond Financial Technology for an undisclosed amount. 

An FIS spokesperson confirmed to Bank Automation News that the deal closed earlier this month but did not disclose the deal size or strategic motives. 

According to a leaked internal memo of FIS on Twitter, the Jacksonville, Fla.-based company acquired Bond to accelerate its “time-to-market of new FIS embedded finance” products along with adding banking-as-a-service and embedded finance capabilities to FIS’s platform. 

Bond has raised $42 million since it was founded in 2019, according to CB Insights. The acquisition will allow FIS to further embed itself in the banking landscape. Bond customers include Evolve Bank & Trust and Plaid. 

Bond was valued at $182 million after it raised $32 million in its last funding round in 2020, according to PitchBook. Goldman Sachs, Canaan Partners and B Capital Group are among Bond’s early-stage investors.

Backbase acquires Nucoro

Engagement banking platform Backbase acquired digital wealth platform Nucoro last week.  

Nucoro will become part of Backbase’ wealth management and investment product group. Lennart Asshoff, co-founder and chief executive of Nucoro, said he will continue to lead the operation. 

Nucoro and Backbase have had a working relationship for three years, Backbase founder and Chief Executive Jouk Pleiter told BAN, noting that the integration of Nucoro into Backbase started with out-of-the-box solutions, including trading and robo-advising. 

“Nucoro is really providing you the brains, the logic, and Backbase is supplying the overall customer experience orchestration,” Pleiter said.  

Backbase expects the trading and robo-advisory capabilities to be available by the end of the third quarter, with new products coming to market next year, the pair told BAN.

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.