Fintech start-up platform Banknit launches on the Romanian market

Fintech start-up Banknit, a platform that integrates and displays, under a single API, the data provided by banks, in accordance with the Revised Payment Service European Directive (PSD2) was launched recently on the Romanian market, according to digital transformation agency Connections.

According to a statement, Banknit offers the possibility to integrate the benefits provided by the open banking concept into clients’ platforms, by means of a secured plug-and-play system, while holding an AISP/PISP license is unnecessary. At present, Banknit displays a sandbox that may be used in the fintech product development process by any company that wants to post banking data, or initiate payments directly from their platform; it integrates over 20 banks from Romania.

“In the near future, Banknit aims to launch the version that can be used in production, this being the value-added proposal of our start-up. In addition, Banknit team’s objective for the next half-year is to expand to the other markets in the region, with a view to bring over 200 banks on the platform”, states Bogdan Florea, CEO of Connections and co-founder of Banknit.

The fintech start-up Banknit brings together the expertise in banking, technology and entrepreneurship of the 3 founders:

• Dorin Rotărescu – co-ordinator of software development projects for the banking sector,
• Ionuț Stănescu – manager of the on-demand software development centre within Ontotech – the software development division of Connections, which supported the upgrading of software solutions within the main banks in Romania,
• Bogdan Florea – founder and CEO of Connections, who has an experience of over 15 years in technology and entrepreneurship.

Connections is a leader on the digital transformation market in Romania, with 300 employees, offices in Bulgaria, Serbia and plans for global expansion. The company specializes in Intelligent Automation, IT Infrastructure Support, Digital Business Process Management and Software Development On Demand. Connections’ clients are global companies and medium-sized Romanian companies from industries such as Banking, FMCG, Oil & Gas, Telecom and Retail.

Starting with July 2018, Connections signed a partnership with UiPath, the Enterprise Robotic Process Automation (RPA) platform with the fastest customer adoption worldwide, with which it has already successfully implemented robotic automation processes in key industries. At the same time, Connections has invested over 200,000 euros in the development of a fintech open banking platform meant to integrate the APIs made available by banks in Romania, with the enforcement of the Revised Payment Service Directive (PSD2), which obliges banks to give access to information regarding bank accounts for payments accessible online to third parties who can develop their information services, payments and offer other financial services to the clients of the banks. Connections ended 2019 with a turnover of 7 million US dollars.