Intesa Sanpaolo, Italy’s largest bank, has selected Thought Machine to power its new digital banking platform.
It has also made a £40 million investment into the London-headquartered core banking technology company.
The new platform, Isybank, will initially target four million of Intesa Sanpaolo’s mass-market customers in Italy.
Intesa Sanpaolo has also indicated an intention to extend Thought Machine’s core banking engine Vault, which can serve multi-currency and multi-country clients, into the group’s wider infrastructure.
“Our new business plan aims to take the fintech challenge head on. This is why we decided to create a new entirely-digital bank to serve our younger retail customers, who prefer not to use branches and don’t require the same in-person service that our exclusive, affluent and private multichannel clients do,” said Carlo Messina, CEO of Intesa Sanpaolo.
“This new digital bank will evolve our retail business from incumbent to fintech challenger in the mass market, with the option to expand internationally.
“We chose Thought Machine as our partner due to its international standing as a FinTech innovator. We believe so strongly that Thought Machine is the right partner for this transformation that we are also announcing our investment in the company to be part of its growth story.”
Paul Taylor, founder and CEO of Thought Machine, said: “Complementing the work we have done with Tier 1 banks around the world, we are now proud to announce that Italy’s largest bank, and one of Europe’s leading financial institutions, will adopt Thought Machine’s technology into its new digital bank.
“With Intesa Sanpaolo becoming an investor into the business, we have formed a relationship which will see our technology go further into the wider bank’s portfolio – having a central role to play in delivering enhanced digital services and experiences for the bank’s extensive customer base in Italy and beyond.”
Intesa Sanpaolo has approximately 13.5m customers in Italy, served through its digital and traditional channels, and 7.1m customers abroad, where it is present with subsidiary banks operating in commercial banking in 12 countries in Central and Eastern Europe and Egypt, as well as with an international network specialised in supporting corporate customers in 25 countries.
Thought Machine’s client roster includes JPMorgan Chase, Lloyds Banking Group and Standard Chartered.